Desis In The House: Indian American Youth Culture In Nyc (Asian American History & Cultu) [Paperback]

Sunaina Marr Maira (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1566399270 | ISBN-13: 978-1566399272 | Publication Date: February 1, 2002 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this thorough academic study, Maira (Asian American studies, Univ. of Massachusetts) explores the cultural dynamics found among Desis, second-generation South Asian American youth. Herself Indian American, Maira centers her research on the impact of the Indian party subculture that emerged among Indian American college students in New York City in the mid-1990s, arguing that Desi parties have found a common thread through Indian ethnic music and dance a unique form that blends Hindi film music and the bhangra music of North India and Pakistan with various American musical styles, such as rap and hip-hop. Through interviews with Indian Americans, Maira attempts to discover the deeper meaning that this remix music has for young South Asian Americans and the role it plays in helping them to define their ethnic identity and gender relationships. Well researched and perceptive, this study is a useful addition to anthropology and ethnic studies collections in academic libraries. Elizabeth Salt, Otterbein Coll. Lib., Westerville, OH

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Desis in the House is what cultural studies ought to be. Sunaina Maira gets deep inside of the social and cultural worlds of second generation Indian Americans and illuminates the links between the local and global, history and nostalgia, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Maira's perceptive insights into the complex and fluid styles, music, dances, desires and dreams of desi youth will force us all to think about cultural identities in new ways." - Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "Sunaina Maira guides us into the bog of nostalgia where beleaguered immigrants of color forge a memory that is at odds with their homeland, but also with the dreams of their home boys and home girls. An honest ethnography gives us ample evidence that nostalgia is a feint. Rather than leave us with this conclusion alone, Maira posits something called critical nostalgia, and you'll find out what that is when you read this important book." - Vijay Prashad, author of Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity "Finally, an entertaining study of a second generation immigrant youth group that exposes all that goes on behind U.S. black and white racial and national imagery. A brilliant behind the scenes look that shows how immigrant youth's struggles of what's cool, authentic and fun are really about the reconstitution of racial, class and gender identities." - Arlene Davila, anthropology and American studies, New York University, and author of Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People and Sponsored Identities (Temple) "In Sunaina Maira's smart, hip ethnography of the Manhattan scene, Indian American youth perform and transgress remix anxieties and traditions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nation. Her beat is cool, hot, irresistible." - Gary Y. Okihiro, author of Common Ground: Reimagining American History "Maira offers a compelling comparative analysis of white mainstream appropriation and commodification of Indian cultural forms and practices and of the desi's cultural mixing of music, dance, and attire." - South Asian Review "In this thorough academic study, Maira explores the cultural dynamics found among Desis, second generation Sough Asian American youth...Through interviews with Indian Americans, Maira attempts to discover the deeper meaning that this remix music has for young South Asian Americans and the role it plays in helping them to define their ethnic identity and gender relationships. Well researched and perceptive." - Library Journal "This lively book is hard to set down. It is a powerful study of second-generation Indian-American youth growing up in New York City in the mid-1990s." - MultiCultural Review "Desis in the House presents a nuanced, poignant look at the contradictions that second-generation youths of color have to confront and is particularly valuable for demonstrating the inadequacy of current categories and theoretical perspectives for analyzing their dilemmas." - The American Journal of Sociology

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; 1 edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566399270
• ISBN-13: 978-1566399272
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good account, October 3, 2002

By 

Neel Aroon "jaroon7648" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desis In The House: Indian American Youth Culture In Nyc (Asian American History & Cultu) (Paperback)

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.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not an entertaining or accurate account, November 3, 2005

By 

M. Raval (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desis In The House: Indian American Youth Culture In Nyc (Asian American History & Cultu) (Paperback)

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.