{"id":2248,"date":"2021-10-06T13:22:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T13:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2021-10-08T13:49:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T13:49:19","slug":"brown-desi-south-asian-diaspora-reflects-on-the-terms-that-represent-erase-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2248","title":{"rendered":"Brown, Desi, South Asian: Diaspora reflects on the terms that represent, erase them"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThey each have a place, but they don\u2019t entirely encompass each of the others,\u201d one activist said.<\/p>\n

Over the last several decades, the diaspora of the Indian subcontinent has been labeled, relabeled and lumped together too many times to count. Indian and Pakistani immigrants were known as \u201cBlack\u201d in 1980\u2019s United Kingdom. The\u00a0U.S. census classified them as \u201cwhite\u201d in 1970, and a host of transnational solidarity movements have cycled them through lengthy acronyms and broad umbrella terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Asian,\u201d \u201cbrown\u201d and \u201cDesi\u201d are three that are dominant today. For some, they\u2019re apt names to describe inherently similar cultures and a connected history. Others say they paint over a vast array of peoples who make up the subcontinent and its diasporas. Erasure is rampant, some say, and it happens inside \u201cSouth Asian\u201d circles as much as outside them.<\/p>\n

The debate has raged online for years \u2014 when referring to the diaspora, should we be as specific as possible or as inclusive as possible? And is there a way to do both?<\/p>\n

The three terms sometimes don\u2019t do what they were intended to, experts say, and it\u2019s important to note that they don\u2019t always mean the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey each have a place, but they don\u2019t entirely encompass each of the others,\u201d said Jasvir Singh, an activist who is a co-founder of\u00a0South Asian Heritage Month\u00a0in the U.K.<\/p>\n

Historians say that to look forward, it\u2019s important to understand how people in the Western world came to view the community the way they do. North Indian culture is what people in the U.S. are most familiar with \u2014 butter chicken and naan, Hindi speakers, Bollywood music. Although they don\u2019t represent a majority of people in the subcontinent, they\u2019re tropes many in the diaspora feel they\u2019ve had to conform to \u2014 for example, Bangladeshis in New York City have historically labeled their restaurants as \u201cIndian\u201d to attract more customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Asian\u201d was coined to combat that mindset, said Sunaina Maira, a professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Davis.<\/p>\n

\u2018South Asian\u2019 as an inclusive coalition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maira said she remembers when the term \u201cSouth Asian\u201d first became popular after she moved to the U.S. from India for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brought all of these national groups together who otherwise, in the subcontinent, would not have been interacting,\u201d Maira said. \u201cComing from India, I had never really met Pakistanis or Bangladeshis or Sri Lankans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meant to encompass people with roots in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives (and within each country tons of distinct languages and cultures), the term \u201cSouth Asian\u201d was introduced in transnational movements in the \u201980s.<\/p>\n

Indo-Caribbeans and the diasporas in East Africa were also ushered into the movement and are now considered part of the label, Maira said.<\/p>\n

