Zoroastrians in Britain: The Ratanbai Katrak Lectures: University of Oxford 1985

Zoroastrianism is the religion of ancient Iran, dating back over a thousand years before the time of Christ. It is also the religion of Britain's oldest South Asian minority, with a history going back to 1724, From the contribution to the Zoroastrian MPs Naoroji and Bhownagree in the nineteenth century to the transmission of their heritage and concerns in the 1990s, this is the first complete study of the community. With the largest Zoroastrian population outside the `old countries' living in London, the British community has played an important part in the modern history of Zoroastrianism. They furnish a unique opportunity to trace the history and experience of an Asian community in the West for well over a hundred years, with a wide variety of members from rural and urban India, Pakistan, East Africa, as well as the original homeland, Iran, and a substantial proportion of Zoroastrians who are British-born. The book is based on an extensive study of archival sources, a large survey questionnaire, a programme of structured interviews, and over twenty years of the author's personal contact with the community. The book includes discussion of many important contemporary issues, such as racial prejudice, gender issues, generational differences, attitudes towards British society and to the `old country'--and argues that religion is an increasingly important concern among British South Asian minorities.

Review :
`extremely well-researched book ... John Hinnell's book is a major contribution to research on Zoroastrianism. It seems equally important for diaspora studies.' Michael Stausberg, BRILL (Numen Vol 46) `you do get preferential treatment in India, even today, when you mention that you are a Parsi. ... a fascinating, if sometimes painful, account of why this remains so.' The Times Higher Education Supplement, 15 August 1997 `A masterful introduction to Zoroastrian religion and to South Asian immigration in Britain...Absorbing, sensitive, and exhaustively researched, this book will remain the standard work for many years. Essential for college and research libraries.' Religious Studies Review `'...The author's affection for the Zoroastrian religion in general and the British community in particular, is clear to the reader from the outset; here, we have a labour of love, of which this volume is only the first fruit...His enthusiasm for the religion is infectious and his brief overview of Zoroastrian history from 1200 BCE to the present in a few pages leaves one breathless...Hinnells is adept at making what might have been a rather parochial history into an absorbing account of the politics of survival...'' aland Williams, Dept Religions & Theology, Univ Manchester, Jnl Contemporary Religion