Papers of Mr Burjor Jal Avari
Mr Burjor Jal Avari1986-2022
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This collection is principally made up of a large number of flyers, course booklets and letters which were produced to advertise the courses arranged by Mr Burjor Avari in his role of Principal Lecturer and Co-ordinator for Multicultural Studies with Manchester Metropolitan University (1988-2011). The archive is not a complete set of course booklets / flyers but gives a good overview of the range of material and the types of courses organised by Mr Avari.
The advertisements often give a brief synopsis of the lecture / topic and a brief biography of the lecturer. Each catalogue entry names the lecture topic and lecturer.
There are a small number of notes relating to particular topics. These were principally created while Mr Avari worked as the Head of Multicultural Education Support Service for Tameside Education Department (1984-1988).
- GB3228.91/2/1/2 - A Hindu Temple: Its architecture and its functions - some notes
- GB3228.91/4/1/1 - Programme and notes for session 2: Unequal exchange equals unequal development (African heritage)
- GB3228.91/4/1/2 - Notes for session 8, Apartheid in South Africa
- GB3228.91/4/1/3 - Notes for session 9, The control of the political economy in Africa
- GB3228.91/4/4/1 - Notes for session 6, Industrialisation in India
- GB3228.91/5/2/1 - Notes for session 10, [Understanding Islam]
- GB3228.91/6/1 - Notes for session 7, The Race Factor in International Relations
- GB3228.91/6/5/1 - Notes [for teaching] on The Brandt Report and photocopies of topic relevant supporting material
There are also a number of booklets produced as a result of events which reproduce the papers presented at the events:
- GB3228.91/5/2/10 - 'Intellectual Life in the Early Islamic World', a collection of papers presented at the Intellectual Life in the Islamic World: Past and Present conference held at the Manchester Metropolitan University, 13 June 2012.
- GB3228.91/6/5/3 - 'In Praise of Multiculturalism Defending Diversity', a collection of papers presented at the Multicultural Studies conference held at the Manchester Metropolitan University, 14 May 2011.
- GB3228.91/7/9/2 - Report on a public seminar: Challenges and Opportunities for Service Delivery in a Culturally Diverse Society: lessons from the Muslim Community
- GB3228.91/7/9/3 - Report on a public seminar: Equality, Diversity, Community Four Themes
- GB3228.91/11 - Includes a number of the personal reminiscences as well as the key note speech made at the inaugural Burjor Avari Memorial Lecture, May 2022
Title:
Papers of Mr Burjor Jal Avari
Creator:
Date of work:
1986-2022
Reference number:
GB3228.91
Level of description:
Collection
Includes:
Custodial history:
Burjor Avari collected together these papers in 2018. Understanding that they had a lasting importance beyond their initial ephemeral nature he passed them to his friend Doctor George Joseph. Dr Joseph had worked with Mr Avari on several publication projects. These projects collected together written versions of lectures given at day workshops arranged by Mr Avari. Mr Avari asked Dr Joseph to do whatever he thought was suitable with the papers he had found. Dr Joseph was unable to undertake any work with the papers and passed them to Mr Akhtar Hussain in 2019 after Burjor’s death. Mr Hussain put them into an order (see system of arrangement notes and GB3228.91/10 for the order as presented by Mr Hussain). After completing his arrangement work on the papers Mr Hussain returned them to Mrs Avari in late 2019-early 2020.The Avari family considered carefully where to donate Burjor’s papers and consulted with friends and colleagues. The decision to offer them to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre was twofold. Burjor loved working in the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Library which he felt was a special place and so held many memories for him. He also had a connection to Manchester Central Library (where the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre is based) as he often studied in the circular reading room at the library in the 1960s when he was a student himself.In Feb 2020 Mrs Avari and her daughter met with staff from the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre and officially handed the archive over to their care.
Arrangement:
The collection was initially arranged by Mr Akhtar Hussein. It was categorised into three sections:Appendix 1: Series of evening lecturesAppendix 2: Conferences, seminars, courses and discussionsAppendix 3 Single Lectures (including miscellaneous material)Upon arrival at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre this arrangement was reviewed. As an arrangement it did not fully reflect the depth and breadth of the subjects covered by the courses Mr Avari facilitated. In conversation with the donor it was decided to re-arrange the collection with the support of Dr Mary Searle-Chatterjee. Mary had authored 'Burjor's courses', a document which explored Burjor's approach to and development of the courses (see GB3228.91/1/3). Mary provided a thematic / subject based arrangement. Within the themes items are arranged in date order.
