Ghettos Grow Despite Integration Policies

A MAJOR workshop to be held in Birmingham just after the first anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings will be told that Muslim communities in England are being victimised, and in some areas are even slipping into social and physical segregation.

According to one of the event?s convenors, Dr Tasleem Shakur, Director of the International Centre for Development & International Studies (ICDES) at Edge Hill University in Lancashire, although the British government is working to tackle these problems it has not conducted adequate research on the issue.

"We will be exploring the meaning of physical segregation from two perspectives, examining English Muslims who have chosen to live in distinctive areas of English cities and bring their cultural identities to their surroundings; and also what we call the Mainstream ? those who perceive these areas as inward-looking ghettos that breed radicalism and exclusion", says Dr Shakur.

A number of English towns and cities that house large Muslim communities will come under the spotlight including London, Birmingham, Blackburn and Burnley.

Dr Shakur added: "There is growing concern that in addressing these issues and introducing cohesive community policies so that Muslim communities around the UK can integrate more easily with other cultures, the government has overlooked the views of the very people they are seeking to help, and is in danger of marginalising them."

The daylong event ? the first of its kind ? will be held at the University of Central England (UCE) in conjunction with Dr Noha Nasser, Course Director of the Masters in Urban Design at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, part of UCE.

Split into three key areas ? segregation, the politics of Muslim representation and the future of multicultural spaces ? the conference will examine the way our cities will need to adapt to meet the needs of a multicultural environment, along with the hybrid culture of England and overseas. Speakers will include experts in architecture, anthropology, geography, planning, sociology and urban studies, along with writer and broadcaster Professor Ziauddin Sardar.

Cambridge Scholars Press intends to publish a compilation of the event?s research findings by the end of the year. For more information on the conference contact Jamie Halsall at Edge Hill University on halsallj@edgehill.ac.uk.