Doing the desi thing : performing Indianness in New York City / Sunita S. Mukhi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mukhi, Sunita Sunder.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

Asian Americans

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

East Indian Americans--New York (State)--New York--Social life and customs.

East Indian Americans.

East Indian Americans--New York (State)--New York--Ethnic identity.

Arts, Indic--New York (State)--New York.

Arts, Indic.

Performing arts--New York (State)--New York.

Performing arts.

Ethnicity.

Manners and customs.

New York (State)--New York.

Physical Description:

xii, 247 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Garland Pub., 2000.

Summary:

This book is a vivacious inquiry into how Asian Indians in New York, or Desis, as they describe themselves, perform Indianness, or Desiness, in several cultural variety shows that are mounted in New York City: The Indian Independence Day Parade and Cultural Program, the South Street Seaport Deepavali Festival, the Sindhi Divali Show in Queens, and the variety shows of the South Asian college students of New York University.

Along with the fact that these community cultural productions underscore Desiness (i.e., that these are songs, dances, foods, and crafts for the non-Indian to see, learn from and consume and for the Desi to reminisce, enjoy, and be validated by) these productions reveal a tense negotiation between the preservation of Indianness and the assimilation to US American life. Indeed, though the traditional, touristic kind of Indianness may be touted by certain elite groups, this type of Indianness is simultaneously being deconstructed and subverted by other Indians who assert their own, sometimes opposing views of what it means to be Desi. This work utimately demonstrates that Desi identity is ephemeral -- it constantly needs to be manufactured and begs to be performed.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-233) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

0815333722

OCLC:

40869684