Spaces and exchanges : in what way does welcoming immigrants broaden the minde and unify britain ?

Spaces and exchanges

IN WHAT WAY DOES WELCOMING IMMIGRANTS BROADEN THE MIND AND UNIFY BRITAIN ?

First of all I would like to give a definition of «Exchange». It’s a continuous movement or circulation. It includes all types of exchanges : people, trade or media. A society can be approached from the point of view of its cohesion and openness, which raises questions about its place in the world. The border which limits two spaces will sometimes be seen as the opening to a larger space. The space can evolve and take different forms. However, we decided to focus our work on the United Kingdom. The concept «Spaces and Exchanges» illustrates the theme of the discovery of new spaces, the major waves of immigration, the fact of transgressing the frontiers, consequences in the society.

Today we see that despite a very uneven level of development, the world has never been so integrated. We are witnessing exchanges in culture, arts, philosophy, etc... and more generally in everyday use. It is a way to unify people. We will study the unification of Britains and we will see in what ways welcoming immigrants broadens the mind.

To illustrate this notion, we studied three documents in class :

- One is a picture of a marathon with a few runners,

- A second document is an article about immigration with a picture of a young black girl

the last one is a poem by B.Zephania with a brief biography on him.

B.Zephania’s poem is like a recipe to make a wonderful United Kingdom. Zephania started his life in a underprivileged social back ground. He wrote a few books for teenagers and children, he seems like a spokesman for the Black minority in Britain, or minorities in general.

In his recipe, he refers to a lot of origins. So we can understand it's also a historical lesson. He began to mention Pics, Celts and Silures who were the original tribes that populated Britain. Lots of people arrived, and the arrival of new populations brought a new atmosphere which makes this more lively!

Moreover, the text is created with cooking-related vocabulary. “Stir vigorously”, “Turn up the heat”, “Sprinkle”. The goal of a recipe is to unify a few ingredients to make a good dish. Zephaniah compares the immigrants to ingredients, and the result is a unified United Kingdom with a lot of different origins. Furthermore, all the ingredients are equally important. Indeed, "treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste". The author clarifies to add “the melting pot”, “flourish” and “simmer” which suggest a positive image and a calm process. Each people brings their culture, language, and tradition. Those ones are mixed into the multicultural country and people become more open-minded, because they learn lot of new things.

Anyway, the balance is unsettled, the situation (many different people who live together) can cause conflicts. Zephaniah specifies “An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain : Give justice and equality to all.”

Actually, in an other document, Britain is presented as a multicultural country. In the picture which illustrates the text, we can see a young black girl waving the British flag. She looks proud of being British.

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