Denali Nalamalapu, 26, who is South Indian American, said \u201cSouth Asian\u201d isn\u2019t a single identity. When she describes herself or others, she likes to be regionally specific so everyone feels their backgrounds are being fully acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018South Asian\u2019 and \u2018Desi\u2019 exclude a lot of others on the subcontinent,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m wary of contributing to the notion that all South Asians are Indian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saying she\u2019s from Andhra Pradesh, the state in India from which her family originates, might go over some people\u2019s heads, she said. So when she is asked about her background, she tends to identify herself as \u201cSouth Indian,\u201d and that feels both holistic and distinct.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to friends who are North Indian, it could be as if I\u2019m talking to friends from, really, anywhere in Asia,\u201d she said. \u201cIt often feels to me like different countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalamalapu said she thinks those in the U.S. also tend to recognize only North Indian culture when they think about South Asians. \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018What\u2019s your favorite Bollywood movie?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t watch Bollywood. I watch Telugu movies or Tamil movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Singh, the power of the phrase \u201cSouth Asian\u201d comes from both its regional specificity and its inability to be defined by borders. When he co-founded South Asian Heritage Month in the U.K., he was, in part, looking to expand the Western world\u2019s India-centric view. While countries and communities exist independently, the clash of the diasporas has given way to a common identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t call it a \u2018community,\u2019 singular,\u201d Singh said. \u201cIt\u2019s South Asian \u2018communities,\u2019 plural, because there is such diversity, so many distinctions, so many variables.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pooja Shah, 29, who was born in Gujarat, India, and moved to the U.S. when she was 2, said \u201cSouth Asian\u201d strikes the perfect balance for her.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t like \u201cDesi\u201d because it can be akin to “bumpkin” in some North Indian languages, and she thinks claiming \u201cbrown\u201d can erase Latino, North African or Middle Eastern people who also identify with the term.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does encompass a lot of the subcontinent across different countries,\u201d she said. \u201cIt encompasses a lot of history and a lot of ancestry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some South Indians and Tamils don\u2019t feel \u2018Desi\u2019 includes them<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As transnational classifications expanded on the academic level, \u201cDesi\u201d emerged as a grassroots-based alternative in the \u201990s partly to combat the nationalist ideals of a growing Bharatiya Janata Party in India, Maira said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018South Asian American\u2019 is fine in academia, but at a community level, it\u2019s a bit unwieldy,\u201d Maira said. \u201c\u2018Desi\u2019 actually emanated from progressive South Asian spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even though she saw its positive intentions early on, Maira recognizes that the use of \u201cDesi\u201d is fraught with disagreement today, particularly among South Indians and non-Indians who are pushing back against a North Indian, Hindi-dominated landscape.<\/p>\n

Sunthar Vykunthanathan is Eelam Tamil, an oppressed group in Sri Lanka. His parents were refugees to Canada during the Sri Lankan civil war in the \u201980s, and he says\u00a0historical violence against Eelam Tamils\u00a0keeps him from identifying with the Sri Lankan state.<\/p>\n

Identity erasure has been a constant reality for Vykunthanathan, even in spaces that claim to serve \u201cDesis\u201d or \u201cSouth Asians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s Desi events, Desi queer spaces, where there is a typical framing around Hindi being the go-to language,\u201d he said. \u201cBollywood, of course, is a big part of that erasure. I\u2019ve had bad experiences where I\u2019ve gone to Desi events where it\u2019s framed as a space for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such events are intentionally marketed, he said, and the same goes for funding and infrastructure meant to serve all South Asians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat way, white people or people who are running diversity are just like \u2018oh, check mark,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut the intricacies of the hierarchies within the community are often negated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universities, for example, might have \u201cbrown nights\u201d but play only Hindi music or have North Indian food. All the umbrella terms have the potential to play into it, but Vykunthanathan said \u201cDesi\u201d especially leaves a bad taste in his mouth, given that it\u2019s a Sanskrit-rooted, North Indian word itself.<\/p>\n

Singh sees \u201cDesi\u201d as more of a northern label, as well. \u201c\u2018Desi\u2019 for me means something which is effectively culturally Northern Indian or Pakistani or Bangladeshi,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cover any of Southern India because of differences in language.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sobia Azhar, \u201cDesi\u201d is something she’s proud to identify with. Azhar, 23, a Pakistani American based in Atlanta, said the sense of being part of a larger community is comforting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all the South Asian countries, whether that\u2019s Bangladesh, Indian, Pakistan, even Afghanistan and Iran, we have so much culture that overlaps,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Azhar said that when she was growing up, peers’ lack of understanding about South Asia led them to refer to her as \u201cArab.\u201d She knew that wasn\u2019t accurate, but she wasn\u2019t totally sure how to explain it away. She also didn\u2019t have a community of friends who looked like her to turn to. Forming bonds with other South Asians has been a big part of her identity, she said, and she is increasingly gravitated toward the \u201cDesi\u201d and \u201cbrown\u201d labels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely value anybody who I meet that\u2019s brown,\u201d she said. \u201cI try to empower them and uplift them to the best of my ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

