Abstract

This article will examine the types of relationships certain young second-generation British Bangladeshi Muslim women have with their parents of first generation, particularly with their fathers, the languages spoken with them, and the meanings and emotions associated with this. This article also looks at how language is understood by young women from educated family backgrounds, and how language might also have the potential for these young women to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences and identities. In investigating relationships between first-generation parents and their daughters, this article particularly focuses on the emotions evoked when migrant parents pass on historical cultures. It examines how migration affects respondents directly and explores notions of integration by looking at how intergenerational dialogue can influence understandings of communal boundaries and transgressions. Through its focus on relationships within the family, the article examines how certain young women are able to create spaces of understanding and speak from the different historical positions they inhabit.