Arabs in Exile: Yemeni Migrants in Urban Britain
- ISBN-10
- 1850434999
- ISBN-13
- 9781850434993
- Pages
- 166
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1992
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Author
- Fred Halliday
Description
Arab migration is not just a feature of recent instabilities in the Middle East. The Lebanese and Syrians have a long established history of migration to Africa, North and South America as well as to Europe, while North African Arabs have long established links to France. The Yemeni community in Britain is one of the most established and yet least known of all migrant groupings. Yemenis, sailing from Aden, began settling in British ports at the beginning of the twentieth century, and after World War II they became part of the immigrant labour force in Britain's industrial cities. Numbering around 15,000, the Yemenis were the first community from an Islamic country to settle in Britain. More than any other migrant group they have maintained close social and political links with their homeland.
Fred Halliday's is the first full-length study of this community to be published. Based on research over twenty years in both Britain and Yemen, it explores the political and economic background to the Yemeni migration and the ways in which changes in Yemen have affected the community in Britain. There are historical and social accounts of the sea-faring communities in Cardiff, South Shields and Liverpool and of industrial workers in Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester.
Particular attention is paid to the political organizations of the Yemeni community and to changing identities. The study concludes with a discussion of how the community has evolved since 1962 when restrictions were placed on colonial immigration, and of its relationship to the broader flow of Asian and Islamic immigration.
