Creative Dissonance
Performance of Ethnicity in Banal Spaces
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23025341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arijit Sen (0000-0002-8624-9418, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Publication date | 2009-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | InTensions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1913-5874 • E-ISSN: 1913-5874 |
| Publisher | York University Libraries (PUBLISHER • CA) |
| DOI | 10.25071/1913-5874/37329 |
| OpenAlex | W4300496651 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
This article analyzes material culture and spatial behavior of storeowners and customers in two South Asian grocery stores in Berkeley, CA in order to argue that the social construction of ethnicity is often inflected by the social and spatial circumstances of individuals and groups who interact inside these places. Order and clutter within these stores are put forth as embodied forms of spatial knowledge that influence the way individuals experience and reproduce peoplehood. Certain communicative and representational ways-of-being in this world—like theatrical performances—frame such experiences. The knowledge of South Asian-ness produced as a result of operating within the immigrant cultural landscape can be varied. In order to decipher such spatial orders, this article draws on data from participant observation and interviews with storeowners and customers, as well as spatial and material culture analyses of the two South Asian grocery stores.
Aesthetics · Art · Cognitive dissonance · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Order (exchange) · Sociology · Anthropology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |