The British Asian - Other Podcast | Podcast on RSS.com

The British Asian - Other Podcast

The British Asian - Other Podcast

by Ryan Z

Education Society & Culture

Season 1

Madam President | #021

In this final episode of Season 1 of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], I'm joined by Enaya, or as I call her in this episode, Madam President. In just over half an hour, we get into what it was like to grow up Indian in Saudi Arabia, the languages she carries (including Arabic), her own personal relationship with Islam and the Quran, and her love of Indo-Chinese food , a cuisine that, for many South Asians, is its own kind of home. We also talk about the small, strange sensory shocks of the UK: seeing autumn for the first time, discovering seasons, the new tastes that come with a new country.

Malay ≠ Malaysian | #020

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Adam (he/him) joins me to talk about what it means to be Malay and why so many of us, myself included, didn't know that Malay and Malaysian aren't the same thing. In just over half an hour, we get into Adam's experience growing up Malay in Singapore including the racism he faced at school, his time as a police officer during military service, and the myth of meritocracy in a country that often claims not to see race. We also talk about what it's like to live in the UK as someone whose background is regularly forgotten or assumed, and the quiet division he's noticed since moving here.

Swerving Away and Coming Back | #019

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Thivyaa (they/them) joins me and we finally debut the name of the podcast on air (after 18 episodes) In just over half an hour, we get into what it was like to grow up Tamil in Wembley, surrounded by community, then arriving at university and finding the Sri Lankan crowd didn't quite fit. We talk about swerving away from your culture and finding your way back to it, the strange experience of figuring out queerness alongside identity, and what coexisting with yourself actually looks like in practice.

Is White Culture Everyone’s Culture? | #018

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Rhea (she/her) joins me to ask a question most of us have felt but rarely name: why is white culture everyone's culture? In just over half an hour, we get into her years at a top London girls' school, what it meant to be one of the few brown girls in a sea of Chelsea privilege, the Indian classical dance she practiced at home but never showed at school, and the small, telling examples she keeps coming back to: like the people who know every Beatles song but couldn't name a Beyoncé track.

Nurturing Asainness | #017

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Diya (she/they) joins me to talk about growing up Asian in Kenya and how her Asianness needed to be nurtured once she got to the UK. In just over half an hour, we get into the strange shift she's noticed in moving to Britain: how identity here gets sorted into much firmer boxes, how being a queer person of colour gets read differently in the UK than in the places she grew up, and how building Asian friendships at university became its own kind of cultural homecoming.

Affirming Wasianness | #015

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Martin (he/him) joins me to talk about being Wasian and what it means to claim that identity rather than slip between two halves. In just over half an hour, we get into his experience growing up around the top 10% of Beijing, what the real China looks like from someone whose family is only on the periphery of it, and whether being Wasian is the kind of identity that needs to be affirming in the UK.

From HK and Singapore to the UK Clubbing Scene | #014

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Gobi (she/her) joins me as half Singaporean and half Hongkonger. With what's been ranked the most powerful passport in the world, to talk about what brought her to the UK and what she's noticed since arriving. In just over half an hour, we get into the strange culture shocks of British life (regional accents, the clubbing scene), the McDonald's shake-shake bags that don't exist outside Hong Kong, and the slower, harder work of building community when you arrive somewhere new.

The Gurmat Sangeet Student from the Northeast | #013

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Anmol (he/him) joins me to talk about growing up Asian in the northeast of England and what that experience looks like when most of the British Asian conversation defaults to Birmingham or London. In just over half an hour, we get into the small ways your Asianness gets shaped by where you grow up, his unexpected love for Mahjong and East Asian culture, and a proper deep-dive into Indian classical music, which Anmol now teaches.

What is it to be Asian? | #012

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Yusrah (she/her) joins me to talk about what it means to be British Pakistani and how that identity sits differently for someone who didn't grow up in Pakistan. In just over half an hour, we get into the small customs that quietly mark us as Asian. Like taking off your shoes, always sharing food the unspoken rule about giving seconds and the way her mother turned hospitality into an art form allowing it to shape her own instincts when she left home for university.

Marriage, Family & the International Accent | #011

In this episode of the British Asian - Other Podcast [BAO], Samah (she/her) joins me to talk about growing up in Pakistan, moving to Dubai, and landing at a UK university and what each of those places taught her about who she is. In just over half an hour, we get into the FOB accent, the obvious "international" one, the strange exposure of cooking your own food for the first time at uni, and the privilege you don't quite see until you've left it behind.

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