Make yourself at home (MY-HOME): Co-curating the South Asian community experience at Southampton

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On the 10th of October 1965, 'Make yourself at home' was screened on BBC One. A companion radio program also appeared on BBC radio. The screening of this show marked a pivotal move in the BBC's approach to immigration and had a lasting impact on its ethnic minority programming. While the show demonstrated an important shift in how the BBC saw its role in the public life of an increasingly multi-cultural U.K, the programme also marks a crucial moment in the lives of the South Asian migrants. MY-HOME is an intergenerational public engagement project that tracks the initial reception and legacy of 'Make yourself at Home'. Through a case study of the community experience of this show among the South Asian community in Southampton we will explore how this show and others that followed it (Nayi Zindagi Naya Jeevan' and 'Gharbar') contributed to the construction of South Asian diasporic identity in the UK. The project is co-designed with the BBC to mark the centenary year of the BBC and outputs from the project will add to the corporation's collection of 100 Voices and the 'Story of US'. Through a programme of oral history interviews, participant driven workshops and a public exhibition with the John Hansard Gallery which will be co-created with our audience of first, second and third generation South Asians-the project will illustrate the long-term history of BBC's role in making immigrants at home in the city of Southampton. As MY-HOME is an intergenerational project, we will focus on three specific age groups within the British South Asian community of the city.First generation migrants aged 65 and aboveSecond generation migrants aged 35-50Third generation migrants aged 18- 35Engaging with this project will benefit our public audience by allowing them an opportunity to share their thoughts on BBC programming and articulate what it is that they are looking for in public broadcasting. It will allow them to record and save collective memories of early engagement with The BBC and to speak about the impediments to engaging with the BBC. As a recent 2020 Ofcom study on ethnic minority engagement with public broadcasting has illustrated, different generations South Asian are looking at BBC for reasons ranging from the need for greater belonging in British society to connecting with their other homeland. The project will allow them to articulate these needs collectively and critically.