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Moving away from orthodox narratives of the Raj and British presence in India, this book examines the significance of the networks and connections that South Asians established on British soil. Looking at the period 1858-1950, it presents readings of cultural history and points to the urgent need to open up the parameters of this field of study.

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List of Figures Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Preface: The Importance of Strangers; N.Sahgal Introduction; S.Nasta The Zig Zag Lines of Tentative Connection: Indian-British Contacts in the Late Nineteenth Century; E.Boehmer Writing Empire, Fighting War: India, Great Britain and the First World War; S.Das Tracing the Legacy of an Experimental Generation: Three Iconic Travellers in 1890s London; A.Bubb Forging Global Networks in the Imperial Era: Atiya Fyzee in Edwardian London; S.Lambert-Hurley ´A Mosque in London worthy of the tradition of Islam and worthy of the capital of the British Empire´: The Struggle to Create Muslim Space, 1910-1944; H.Ansari Crafting Connections: The India Society and the Formation of an Imperial Artistic Network in Early Twentieth-Century Britain; S.V.Turner Dialoguing with Empire: The Literary and Political Rhetoric of Sarojini Naidu; C.Lokuge ´Best Sellers´: India, Indians and the British Reading Public; M.Lahiri ´A Flute of Praise´: Indian Theatre in Britain in the Early Twentieth Century; C.Chambers Calling From London, Talking to India: South Asian Networks at the BBC and the case of G.V. Desani; E.Bainbridge & F.Stadtler ´Civilising Sabu of India´: Redefining the White Man´s Burden in Twentieth-Century Britain; J.Gold Connective Tissue: South Asians and the Making of Postcolonial Histories in Britain; A.Burton Select Bibliography Index

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´This is indeed an impressive and ground-breaking collection of essays, offering significantly new research, and revealing the important contributions to British culture, society, and history made by Indian immigrants and visitors to Britain prior to World War ll.´ - Lyn Innes, Emeritus Professor of Postcolonial Literatures, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

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SUSHEILA NASTA is Professor of Modern Literature at the Open University, UK and a renowned critic, broadcaster and literary activist. Editor of Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing, which she founded in 1984, she has published widely on South Asian Britain. Recent publications include: Home Truths: Fictions of the South Asian Diaspora (Palgrave, 2002); Writing Across Worlds: Contemporary Writers Talk. A photographic history of South Asian Britain is forthcoming with Westbourne Press in 2013. Before joining the OU, she worked at the Universities of London and Cambridge and held several research fellowships overseas. She received an MBE for her services to Black and Asian Literature in 2011.

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