South Asian Heritage Month seeks to celebrate and commemorate South Asian cultures, histories and communities. At the Society we are celebrating South Asian Heritage Month through recognising the contribution of the South Asian Community.
Iram Sammar is the Ordnance Survey Award winner for excellence in geography education at secondary level. Here, Iram speaks of how geography influenced her life as a Muslim living in Britain and how she brings this plural identity into the classroom. Iram has also shared images from her most recent trip to Pakistan
Iram Sammar
Geography saved my life. Before I tell you how, it is important to know, who am I? Other than a geographer, I am a Muslim living in Britain with a heritage rooted in South Asia. When asked ‘where are you from?’, I proudly say ‘Pakistan’, however, I first consciously visited when I was twenty five years of age. The question of belonging is an interesting one, as it led me to embark on an amazing career in geography.
My family moved from mill town Oldham during the 1980s to Oxford, so I could gain, what my father called ‘a good education’ and become a doctor or a lawyer. Instead, I developed a strong passion for geography. This led me to begin my undergraduate geography studies at Queen Mary, University of London. Later I extended my postgraduate studies from completing the Secondary Geography PGCE qualification to finally accomplishing a Masters degree in Geography Education, both at the Institute of Education. I now live in the city of London and have worked as a geography teacher in a range of secondary schools - including experience of faith and mixed comprehensive. It is clear that my geographical connections have taken me from the north to the south of England; from the west to east of the world, Europe to Asia - making me the global person that I am. Becoming a geography teacher was the best decision I made in my life.
Looking back, I feel so grateful that I chose A Level geography, although many people around me were encouraging me to study Sciences and Maths. Yes, my parents, aunties, uncles, cousins - all except my brother. It was my brother who said “why don’t you choose geography? They have this fantastic trip to Wales, you can go on it and drop out afterwards.” In all honesty, I did just that, but I didn’t drop out. After going on the field trip to Kilverough, Wales I literally fell in love with the place and the subject. I always had a passion to explore landscapes and scenery beyond the urban fringes I grew up in, as I loved art and painting. As I began my journey into geography education, my mind was baffled by the grace of the river systems; the power of plate tectonics; and the beauty of landscapes with all its interconnections, including people and ecosystems. It was definitely a subject I wanted to pursue for life. My PhD studies are a testament to this.
Thinking about my identity, racism and cultural differences used to make me feel isolated and detached. I began to ask myself so many questions. One question was, where do I belong? I still haven’t answered this. One thing is for sure, studying geography at university opened my eyes to how the world works and all the complex systems, processes and imaginations we as humans navigate within this huge world. My BA dissertation explored the life experiences of first and second generation of South Asian women in Oxford. It was the single most illuminating project I had ever undertaken. This project was inspired by the postcolonial reality that both my parents encountered after they married - they decided to migrate from Pakistan to live in the UK during the 1970s. Their stories are so important to me and through my geographical senses, I have come to appreciate their lives. This long-distance move was not an easy one for them, as they faced many struggles and hurdles from the racial tensions within the fabric of British society to the struggles of austerity.
As my plural identity takes me to my South Asian roots, I often bring this into the classroom when teaching geography. I do this through discussions of colonialism, racism and migration just to contextualise who I am and why I am standing in front of those I teach. When I meet a class for the first time, I talk to the students through general ideas about colonialism, different world perspectives and understanding diversity and community cohesion. Sometimes this learning can take up an entire hour. I do this through geography because I think future learners need to have that historical (and) geographical context because it may be the only time they get to think critically about the world and their place in it. Without geography, I don’t think I would have been able to challenge the harshness of my circumstances. I thank Allah ﷻ (Arabic for God) that I chose Geography, it really saved my life.
Images from my trip to Pakistan