South Asian Cultural Groups on Elite College Campuses

• In Event: 50260 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 10: Rethinking “Asian American”: Identity, Perception, and Intra-Group Difference

Abstract

In public discourse and in some race scholarship, South Asians are imagined as a model minority, a relatively homogeneous group with proximity to whiteness. But a 2020 legal discrimination case between a South Asian Jon Doe and his South Asian bosses demonstrates that racial formation relies on internal heterogeneity and oppressions within a minority group, as well as external considerations. This paper, a part of my dissertation project on cultural/co-ethnic groups on college campuses, presents preliminary findings to uncover the relationship between South Asian racial formation and internal fissures of caste, religion, and race. Co-ethnic groups and networks not only directly impact future job market outcomes and romantic partnerships, but also are important sites where international relations and global solidarities play out during times of war and crises. Existing research on co-ethnic clubs on college campuses positions them as a respite away from the white gaze. I look beyond this focus to examine the political work of these cultural groups. How are young people belonging to disparate national, linguistic, religious, and sociocultural backgrounds socialized by peers, administration, and other institutional actors to produce a “South Asian” identity, a global racial identifier, and an imagined community? What contestations emerge during this racial formation process and how are they negotiated? How do cultural celebrations of religion, folk dances, Bollywood, and ethnic food on US college campuses speak to ongoing political projects in South Asia, such as a growing intolerance towards Muslims in India, as well as changing global political relations in current times of crises? An example of studying across, this ethnography is informed by critical whiteness studies, which interrogates the role that insiders play in investigating questions of racism. Theoretically, this study contributes a transnational dimension to racialization and racial formation literature, challenging monolithic conceptions of racialized minorities, and making visible the operations of white supremacy.

Author

• Sanchita Dasgupta, Brandeis University