A lecturer who studied what it means to be a Bangladeshi Muslim growing up in London’s East End was appointed to help run Greenwich Royal Museums by outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron a day before he stepped down from office.
Goldsmith’s University lecturer Dr Aminul Hoque has been appointed a trustee for four years from September.
The voluntary role aims to help the four museums, which include the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory, to be involved with communities in Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs.
“I am aware of the precious role that museums play in society,” he said. “They are protectors and custodians of our history, art, science, knowledge and human stories.”
Dr Hoque, also Visiting Lecturer at London Metropolitan’s Whitechapel campus, gained his doctorate from Goldsmith’s in 2011 with his research for his book British Islamic Identity—Third Generation Bangladeshis from East London which was published last year.
It shows how Muslim teenagers he interviewed created their own “British-Islamic identity”. He studied how that identity helps Bengalis born in the East End manage being British, Bangladeshi and Muslim with a sense of belonging, despite Islamic terrorism dominating world news.
He has 25 years experience in the youth and voluntary sector involved with teachers, parents and social workers and has been a trainer since 2004 for Tower Hamlets Council’s Working with Bangladeshi Families course.
Aminul, awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to youth justice in east London, developed an A-Z manual to work with disengaged and ‘hard to reach’ youths as part of a council project at Tower Hamlets College.
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