How 9\/11 made \u2018brown\u2019 a salient identity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, a lot changed for people with brown skin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a particular construction of targeted groups that were seen as enemies of the U.S.,\u201d Maira said. \u201cThat included a whole plethora of brown people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As discrimination against Muslims and Sikhs ran rampant and brown Americans were increasingly targeted with bias and physical violence, South Asian activists created coalitions with other \u201cbrown\u201d people. Solidarity with Arab Americans, Iranian Americans and Black Muslims gave birth to an abundance of complicated acronyms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terms didn\u2019t quite work anymore,\u201d Maira said.<\/p>\n

There were AMEMSA (Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian), MESA (Middle Eastern, South Asian and African) and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African), for example, which came from the political experience the groups were sharing at the time.<\/p>\n

And the similarities don\u2019t fit neatly into national borders, Maira said. \u201cThere are cultural commonalities that North Indians, for example, and Pakistanis share much more with Afghans and Iranians and Arabs than they do with South Indians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A new generation growing up in the early 2000s built their communities around what they felt they had in common \u2014 their brownness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe term \u2018brown\u2019 also emerged as a way to deal with the ambiguity of the category \u2018Asian American\u2019 relative to \u2018South Asian,\u2019\u201d Maira said. \u201c\u2018Asian\u2019 gets conflated with East Asians. I think \u2018brown\u2019 was a way to respond to that and to create a separate category for people who are not read in the U.S. as being Asian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say\u00a0rampant colorism\u00a0is also a major factor when it comes to the label, and\u00a0as this generation pushes back against Eurocentric beauty standards, the term is beginning to take on a meaning within itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am from the south, and I have pretty dark skin and feel pretty proud of it and just want more visibility for dark-skinned people from the subcontinent,\u201d Nalamalapu said.<\/p>\n

But there are pitfalls, too. Maira acknowledged that using \u201cbrown\u201d as a race is tricky. Some people from North India and Pakistan might phenotypically read as white, even though they come from predominantly \u201cbrown\u201d countries.<\/p>\n

It can also be exclusive to Black people within the diaspora, Singh said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been in the subcontinent for the last one and a half millennia,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s about using terms which may be important to yourself but can\u2019t necessarily be described as covering the entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n

A disconnect with the term \u2018Asian American\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While disagreements are common when people describe the diaspora, many South Asians say they have no relationship at all to the terms \u201cAsian\u201d or \u201cAsian American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Asians don\u2019t get included, and they\u2019re not often recognized as being fully Asian American,\u201d Maira said. Even with a reignited Asian American civil rights movement this year, South Asians many times don\u2019t have a seat at the table, she said.<\/p>\n

Ishaan Parmar, 19, who is Indian American with roots in Punjab, said,\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t consider myself Asian American.\u201d<\/p>\n

It never even crossed his mind, in fact, until he had to classify himself on school documents and realized it was his only option.<\/p>\n

Although the term was also forged in progressive spaces, many in the diaspora say it\u2019s simply too broad.\u00a0In a study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, only 6% of Indian Americans chose “Asian American” as the label that best described them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never felt like it referred to South Asia,\u201d Nalamalapu said. \u201cIt can never mean anything, because it\u2019s trying to encompass this massive, extremely diverse\u201d continent.<\/p>\n

Growing up in India, Shreya Prabhu actually did feel \u201cAsian,\u201d but she never had to identify herself to her peers in Mumbai. It wasn\u2019t until she came to the U.S. three years ago that she realized how disconnected the diaspora here was from the word.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter coming here, I\u2019ve realized \u2018Asian\u2019 is a different identity, or people at least perceive Asians to be a different identity than South Asians,\u201d she said. \u201cI think people in the U.S. when they say \u2018Asian\u2019 they\u2019re referring to people from East Asian countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah doesn\u2019t necessarily see \u201cAsian\u201d as an ethnicity but rather as a coalition. \u201cIt\u2019s a movement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Such conversations are important to have, Maira said, and terms will continue to evolve, but focusing energy on root issues on and away from the subcontinent is more important.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to remember that these are political constructs and we adopt them to use them for specific purposes,\u201d she said. \u201cBattling it out at the level of labels and not using a certain term without looking at the deeper politics and the deeper histories can become very superficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: NBC, Nusha Ashjaee for NBC News<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy: \u200c\u200cPooja Shah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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