Punjabi Dreaming: Restoring Kinship, Defying Erasure, and Reclaiming Home
Debbie Bargallie, Principal Research Fellow, Griffith University
With
Awais Hussain, Doctoral student, University of York
and
Shafiq Ahmed, Family member, Bury - Greater Manchester
For many, genealogy is a personal quest—but for me, it is an act of historical reclamation and decolonial resistance. Punjabi Dreaming traces the intertwined legacies of transnational migration, Indigenous identity, and colonial erasure through the journey of Bagh Ali (Bargallie) and his brother, Rehm Ali (Ramalli)—undocumented migrants from Punjab, formerly India—now Pakistan, who settled in Australia in the late 19th century. Through oral histories, archival research, and genetic analysis, this work reconstructs their story as hawkers who forged kinship networks with the Kamilaroi Aboriginal peoples, navigating the intersecting systems of race and exclusion under the White Australia Policy.
Yet this is more than historical excavation—it is an act of reconnection. For over a century, their descendants lost all ties to their homeland, their names fragmented in colonial records. But history calls us back. This seminar will explore not only the research behind Punjabi Dreaming but also an unprecedented journey—the first return to the family’s ancestral village of Langrial in 128 years. The researcher will examine what it means to re-establish a long-lost biraderi (brotherhood) and reconnect bloodlines unknowingly linked across continents. How does one reclaim kinship after generations of separation? What does it mean to return to a place 128 years after your great-grandfather left, where memories of him had faded—yet still lingers in stories and historical Mirasi records?
This research is a collaborative exploration of transnational genealogy, intertwining Indigenous and diasporic perspectives to challenge Eurocentric genealogical frameworks. It examines the fluidity of names and identities, the resilience of familial ties across continents, and the role of memory in reconstructing histories fragmented by colonial policies. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s framework of cultural identity as a process of “being” and “becoming,” this study considers how Bargallie’s descendants negotiate their Indigenous and South Asian heritage, reclaiming connections to a place that remains central to their identity.
Punjabi Dreaming disrupts traditional genealogical research, offering a decolonial approach to reclaiming home, restoring long-severed kinship, and resisting colonial erasure. This seminar will explore the implications of transnational genealogy in reimagining historical narratives and reviving lost familial connections across continents, generations, and imposed borders.
We will also hear from Chloe Cousins - Manchester Museum's Social Justice Manager - about the recent launch of the Decolonise! trail, as well as poetry by Hassan Baig.
This event is brought to you by the Manchester Institute of Education (MIE) Anti-Racist Education Network, in collaboration with Manchester Museum, and supported by the UCU, Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) and the School of Education, Environment and Development (SEED) EDI team.
