WIP
“To be an Indian writer in this society is to face, every day, problems of definition. What does it mean to be ‘Indian’ outside India? How can culture be preserved without becoming ossified? How should we discuss the need for change within ourselves and our community without seeming to play into the hands of our racial enemies? What are the consequences, both spiritual and practical, of refusing to make any concessions to Western ideas and practices? What are the consequences of embracing those ideas and practices and turning away from the ones that came here with us? These questions are all a single, existential question: How are we to live in the world?” — Salman Rushdie from “Imaginary Homelands”
What does it mean to be Indian in the modern world? It’s annoying how – to an American audience, Indian can often mean Native American, so there are insultingly reductive jokes like “Dot Indian, not Feather”.
And for some reason, lots of people assume Asian = East Asian – Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean. And so Indians have to be “South Asian”.
We may have to settle for “brown”, which we also share with Middle Eastern folks as well as South Americans, Latinos. Not quite white, not quite black.
Maybe we’ll use Desi. But apparently that’s a little problematic too.
All of the above is vague and messy but it’s something I’ve been wanting to think about for a long time. I have lots of questions, which I’ll flesh out later.
Notes:
Raja Kumari – https://www.facebook.com/complex/videos/10154883602889367/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
Sanjay’s Super Team
Kal Penn
Russell Peters
Aziz Ansari
Meet The Patels
Creepy Indian Men:
- https://shobha.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/a-tamilian-from-bombay-reacts-to-the-trailer-of-chennai-express/
- http://asiasamachar.com/2017/11/01/16277/