Celebrating Community

“Community to me is a place where you feel like you can belong”

From the moment we are born, we are shaped by the places we go and the people we meet. And whether it’s something you’re born with, or that you pick up along the way, your culture and community are a key part of who you are.  

Juproop

Undergraduate, Department of Chemical Engineering

To me, community is a place where you feel like you can belong. It is about being welcomed and appreciated, and where your differences are accepted and celebrated. Community is all about being somewhere you feel able to talk openly and where you feel able to express your culture in a way that empowers yourself and everyone around you. 

When I was younger, I did not appreciate the richness and beauty of my Punjabi Sikh culture. Now I feel like “this is me, this is where I belong”. That sense of community and belonging is what I love about my culture.  

Hollie

Undergraduate, Department of Life Sciences

I grew up in Worcestershire, in the West Midlands, and I’d describe myself as Mixed heritage, British Caribbean, British Jamaican... depending on the context. To me, culture is your community and who you surround yourself with. It’s an exchange – both sharing with others, and others sharing with you.

A lot of the Jamaican culture I identify with is from spending time at my grandparents’ house as a kid: being surrounded by my family, food and music.

Paula

Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Medicine

I was born in Colombia, in a city called Cali, where people are known for being very smiley, friendly, and they dance all the time. People don’t often realise that Colombia is a very diverse country – it’s bordered by both the Caribbean and the Pacific oceans, with different environments on each side. We also have a bit of the Amazon and the Andes mountains, where you’ll find cultural connections with other countries along the mountain range like Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. 

I have a little bit of a nomadic spirit and I’m open about the concept of culture. I have learnt and taken a bit from other cultures without losing other parts of myself. I think culture can be flexible - you can adopt things from other cultures without jeopardising who you are.

Tiffany

Senior Teaching Fellow in Educational Development, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

I'm from Taiwan and I’d say I also identify with East Asian culture. Taiwan is quite a small island but has a population of around 24 million people! I really value the Taiwanese community, the friendly people, the food and the culture, because this is where I’m from. Family and community are so important to me – it's influenced so much of who I am today.

For me, culture is linked to our values and the way we see the world around us. It ends up being a central part of a person because it shapes who you are and the way you approach certain things. We need people from diverse backgrounds so we can approach things from different perspectives. When different ideas come together, we get innovation and different ways of doing things, and we do things better.

“The drums and the energy of the music are incredible”

Celebrations and festivals are a key part of many people’s heritage and identity. They offer the opportunity for people to get together and celebrate their cultures.

Hollie

Notting Hill Carnival, in West London, brings together my heritage, my life in London and my life at Imperial. It’s a celebration of African and Afro-Caribbean culture, in one of my favourite parts of London. It has a big Afro-Caribbean population, and the carnival brings a great party atmosphere every year. The first time I went to Carnival, I was a kid, and my aunt lived on the Carnival route – so she’d set up a stall selling Jamaican food: curried goat and oxtail. It reminds me of going to my grandparents’ house as a kid - there's so much music, colour and fun, and you get a real sense of the enjoyment of freedom and celebration. 

Tiffany

At Lunar New Year I get together with family based in the UK and we have a lot of traditional food. It’s a really big celebration in Taiwan – similar to Christmas here in the UK. Lots of people go back and visit family – I wish I could do that, but Lunar New Year is usually in the spring term when work is really busy.

Back in Taiwan, we celebrate by gathering with family, writing wishes in calligraphy to put on the door, and preparing a lot of food. A key part is also to do a really deep clean of your house as a gesture to mark the start of the new year. 

Juproop

Being a Punjabi Sikh, my ancestors and where we came from is really special to me. Punjabis are from the region of India called Punjab, which is 80% farmland. All of my mum and dad’s families are farmers and it was their responsibility to take care of the crops and feed the nation. Knowing how hard they had to work is something that is really instilled in me. Each year on 14 April, everyone comes together to celebrate a successful harvest in a celebration known as Vaisakhi. 

On days of celebration, we go to the gurdwara and pray. Everyone will be in cultural dress, eating the cultural food, and praying together. Observing these parts of my religion makes me appreciate what I have got. These celebrations are moments to remember God and the past history of Sikhism. It is also a reminder of the duty I have as a Punjabi to carry on the values of working hard and not giving up. 

Paula

There’s an amazing cultural celebration that takes place in my hometown every August called the Festival de musica del Pacifico Petronio Alvarez. It celebrates the Pacific culture of Colombia, which is so unique to the area and combines African, European and Indigenous influences.

The drums and the energy of the music are incredible and there’s no way you can’t move to it. It’s really beautiful because when I connect with people from Africa, I can see the similarities between our cultures and realise, “ah, that’s where it comes from”. 

“Now I love the things that make me unique”

Culture and community are often deep-rooted in connection. For some, this might be a connection with a particular country or religion, and for others it’s the connections made through relationships with family and friends. 

Tiffany

I'm really grateful to come from a different culture, and here in the UK I still maintain my Taiwanese culture. I don’t try to forget where I’m from, instead, I try to bring those things to my work. When adjusting to a new environment, people might try to present themselves in a way that fits into the dominant discourse or culture. The most comfortable way for me is to just be myself, and not contradict my personal values.

Juproop

I wear a turban every day, which I started learning to tie after I finished my GCSEs. In my interpretation of Sikhism, one of the things you are supposed to do is keep your Kes (your hair), so I’ve always had long hair. This is because your hair is something that is living on your body and we believe that when you cut it, you are cutting a life short.  

I started learning how to tie my big turban during the COVID lockdowns, which became the perfect chance to practice how to tie it. I used to go and work at the pharmacy and it was my excuse, on a weekly basis, to wake up early and try to tie my turban. Funnily enough, just like how you can have a bad hair day, you can also have a bad turban day when it does not tie right!  

There are different styles to wearing your turban and I have learnt mine from my dad, who was my inspiration for wearing the big turban. My dad came over to the UK in the late 1970s and he has told me about how when he used to go to school, he would be chased around because of his turban. I feel like not wearing my turban would be an injustice to everything they put up with, even though it is fundamentally my choice. This turban is not just a turban, it is not just a piece of cloth. It represents so much more. It represents the struggle of migrants coming to this country, and how they have built up their lives here.

Paula

I found it difficult in the past when I had to fill in a questionnaire about my ethnicity and none of the options reflected who I am. I end up having to choose ‘mix’ or ‘other’ and it feels weird to have to do that to feel included. Genetically, I might be a mix of European and Indigenous, but it is very difficult to be certain of everything in my background and what skin colour means.

Regardless of where we come from, I think it’s important we realise that even if we meet someone from the other side of the world with a completely different religion, culture or skin colour, we can still find so many things in common. I think that’s wonderful. 

Hollie

I feel that family is the centre of community for me. When I was growing up, I used to be so aware that no one else looked like me at primary or secondary school. But then I’d go to my grandparents’ house and it would be full of music, amazing food and a sense of happiness.

Now I love the things that make me unique and I love being me. I’ve reached a sense of contentment: I don't need to try and fit in. I don't need to get other people's approval and I don’t need to look the same as everyone else. And that is good enough.  

Coming to Imperial, I’ve made friends with people from across the world, and they share their culture with me by just existing together. That’s what you do when you're with people you care about and people you love – you give them pieces of yourself. And I think that is what forms us as people. 

Hear Juproop, Hollie, Paula and Tiffany talk more about community.