Dr Jessica Frazier, Lecturer in Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has just appeared in a BBC documentary celebrating the Hindu festival of Dussehra. The programme tells the story of the Ugandan Asians who were exiled by Idi Amin, and made a new life in the UK, the anniversary of which coincides with the festival.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the arrival of nearly 30,000 Ugandan Asians on these shores – expelled from their homes, and livelihoods, by the dictator Idi Amin. This is their story.
The below clip introduces the background to their story with short contributions from some of the interviewees, including Gordon Vaja who owned a garage in Uganda and Maz Mashru who was a photo-journalist for the Ugandan Argus newspaper.
Dr Jessica Frazier, lecturer in Religious Studies and part of the Oxford Centre for Hindu studies describes how the Ugandan Asians are now amongst the most settled and invaluable communities in the country.
To view the clip see here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zv7zz
On the 8th November, Jessica will also be appearing on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time Programme with Melvyn Bragg to speak about the famous and influential Hindu scriptures, the Upanishads. This will be Jessica’s third appearance on the programme as an expert on Hinduism and Buddhism studies.