Jack the Ripper Eats Curry

Friday, September 12, 2008

This morning we went to the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, the seedy haunt of Jack the Ripper. Our tour was given by an American woman from Georgia who converted to Islam some years ago. Hers was a very interesting perspective, but she seemed to be too complacent about her place in the religion. She was very happy with it and had no real complaints. When we discussed the visit later, we all were curious what someone who had grown up with the religion would think, as opposed to someone who consciously chose it. Her husband also gave us a tour around the community center. They do a lot of good and it seems to be a great place for the community.

After our tour, Lauren, Chris, Katie, Jen, and I wanted to eat Indian food on Brick Lane, so we got lunch at a place called Brick Lane Cuisine. It was delicious.

We hurried back to the Arran House for a class session to discuss our trip. The basic consensus was that the East End as dodgy as we thought it would be. Through our reading and rumors we’ve heard from various people in London, the East End has always been painted as a place no civilized person goes. To be honest, we stayed in what have become the rather gentrified parts of the East End— the now-famous Brick Lane and Whitechapel made famous by Jack the Ripper. I cannot be entirely sure that what I saw is the “true” East End, or whether it has just been improved from its shady past due to recent interest and popularity. The sari boutiques, Indian restaurants, and Bangladeshi sweet shops certainly catered to the public, but there was a fair amount of tourists there. It was interesting to learn that there was a public outcry when the movie of Brick Lane was being filmed because East Enders felt that it did not accurately represent their community. I can’t blame them. When I was reading the book, I did not really get a sense of the community at all, only the disjointedness between genders, cultures, and generations. I wish that I had read Salaam Brick Lane first. I would have had a much clearer understanding of the community in which Nazneem was living. I think that the East End population would prefer Salaam Brick Lane if asked, because, probably by virtue of it being non-fiction, it gives a much clearer picture of the community, both immigrant and Cockney.
The East End is certainly not the London you think of when you envision Big Ben, St. Paul’s, and Harrods. It’s dingier, lower class, and mostly populated by immigrants, many of them Muslim. But, at least at the East London Mosque is working to balance individual culture with mainstream British society. It really does seem to be an immensely positive force in the community, focusing on the very specific needs of a marginalized and not necessarily appreciated group of people. Because it working to have such a positive influence on the community and a positive relationship with the rest of the city through its various service programs, education, job preparation, etc., it creates a safe haven for Muslims throughout the East End. With all the stereotypes and negativity toward Muslims, especially because of recent world events, all of this positive influence, I hope, will help foster a better understanding of Islam as a religion as the various South Asian cultures that have settled in the East End.
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After our discussion, we were free for the rest of the evening. I wanted to go out and have some fun, but I ended up spending the evening researching for tomorrow’s tour.