Background
Oldham sits on the edge of the Pennines in the North-West of England and is littered with abandoned mills and factories which act as a reminder to its once industrial and prosperous past. Demographically the town’s population is made up of 75% White British and 17% Asian or Asian descendant (2011 Census).
The Asian and British-Asian community, who are predominantly Pakistani and Bangladeshi, emigrated to Oldham in the 1960s after a nationwide push to employ people in the cotton mills. They moved to, and were located into the same areas as their families and friends which over time caused residential districts in Oldham to be only resided in by one of the ethnic groups, meaning integration between the communities has proven difficult. Even today many of the local school’s students are of one ethnic group and many of the older generation still do not speak English. Contemporary events in the muslim world add further mistrust between the communities and race hate incidents spiked after the Brexit referendum of 2016.
Fifteen years after the infamous Oldham riots the Brexit vote exposed a cultural divide in Britain, however, the residents of Oldham have known this divide for decades. Despite many successful community cohesion efforts by local arts, charity and educational groups a general mistrust between people in the town remains.
After the Oldham Riots a government commissioned report by Professor Ted Cantle developed the concept of ‘Parallel Lives’, where the two communities live side-by-side in the same area, yet with little social mixing or integration. This model has been used on towns across the UK and abroad.
Despite these issues, many people of Oldham display constant tolerance and promote integration through the actions they take in their daily lives. The focus of this project, is to document the concept of Parallel Lives through the interactions of the communities brought together by their shared residence of Oldham, whilst celebrating those who are actively breaking down cultural barriers.