The social institutions of the United Kingdom’s “Afghan” communities

The report explores the lives and experiences of people from Afghanistan living in the UK. Rather than addressing the extent to which it is helpful to think of people from Afghanistan forming, or not, a shared “community” or “diaspora”, the report focuses on the energies that people from diverse backgrounds have invested in establishing various types of institutions in the UK. A wide range of “formal” and “informal” institutions created by Afghans play an important role in the organisation of their social and economic lives, and interactions with local and national institutions, as well as multiple communities in the UK. Focusing on institutions rather than probing the dynamics of collective “identity” is analytically helpful because it brings to attention the types of projects in which people from Afghanistan in the UK invest their individual and collective energies, resources, and time.