Soho road - Multicultural mirror of Brum (A field trip record)

Asked a question on cultural space, “Soho road” is a place in Birmingham that immediately popped up to my mind. Being a multicultural city, Birmingham brings people from diversified cultures and traditions under the same roof. Soho road begins in the fringes of Lozells neighborhood and heads into Handsworth. It consists of a mosque, Gurudhwara, church, a Buddhist temple, Victorian buildings and so many Asian shops. The place is completely transformed into a shopper’s stop, where you can get anything Indian. Photographer Liz Hingley spent about 18 months in Soho road capturing the seconds of life in Soho. St Mary's Convent is one of the oldest religious communities in Soho set up in 1841. 

Liz Hingley quotes his Soho road photographs as “the photographs show the reality and intensity of different lifestyles and the beauty religion brings to everyday inner city life”. As I went to Soho, the place painted before me a completely different picture than what I thought it would offer. There is a different mix of people and a scenic setup structured in Soho road. It was just more than a shopping centre. 

I did a documentary on Soho road, essentially logging my journey through this multicultural mirror of Birmingham. It presents the views and opinions of different people in Soho whom I met, and covers the multicultural aspect of Soho to its best. The link to the documentary can be seen below. I first talked to an Asian bridal jewelry shop owner at Soho. In my opinion the people who have lived in the place for about years now and who have experienced what Soho it had to offer them can spell out the beauty in it. I then walked through the streets of Soho, among the flutter of pigeons a peaceful yet buzzing place in Handsworth. Restaurants, fast food centers form the most of Soho, which provides a great deal of Asian, Caribbean, Chinese cuisines.

On my way, I stopped near the famous Gurudhwara of Soho road. As I neared it I could hear chants and prayers. There was a distinct music been played at the Gurudhwara which I suppose is Sikh religious song? In the Gurudhwara I was surrounded by people of different age groups. I saw people from 5 to 50 years at the Gurudhwara. I could easily guess from the look of Gurudwara, its familiarity among the Sikh people. It was built in late 1970’s. There were five main halls and three darbar halls in it.

As a person in the Gurudhwara explained to me, this Gurudhwara was about four storey’s high and has about 100 rooms for those who want to stay in the Gurudhwara overnight and complete their prayers. The visits to it must be registered in advance. As a sacred place head coverings are required for both male and female who enter the Gurudhwara. This place also offers free vegetarian meals 24 hours a day, known as Langar. He explains that it was started to reinforce the ‘belief in equality’. It seems that the club premises belonged to the polish community at first. More number of buildings in Soho road is acquired by this Gurudhwara to provide educational facilities like schools, nurseries. 

The history of Soho shows it as a much different place than now. The Soho story unwinds as fine red brick seat built by the local government in 1877. The first building added to Soho is a library which is now also popularly known as Soho library built in early 1880’s. It is astonishing to see the difference between today’s Soho and early Soho. There are a lot of buildings built adjacently, there are lots and lots of shops and the sparking fact of it is pictured now as a Shopper’s paradise lately. As we walk through the pavements one can see the three things that strikes your mind in Soho are the Gurudhwara, Church and the South and City University. There are places in Soho named as ‘Gateway to India’. It can be clearly called as the ‘junction of diverse faith’. 

Having talked about all these historical landmarks like the Gurudwara, church and the college, people on the roads of Soho are dressed in frilled lehangas, brightly colored dresses, blinging jewels all around and the taste and feel of all different cultures in Birmingham. The cuisines and the shopping exclusives stand as the one important mark for many to know about Soho road. Even though there are many more unknown hidden historical facts about the culture of Soho, people bring out and portray their own culture in the streets of Soho.  

It was a very good experience in visiting Soho and getting to know about the cultural importance of such a place in Birmingham. As a cultural space it provides ‘Sweetness and light’ to everyone and also brings everyone together in one culture and creates a sense of oneness to ‘do away with the classes’ (Arnold, 1896) as discussed in the theory of Mathew Arnold. As presented by Barthes Soho road connotes a varied picture to everyone. The clothes worn by people, the language spoken in a different dialect connotes the sense of diverged cultures converging under one roof.

I read a journal article concerning with the multicultural aspect, ‘Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology’, Multicultural experience, Idea receptiveness and creativity. This says that “experience in a single culture may limit creativity; multicultural experiences may foster creative expansion of ideas.”  Everything in Soho road looks creative and artistic. The multicultural aspect may be the one reason as suggested by the article which embraces the beauty of Soho.

Overall, it was a great experience for me to learn and understand different cultures in this field trip.

Bibliographies:

- Arnold, Matthew (1869) ‘Culture and Anarchy’ Oxford: OUP Oxford

-‘Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology’, Multicultural experience, Idea receptiveness and creativity 2010-Leung-(723-741)
-Anderson, James (2012) Media Research Methods. London: Sage, pp351-373

Have a listen to the documentary!