Lecturer delves into lives and identity of ‘British Islamic’ East End teenagers

What it means to be a Bangladeshi Muslim growing up in London’s East End is revealed in a new book by a lecturer who has studied the lives of third-generation British-born Asian teenagers.

Dr Aminul Hoque delves into how it feels to be seen as “violent, terrorist, un-British” and be in a marginalised minority with “no sense of belonging”.

The London Met University and Goldsmith’s lecturer shows how the six Muslim teenagers he interviewed have created their own “British-Islamic identity”, with unsettling stories as they chart their life experiences.

He explores how that identity helps Bangladeshis born in the East End manage the complexities of being British, Bangladeshi and Muslim, with a sense of belonging, despite Islamic terrorism dominating world news.

Most of Dr Hoque’s community work is in Tower Hamlets. He received the Philip Lawrence award in 2005 and an MBE for services to youth justice in east London in 2008. He is also a freelance journalist and broadcaster whose first radio documentary on Islamic Pride was shortlisted for the Sony awards in 2004.

His British-Islamic Identity—Third-generation Bangladeshis from East London is published by Trentham Books at £26.99.