Description
Book SynopsisAn ethnographic account of South Asian American teen culture during the Silicon Valley dot-com boom. It focuses on how South Asian Americans, or "Desis," define and manage what it means to be successful in a place brimming with the promise of technology.
Trade Review“An excellent, ethnographically rich study of the lives and practices of young South Asian Americans living in Silicon Valley,
Desi Land lends itself to use in courses in fields including anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, and Asian American studies. What I like best of all is that Shalini Shankar trains her lens on a particular generation’s experience while providing us with a rich cultural history of life in Silicon Valley at the turn of the twenty-first century.”—
Purnima Mankekar, author of
Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood, and Nation in Postcolonial India“In this exciting book, Shalini Shankar writes about Desi teens in Silicon Valley with deep sympathy, humor, and genuine insight. The high-school students come alive through ethnographic detail, and yet Shankar’s analysis is sharp and thought provoking. Her theoretically sophisticated approach to diversity makes an important contribution to urban anthropology. I will recommend this book to everyone I know—scholars, educators, and advocates—who works with twenty-first-century youth.”—
Jan English-Lueck, author of
Cultures@SiliconValley“Shalini Shankar’s
Desi Land is a loving portrait of young people trying their best to fashion culture and life in jobless America. Thick description and rich analysis of young Desis is an eye-opener, whether you’re wearing your mad tight color contacts or not.”—
Vijay Prashad, author of
The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third WorldTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Welcome to Desi Land 1
1. California, Here We Come, Right Back Where We Started From 25
2. Defining Desi Teen Culture 53
3. Living and Desiring Desi Bling Life 80
4. Desi Fashions of Speaking 100
5. Being FOBulous on Multicultural Day 119
6. Remodeling the Model Minority Stereotype 142
7. Dating on the DL and Arranged Marriages 167
8. In the New Millennium 193
Postscript 211
Appendix 1: Student Interview 213
Appendix 2: Faculty Interview 218
Appendix 3: Parent and Relative Interview 220
Appendix 4: Student Survey 223
Notes 225
Glossary of Hindi and Punjabi Terms 237
Bibliography 239
Index 263
