Katherine Relle on Diversity in London

By: Katherine Relle

October 6, 2009

I boarded my Virgin Atlantic flight at 6 p.m. on Saturday night. The pilot spoke English, and the habits of my fellow travelers resembled my own. As I was propelled five hours into the future to arrive at Heathrow Airport the next morning, everything had been what I expected—until I saw the immigration line. Multitudes of people of different races and ethnicities stood in the queue waiting to get into the United Kingdom, and I began to second guess the image of London that I had created in my mind. Charles Dickens? Not exactly. William Shakespeare? A little off. Harry Potter? No way.

I quickly realized that I had something else coming for me when I moved into Cartwright Gardens of Central London. Having traveled through Europe and spent some of my childhood summers in Greece, I assumed that London would be a cultural experience similar to my previous adventures abroad. Nevertheless, I was taken by surprise when week one in London threw me a curveball, presenting me with much more than the Anglican city I expected London to be.

While many people would argue that religion is a critical institution that brings a community together through mutual spiritual and social bonds, I have found that this is not wholly the case. In cities like Athens, Greece, the population is made up of mostly Greeks and, therefore, the people practice the same Greek Orthodox religious customs that go along with their shared tradition. However, this is not so in London. Rather, London is an international city. Some would even call London ‘a world in one city,’ as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, and various other minority religions all inhabit the same urban space under one title: Londoner. Yet, I wonder how these religions exist under this same name. I have found that this passive existence is partly due to the English language, the invisibility factor that comes from London's large population and the ethnic comfort found in the city's multicultural cuisines.

As a cosmopolitan metropolis that compares with places like New York City or Toronto for being the world's most diverse city, London is the global city. The population of the 32 London boroughs plus the city of London is approximately 7,700,000, as the London population is laced with multiculturalism. Therefore, a need for the English language in business, politics, and trade perpetuates the demolition of language barriers in London. This is probably the reason why most of the Londoners that I have met so far are from countries in Asia and other parts of Europe; nonetheless, they all speak English in addition to the languages of their home countries. The common language seems to make it easier for other cultures to accept those that are different, as religious differences are taken off the forefront for first impressions and self-constructed individual images.

London's large population also perpetuates the ability for multicultural Londoners to get along with each other. When I rode the Tube, I realized that people spent most of their time in the Underground without ever exchanging a glance with another individual, regardless of their similarities or differences. Thus, it seems to follow that religions are able to coexist in London because it is easy for a person to become invisible, or ‘lost in the crowd.’ With so many ethnic enclaves throughout London, Londoners appear to merely tolerate one another rather than make efforts to mingle with diversity as they pass each other in the lift or share a bench outside a pub.

As a final note, whoever said that London had bad food was sorely mistaken! The ethnic cuisine has been phenomenal, which is probably a part of why so many different people with diverse beliefs can coexist within one city's limits. I have seen British people eating in Chinese restaurants, Chinese people eating in Italian restaurants, and the list goes on. Appreciating the food of other cultures appears to be another way that ethnic barriers are broken down in London. This cultural tolerance is supported by the additional comfort that foreigners feel when they recognize something familiar, like food, in a big city that is far from home.

While I had heard that London is a global city, I do not think that I understood the real-world implications of such a characterization until now. With just one week under my belt, I am beginning to grapple with the idea that the images we are presented with across continents and oceans are more than just stories for entertaining an audience; —these images result from the ways in which community members interact with one another every day. Language, gesture, and food are only small pieces to a puzzle that has been historically broken apart by diversity in religion and ethnic tradition. London, however, looks as if it is headed in a direction aimed at putting the puzzle back together.

I look forward to the rest of my year in London and will be reporting back in a few months with more observations from abroad. Cheers!

Opens in a new window