Desi Webs: South Asian America, Online Cultures, and the Politics of Race [Conference Notes]

by Latoya Peterson

These are the notes for “ Desi Webs: South Asian America, Online Cultures, and the Politics of Race.” The notes are from a paper by Madhavi Mallapragada, presented at the Texas A & M University Race and Ethnic Studies Institute’s Symposium exploring Race, Ethnicity and (New) Media.

• How is the web mobilized around categorizes and what are the politics around these identities.

• Derived from “desh” which means homeland
• Term of self and community identification
• 2nd and 3rd gen youth often collectively identify as desi
• While desi is a pan-South asian term, it often means Indian

• Bicultural remixes uniquely reflect the reality of people
• Overwhelmingly focused on bollywood
• Centrality of Indian pop culture and politics

In this video titled, “You are not an Indian,” a young male addresses viewers who like him are neither just American nor Indian but desi. Wearing a t-shirt with the word “desi” written prominently in Hindi across it, the young man points out that desis are not South Asians but of South Asia. People of South Asian origin in the United States commonly refer to each other as Desi. The term means “from the homeland” and simultaneously invokes one’s identity as South Asian but also as being “outside South Asia”. As the young man reminds his viewers, the difference is key. Being desi implies being critically engaged with the “realities” of India rather than uncritically celebrating the hype surrounding its contemporary global image as high-tech nation.

• Video is important as it displays the process of reasserting identity against a current narrative – of reclaimation, of identification
• The idea of desi is undergoing a renovation in South Asian community spaces

• Immigration justice program
• Know your rights workshops to counter ICE raids
• Registration requests by US led to mass deportation

As part of the Homeland security measures, immigrant men from 25, mostly Muslim countries were required to enroll in a Special Registration program. The result: no evidence of terror, but some 13,000 people are now being deported mostly for expired visas. The Alams were among the many families who believed that voluntarily participating in the Special Registration would show their loyalty. Instead, they face the prospect of breaking up their family, despite a decade of hard work and the raising of two children. Working with DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), the Queens South Asian activist group, the Alams have become activists, organizing to fight for their right to stay.

• Asked men and boys of different nationalities to register
• Portrayed as helping the government, being patriotic
• 82,000 people registered from targeted countries
• 13,000 put in deportation proceedings

(Image Credit: drumnation.org)