Source:
Received directly from the Avari family
Access restrictions:
Unrestricted
Use restrictions:
Restricted
General notes:
Burjor Avari was born in 1938 to Parsi Zoroastrian parents in Navsari, Gujarat in pre-independent India. Aged three he travelled with his mother to Mombasa in Kenya where his father was based. He spent his childhood in East Africa including Zanzibar and Mombasa where the family settled in 1948.Burjor’s education brought high grades in the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate which qualified him for a full British Government scholarship to continue his studies in the UK. A levels were taken at Portsmouth College of Technology, followed by history at the University of Manchester (1961). He obtained his Diploma in Teaching from Oxford University (1962), before returning to Kenya to teach. In 1966 Burjor returned to the UK teaching in Southend on Sea before moving to Manchester in 1967. Between 1967 and 1984 he held a number of history teaching positions including with the Central High School for Boys, Manchester. In 1984 Burjor began work as the Head of Multicultural Education Support Service for Tameside Education Department.Burjor was passionate in the promotion of multi-culturalism. In the wake of the 1987 disturbances in the UK he wrote a paper for the Department of Education on the needed revision to the school syllabus to bring multi-culturalism into every aspect of the curriculum. He also undertook training for the Manchester police at this time around the policing of multi-cultural crowds. As a result of this work he received commendations from the head of the Manchester police and his name was included on the honours list. In 1988 he was awarded an MBE for his work in multi-cultural education.In 1988 he became Principal Lecturer and Co-ordinator for Multicultural Studies with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). After retiring in 2004 he undertook the role of part time associate lecture at MMU until 2011.Between 1988 and 2011 he co-ordinated evening classes in Continuing Education for Multicultural Studies at MMU. He organised lectures, seminars and certificated courses. These could be broadly defined as multi-cultural but covered a huge range of topics which reached beyond simply cultural information to include history, politics, current affairs and social issues both in the UK and abroad. This work is the origin of this archival collection which comprises flyers, leaflets and course booklets.For further information on Burjor’s life and impact see GB3228.91/1/2 The passing of Burjor Jal Avari MBE – 1938-2019 by Noshir J Avari, 23 April 2019.For further information on Burjor’s work, publications etc see his curriculum vitae GB3228.91/1/1.For further information on the development, arrangement and ethos behind the courses Burjor arranged see ‘Burjor’s course’ by Mary Searle-Chatterjee, 2019 GB3228.91/1/3.For personal insights into Burjor see the tributes paid to Burjor as part of the inaugural Burjor Avari Memorial Lecture, GB3228.91/11.Feb 2022
Related material note:
India: The ancient past: a history of the Indian sub-continent from c.7000 BC to AD 1200, Burjor Avari (Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre Ref: HI.5.02/AVA https://manchester.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/BIBENQ?SETLVL=&BRN=2449111 )British soil Chinese roots : Chinese life in Britain, Yung Yung Wah, Burjor Avari & Simon Buckley. (Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre Ref: MAN/HI.3/WAH https://manchester.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/BIBENQ?SETLVL=&BRN=875306 )Burjor Avari was a member of the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture Committee. The archive of this body is held at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre (ref: GB3228.102)
Topics:
Mr Burjor AvariManchester Metropolitan UniversityMMUManchester PolytechnicMulti-CulturalAdult EducationInternationalartCultureCinemaMusicSouth AsianIslamicAcademic DisciplinesHistoriographyMathematics and ScienceCultural RegionsAfricaAfrican HeritageChinaMiddle-EastSouth Asian HeritageFaith TraditionsEastern ChristianityIslamReligious IssuesGlobal RelationsHistory and ConflictSlaveryImperialismCapitalismCrossing Boundaries and the FutureMulti-Cultural BritainSocial Policy racismeducationLawIrishPhilosophy Debates
Places:
Record types:
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre
Language:
English
Record number:
16091434
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