Longings and belongings

Indian American youth identity, folk dance competitions, and the construction of 'tradition

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2146181
AutoresElizabeth Chacko (0000-0002-2430-8742), Rajiv Kannan Menon, Rajiv Menon (0000-0001-6160-886X)
Año2013
Volumen36
Número1
Páginas97-116
Fecha de publicación2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2011.634504
OpenAlexW2002579806
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas28

This article examines the development of the 'cultural competition' as a site for the production of multiple identities by Indian American youths on American college campuses. Through the examination of two categories of folk dance competitions (bhangra and raas-garba) at a private university in Washington, DC, we argue that these competitions appear to resist hybridity and produce rhetoric that marginalizes diasporic culture in favour of the 'pure' and 'authentic' culture of the homeland. However, the goal of expressing uncontaminated 'authentic' culture is not realized as diasporic identities and cultures consistently interrupt and undermine homogenizing narratives of 'tradition' and 'authenticity'. We also demonstrate that these folk dance groups often reinforce an ethno-regional distinctiveness rather than a hybrid or pan-Indian identity

Aesthetics · Art · Cultural identity · Dance · Homeland · Hybridity · Identity (music · Literature · Narrative · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Rhetoric · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sports, Gender, and Society