Swadhinata Trust: 'Tales of Three Generations of Bengalis in Britain'

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0372 SWADHINATA TRUST
Held at	: Bishopsgate Institute   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/library ›
Full title	: Swadhinata Trust: 'Tales of Three Generations of Bengalis in Britain'
Date(s)	: 2006
Level of description	: Fonds
Extent	: 6 Boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Swadhinata Trust

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Swadhinata Trust is a London based non-partisan secular Bengali group that works to promote Bengali history and heritage amongst young people. The Swadhinata Trust has been operating since November 2000, offering seminars, workshops, exhibitions and educational literature to young Bengali people in schools, colleges, youth clubs and community centres in the United Kingdom. The Swadhinata Trust promotes Bengali history and culture to ensure its representation as an essential part of the history of Britain and by extension, our contemporary world.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Fifty two oral history recordings compiled as part of the project, 'Tales of Three Generations of Bengalis in Britain', by the Swadhinata Trust (Nirmul Committee) and CRONEM (Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity & Multiculturalism, University of Surrey) covering three areas of interest:
'roots and memory' (dialogue between first and third generation on the history of Bangladesh and the 1971 war of independence)
'community creativity' (dialogue between second and third generation on welfare and community involvement in the UK, from the 1970s-80s)
'popular culture: between tradition and innovation' (across three generations, mainly focussing on traditional and more recent British Bengali musical heritage, from the 1970s-80s).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, Bengali

System of arrangement:

The collection is divided into the following sections:
SWADHINATA TRUST/1: 'roots and memory' (dialogue between first and third generation on the history of Bangladesh and the 1971 war of independence)
SWADHINATA TRUST/2: 'community creativity' (dialogue between second and third generation on welfare and community involvement in the UK, from the 1970s-80s)
SWADHINATA TRUST/3: 'popular culture: between tradition and innovation' (across three generations, mainly focussing on traditional and more recent British Bengali musical heritage, from the 1970s-80s).

Conditions governing access:

OPEN

Conditions governing reproduction:

Documents cannot be photocopied at present. Digital photography (without flash) is permitted for research purposes on completion of the Library's Copyright Declaration form and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Finding aids:

Handlist available, ADLIB catalogue.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Recordings deposited at the Bishopsgate Institute by the Swadhinata Trust on 18 July 2006.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Stefan Dickers.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
8 August 2007