Desis In The House: Indian American Youth Culture In Nyc (Asian American History & Cultu) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sunaina Marr Maira
Publisher: Temple University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 467623
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1566399270
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.89140747
EAN: 9781566399272
Publication Date: February 1, 2002
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Product Description
She sports a nose-ring and duppata (a scarf worn by South Asian women) along with the latest fashion in slinky club wear; he's decked out in Tommy gear. Their moves on the crowded dance floor, blending Indian film dance with break-dancing, attract no particular attention. They are just two of the hundreds of hip young people who flock to the desi (i.e., South Asian) party scene that flourishes in the Big Apple.New York City, long the destination for immigrants and migrants, today is home to the largest Indian American population in the United States. Coming of age in a city remarkable for its diversity and cultural innovation, Indian American and other South Asian youth draw on their ethnic traditions and the city's resources to create a vibrant subculture. Some of the city's hottest clubs host regular bhangra parties, weekly events where young South Asians congregate to dance to music that mixes rap beats with Hindi film music, bhangra (North Indian and Pakistani in origin), reggae, techno, and other popular styles.Many of these young people also are active in community and campus organizations that stage performances of "ethnic cultures." In this book Sunaina Maira explores the world of second-generation Indian American youth to learn how they manage the contradictions of gender roles and sexuality, how they handle their "model minority" status and expectations for class mobility in a society that still racializes everyone in terms of black or white. Maira's deft analysis illuminates the ways in which these young people bridge ethnic authenticity and American "cool." Author note: Sunaina Marr Maira is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies in the English and Anthropology Departments at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; she is the co-editor of "Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America", recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1997. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies.
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| Customer Reviews:
 good account October 4, 2002
Neel Aroon (Lexington, KY United States)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Maira does a pretty good account of look at the South Asian sub-culture of the northeast around new york and new jersey. This part of the country has long experienced different waves of immigration. South Asians are a new group to the area mainly starting in the late 1960s and is continuing today. Maira looks at how second generation south asian americans or 'desis' cope with identities as being in between black and white and dealing with stereotypes of the asian intellectual and asian store owner. Maira also focuses on obstacles they overcome while growing up such as racism (dotbusters in New Jersey, racial insults...) and with cultural differences with parents (especially for females). In addition, there is also a focus on the different ethnic/relgious differences that exist within the South Asian community that come into play. Of course with other immigrant groups, there is a a strong desire for the second and third generation to 'reconnect' with their heritages which is an important part of the book. She deals with how in the interviews desis have a desire to go to South Asia to discover their heritiage. One issue she deals with is south asian immigration patterns to the U.S. Often we think of South Asians as coming directly from the subcontinent to the U.S. directly after the immigration act of 1965. However, it's deeper then that. The first South Asians migrating started in the late 1800s and early 1900s. South Asian also come fromo other part of the South Asian Diasporia such as east Africa, United Kingdom and the West Indies. These South Asians add to the complexity of studying the group. Overall, an easy to read book about 'desis' in the northeast.
 Not an entertaining or accurate account November 3, 2005
M. Raval (New Jersey)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book might suffice as a light college reading assignment (as there is not much in publication that deals with this subject matter), but if you are not forced to read it, stay away. Full of inaccurate accounts and plain falsisms, this book nowhere near respects it's subject matter, and gives an overly pedantic and bland report of Indian American Youth Culture in NYC. It is clearly the work of an individual on the outside, looking in.
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