Scottish Asian
Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland.[1] Their parents or grandparents are normally Asian immigrants. Many of them are academics, doctors, business owners and/or engineers. It can also refer to people who are of dual Scottish and Asian ancestry. It combines Asian ethnic background with Scottish national identity.
In traditional British usage, the term Asian did not normally include East Asians, who were referred by their respective national origins (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Malaysians and others) or collectively as "Oriental", which similar to Scotch can be viewed of as pejorative when applied to people.[2] By contrast, in traditional North American usage the term Asian did not normally include South Asians but focused on East and Southeast Asians, particularly Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. These frames of reference reflect different migration patterns.
Census
The 2001 and 2011 censuses recorded the following ethnic groups:
Ethnic Group | 2001[3] | 2011[4] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian | 15,037 | 0.30% | 32,706 | 0.62% |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani | 31,793 | 0.63% | 49,381 | 0.93% |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi | 1,981 | 0.04% | 3,788 | 0.07% |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese | 16,310 | 0.32% | 33,706 | 0.64% |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other | 6,196 | 0.12% | 21,097 | 0.40% |
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total | 71,317 | 1.41% | 140,678 | 2.66% |
Total Population in Scotland | 5,062,011 | 100.00% | 5,295,403 | 100.00% |
In addition to ethnicity, the 2011 census asked about national identity.[5]
- 34 per cent of all minority ethnic groups felt they had some Scottish identity either on its own or in combination with another identity. This ranged from 60 per cent for people from a mixed background and 50 per cent for those from a Pakistani ethnic group, to 21 per cent for those from an African ethnic group. This compared to 83 per cent for all people in Scotland.[5]
- 62 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish identity only’ as their national identity, of which 98 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[5]
- 18 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish and British identity only’ as their national identity, of which 97 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[5]
- 8 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘British identity only’. Of these, 49 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’, 38 per cent were ‘White: Other British’, and 8 per cent were ‘Asian’.[5]
- 4 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘Other identity only’ (i.e. no UK identity), 32 per cent of those were ‘White: Other White’, 22 per cent were ‘Asian’ and 21 per cent were ‘White: Polish’.[5]
South Asian communities
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1991 | 32,000 | — |
2001 | 49,000 | +53.1% |
2011 | 86,000 | +75.5% |
Source: |
Scotland's South Asian population of more than 80,000 is mostly from Indian and Pakistani background. The majority are adherents of the Hindu, Sikh and Islamic faiths and are concentrated around urban areas, such as Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. However, there are Asian communities in places as small as Stornoway and as far north as Aberdeen.[8]
- Dundee - 4,000 Asians (especially the Hilltown and Stobswell)
- Edinburgh - 26,264 Asians
- Glasgow (and surrounding Greater Glasgow area) - 65,000 Asians (especially Pollokshields, Pollokshaws, Govanhill, Newton Mearns, Bearsden, East Kilbride and Woodlands)
Notable Scottish Asians
Arts and entertainment
- Ali Abbasi, media presenter and writer
- Danny Bhoy, comedian
- Shabana Bakhsh, actress
- Hassan Ghani, journalist and broadcaster
- Mahtab Hussain, photographer
- Sara Ishaq, film maker
- Sanjeev Kohli, actor, TV presenter and property owner
- Hardeep Singh Kohli, media presenter
- Katie Leung, actress
- MC-VA, rapper
- Aasmah Mir, television and radio presenter
- Shereen Nanjiani, television and radio presenter
- Suhayl Saadi, writer
- Kiran Sonia Sawar, actress
- Marli Siu, actress
- KT Tunstall, musician
- Atta Yaqub, actor and model
Business
- Poonam Gupta, businesswoman
- Angela Malik, chef and entrepreneur
- Tony Singh, chef and entrepreneur
Politics
- Bashir Ahmad, politician (SNP); in 2007 became the first MSP to be elected from an Asian background[9]
- Mushtaq Ahmad, politician, Lord Provost of South Lanarkshire
- Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, politician, former SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire
- Ayesha Hazarika, political advisor
- Bashir Maan, politician, former Labour councillor
- Hanzala Malik, politician, former Labour MSP for the Glasgow region; the first Scottish Asian MSP from the Scottish Labour Party
- Nosheena Mobarik, politician (Conservative member of the House of Lords; former MEP for Scotland)
- Claude Moraes, politician (former Labour MEP for London)
- Jainti Dass Saggar, politician, first non-white local authority councillor in Scotland
- Anas Sarwar, politician, former Labour MP for Glasgow Central (2010-2015); MSP for Glasgow region (2016–present); 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership candidate
- Mohammed Sarwar, politician, former Labour MP for Glasgow Central (1997-2010), father of Anas Sarwar
- Humza Yousaf, politician, SNP MSP for the Glasgow Pollock, Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Sport
- Aqeel Ahmed, boxer
- Tanveer Ahmed, boxer
- Jamie Bhatti, rugby union player
- Asim Butt, cricketer
- David Changleng, rugby union player and referee
- Malcolm Changleng, rugby union player and referee
- Ukashir Farooq, boxer
- Majid Haq, cricketer
- Omer Hussain, cricketer
- Moneeb Iqbal, cricketer
- Jazz Juttla, former footballer
- Vishal Marwaha, hockey player
- Rashid Sarwar, former footballer
- Safyaan Sharif, cricketer
- Qasim Sheikh, cricketer
- Mo Yaqub, footballer
Other
- Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer; Lawyer of the Year 2017; Rector of the University of Glasgow
- Robina Qureshi, human rights campaigner
- Misbah Rana, involved in publicised parental custody issues
- Osama Saeed, activist
- Roza Salih, activist
- Mohammed Atif Siddique, convicted of terrorism offences
- Mamta Singhal, winner of the Women Engineering Society Prize - Young Women Engineer of the Year 2007; finalist for Global MBA student of the Year 2008
Popular culture
See also
References
- "Scotland's New Official Ethnicity Classification" (PDF).
- "'Oriental': Rugs, Not People".
- "Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report".
- "Standard Outputs".
- "Census 2011: Detailed characteristics on Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion in Scotland – Release 3A". This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
- Ansari, Humayun (14 April 2019). The Infidel Within: Muslims in Britain Since 1800. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 9781850656852 – via Google Books.
- Ethnic groups, Scotland, 2001 and 2011
- "The Times & The Sunday Times". www.thetimes.co.uk.
- "First Asian MSP goes to Holyrood". 4 May 2007 – via news.bbc.co.uk.