"This guy has better Punjabi than both of us and he’s only half Punjabi." Only. Half. When Jassa heard those words he felt diminished. The intent was not malicious, but he felt robbed of something essential to him.
For over twenty-five years, actor Jassa Ahluwalia described himself as ‘half Indian, half English’. His fluent Punjabi always prompted bewilderment, medical staff questioned the legitimacy of his name, and the world of casting taught him he wasn’t ‘the right kind of mixed-race’. Feeling caught between two worlds, it wasn’t long before Jassa embarked on a call to action: we need to change how we think and talk about mixed identity.
By delving into the media we grew up consuming and the legacies of empire we have been taught, Ahluwalia asks: is there anything to be learnt from Rudyard Kipling? Why were movie stars urged to hide their mixed identities? To what extent did colonialism encourage or hinder mixed marriages? Is nationalism outdated? How can the politics of class and queer liberation inform our understanding of mixed identity?
His new book Both Not Half is a rallying cry for a new and inclusive future. It’s a journey of self-discovery that unearths the historical roots of modern mixed identity as we know it, braving to deconstruct the binaries we have inherited and the narratives we passively accept. Part-memoir, part-manifesto: this is a campaign for belonging in a divided world.
Jassa Ahluwalia will be 'In Conversation' with BBC news presenter and correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan.
AUTHOR Biography
Jassa Ahluwalia is an actor, writer, filmmaker and trade unionist. Born in Coventry to a white English mum and a brown Punjabi dad in 1990, he attended school in Leicester and was raised in an extended family environment. He spoke English in the playground, Punjabi with his grandparents, and spent various summer holidays in India. He came to prominence as Rocky in the hit BBC Three series Some Girls, followed by starring roles in Unforgotten, Ripper Street, and Peaky Blinders.
His TEDx talk on ‘How Language Shapes Identity’ has clocked up over 180k views and his BBC One documentary Am I English? won an Asian Media Award in 2022. Both Not Half is Jassa's first book, recently featured on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read, and will be available to purchase on the night.
CHAIR BIOGRAPHY
Rajini Vaidyanathan is an award winning broadcaster with 20 years experience, across TV, Radio and Online. As a foreign correspondent she reported from across the world - most recently across the South Asia region - which includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan. She has also been a Westminster correspondent for the BBC, where she has interviewed the current, and former Prime Ministers.