Be part of Leicester's commemoration of 50 years of Ugandan Asians in the city

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the expulsion of the Asian population of Uganda (largely of Indian descent) by President Idi Amin. Of the circa-70,000 who were forced to leave, some 12,000 moved to Leicester and began to rebuild their lives. We’re asking DMU staff, students and alumni to be part of a variety of activities commemorating this seismic migration event. Their impact on the city and nationally has been enormous – economically, culturally and politically – reflected most obviously in the Belgrave area.

In looking at how those who came to Britain in 1972 have rebuilt their lives, the contributions they have made to their adopted country – and at how the British public and media responded to them – we can also ask questions about the national and global approach to refugees today.

The anniversary will be marked by a wide range of events and activities in various venues around Leicester. These will include an exhibition at Leicester Museum, a smaller one at Charnwood Museum, and touring exhibitions to libraries and community venues, commencing from early summer 2022.

The exhibitions are community-driven, led by Navrang Arts, and there are opportunities for DMU staff, students and alumni, to get involved in sharing and collecting stories and materials that can support the commemorations and then be kept as part of DMU’s history in our institutional archive.

The priority at this critical stage is capturing and recording the content for the exhibition via oral histories and filmed interviews. Navrang Arts and DMU are interested in the experience of what it was like to grow up in Leicester as children or grandchildren of those who were forced to leave Uganda, and how things have changed over time.

What are we looking for and how to get involved?

All DMU staff, alumni, and current students (but especially second, third and fourth generation South Asians) can get involved in the following ways:

• to share your own story around the anniversary, through family history or your own lived experience across the generations of your family
• to share copies of documents, photographs, and artefacts with DMU’s archive
• to take part in interviewing, collecting, and recording stories and materials from those who come forward (training and guidance will be provided). This could be as part of your university learning or simply an activity you want to get involved in. 

This growing archive of stories will form part of ongoing exhibitions with Navrang Arts and support DMU activity around the anniversary. All you need to do to take part is email local@dmu.ac.uk with your expression of interest by the end of the day on Friday 15 April indicating whether you would like to share your own stories and/or help in the recording and collecting activity.