Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | A Disappearing Nation | 20170228 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. This second programme looks at David's native Guyana, a country that has, to an unrivalled degree, exported its people. More Guyanese now live in the Tri-State Area around New York City than in Guyana itself. And once in America, Guyana's two largest communities - those descended from African slaves, and those whose forebears were indentured Indian labourers - continue to live in separate enclaves. The programme meets members of both groups to explore how the American experience has reshaped their identities. As Guyanese immigrants become ever more integrated, their home country is now - in David Dabydeen's words, in danger of disappearing. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | A Troubled Homecoming | 20170227 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. In this first programme, we hear the story of the Ethiopian Jews. Persecuted in the 1980s, tens of thousands have been airlifted to Israel under that country's Law of Return. Housing, healthcare and education were all provided under a meticulous assimilation plan. Yet Ethiopian Jews remain the most disadvantaged group within the Jewish population. Many have been victims of racism and tensions have boiled over, resulting in clashes in with the police. Why has the homecoming to Israel been so troubled for the first generations of Ethiopians? And are there signs that younger members of the community are determined to improve their circumstances? Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | The Guestworkers Who Stayed | 20170302 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. West Germany's economic miracle saw thousands of 'guestworkers' invited to work in the country, the bulk of them from Turkey. In this fourth programme, we hear how the system was built on a false assumption - that that all the workers would eventually go home. Many of the Turks too, felt equally sure that the arrangement was temporary. The reality would be very different - today there are more than three million people of Turkish descent in Germany. The programme meets migrants, officials and experts, and discovers that Germany's spectacularly hands-off approach to integration left many Turks in a legal and cultural limbo. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | The Swedish Model | 20170301 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. Sweden is the location for this third programme, charting the progress of Bosnians who fled war at home in 1992-93. Almost 100,000 - many of them Muslims - were resettled in Sweden, a country proud of its relatively recent tradition of offering sanctuary to refugees. The Swedish government aimed to assimilate its new arrivals with minimal delay, focusing its energies on language lessons. The result was one of the most successful examples of rapid integration, in which the potentially divisive issue of religion was calmly negotiated. Yet now - Sweden, faced with a new wave of mass migration, is moving away from its inclusive philosophy. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | Welcome To Britain | 20170303 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. In 1971, Idi Amin expelled tens of thousands of Asians from Uganda - many of them British passport-holders. At the same time, war and famine in Bangladesh saw growing numbers of refugees arriving in the UK. This final episode of the series revisits the challenges faced by women from these two very different communities as they sought to acclimatise to 1970s Britain. What measures did the British government take to promote integration? What compromises and sacrifices were Asian women themselves prepared to make? And what more could have been done on both sides to ease the multicultural tensions that have surfaced once again in Brexit-era Britain? Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | 01 | A Troubled Homecoming | 20170227 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. In this first programme, we hear the story of the Ethiopian Jews. Persecuted in the 1980s, tens of thousands have been airlifted to Israel under that country's Law of Return. Housing, healthcare and education were all provided under a meticulous assimilation plan. Yet Ethiopian Jews remain the most disadvantaged group within the Jewish population. Many have been victims of racism and tensions have boiled over, resulting in clashes in with the police. Why has the homecoming to Israel been so troubled for the first generations of Ethiopians? And are there signs that younger members of the community are determined to improve their circumstances? Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | 02 | A Disappearing Nation | 20170228 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. This second programme looks at David's native Guyana, a country that has, to an unrivalled degree, exported its people. More Guyanese now live in the Tri-State Area around New York City than in Guyana itself. And once in America, Guyana's two largest communities - those descended from African slaves, and those whose forebears were indentured Indian labourers - continue to live in separate enclaves. The programme meets members of both groups to explore how the American experience has reshaped their identities. As Guyanese immigrants become ever more integrated, their home country is now - in David Dabydeen's words, in danger of disappearing. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | 03 | The Swedish Model | 20170301 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. Sweden is the location for this third programme, charting the progress of Bosnians who fled war at home in 1992-93. Almost 100,000 - many of them Muslims - were resettled in Sweden, a country proud of its relatively recent tradition of offering sanctuary to refugees. The Swedish government aimed to assimilate its new arrivals with minimal delay, focusing its energies on language lessons. The result was one of the most successful examples of rapid integration, in which the potentially divisive issue of religion was calmly negotiated. Yet now - Sweden, faced with a new wave of mass migration, is moving away from its inclusive philosophy. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | 04 | The Guestworkers Who Stayed | 20170302 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. West Germany's economic miracle saw thousands of 'guestworkers' invited to work in the country, the bulk of them from Turkey. In this fourth programme, we hear how the system was built on a false assumption - that that all the workers would eventually go home. Many of the Turks too, felt equally sure that the arrangement was temporary. The reality would be very different - today there are more than three million people of Turkish descent in Germany. The programme meets migrants, officials and experts, and discovers that Germany's spectacularly hands-off approach to integration left many Turks in a legal and cultural limbo. Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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| 01 | 05 | Welcome To Britain | 20170303 | Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world. They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role. In 1971, Idi Amin expelled tens of thousands of Asians from Uganda - many of them British passport-holders. At the same time, war and famine in Bangladesh saw growing numbers of refugees arriving in the UK. This final episode of the series revisits the challenges faced by women from these two very different communities as they sought to acclimatise to 1970s Britain. What measures did the British government take to promote integration? What compromises and sacrifices were Asian women themselves prepared to make? And what more could have been done on both sides to ease the multicultural tensions that have surfaced once again in Brexit-era Britain? Producer: Hugh Costello A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
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