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Becoming 'Authentic' Indian women: displacement, home, and identity among women of the Indian diaspora in the USA.
- Source :
-
Social Identities . Sep2023, Vol. 29 Issue 5, p480-497. 18p. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- This paper analyzes interviews with 25 immigrant Indian women in the USA, most of whom arrived during the 1980s. Combining data from in-depth interviews of eight of these women from a cultural psychological study and interviews of 17 immigrant Indian women from the Indiana University Oral History Research Center, I use qualitative analysis within the grounded theory approach to offer insights into their lives in the USA. Six themes emerged from their narratives: the move to the USA ('the shift') and their feeling of displacement; experiences with religious and racial discrimination; their roles as cultural and national ambassadors for India; employment; marriage; and identity dilemmas. Adding to the literature that eschews hegemonic Western analytical categories to actively consider the perspectives of the participants themselves, I render a nuanced portrayal of the women's experiences as they actively synthesize a new 'authentic' Indianness for themselves and their families while navigating the melancholia of loss, separation, and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *WOMEN immigrants
*FEMINISM
*RACE discrimination
*SOCIAL marginality
*GROUP identity
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13504630
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Social Identities
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176763559
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2024.2324274