Mohammed Shamuz Miah (Burnley, UK)
Who I am
Mohammed Shamuz Miah is one of the oldest people we interviewed. Our third location for research was Oldham and the surrounding area. Mohammed Shamuz Miah is from Burnley, about 15 miles from Oldham. Oldham represents one of the largest and most established Bangladeshi communities outside of London, but has been little researched so far. It became a focus of great media, academic and public concern after the 'riots' of 2001 in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham. We chose this interviewee because of Mr Mia's fascinating personal history and his views on the changing Bengali presence in the area.
Mohammed Shamuz Miah is in his late 70s and retired. His family were farmers: 'I am a man from an ordinary family. We cultivated land and supported our family that way.' As the eldest son, he left school when he was 13 or 14 to work on the family land and later went into business (selling produce).
