Desi Land
A Book By Shalini Shankar
Written by Shalini
Shankar, a social culture and linguistic anthropologist whose central concerns
include media, semiotics, race and ethnicity, youth culture, Asia America and
the South Asia diaspora. Shalini is working on her forth coming book
Advertising Diversity: Producing Language and Ethnicity in American
Advertising. The first book of Shalini,
Desi Land was published in 2008 by the Durham: NC Duke University Press.
Shalini being a South Asian and from the Indian Subcontinent written the book
Desi Land 'desi' which in Hindi (the national language of India) means
'countryman'.
The book, Desi Land is set on the time period of the
high-tech boom, between 1999 to 2001. The book is greatly written on the teens
living in the Silicon Valley of California who originally are from the Indian
Sub- continent. The various ethnic groups captured by this dysphoric semiotic
include Punjab Sikhs, Pakistani Muslims, Gujarati Hindus, Indo-Fijians Hindu
and Muslims, Tamil and Telegu are amongst others. The stereotypical thoughts of
the world on the Asians and South Asian as being smart, well brought up,
socially integrated, raised to be academically high achieving makes them model
minorities in the western parts of the world.
In the book Desi Land, there are two places that are
referred to. One, Dixie Land, a place of tremendous ideas, creativity and
talent but also deep racism and prejudice in the America South. Two, Disney
Land, a constructed space of imagination and wonder. Made due to the high-tech
boom in the Silicon Valley. While these two places, far from each other in
terms of its characteristics, in between lies the Desi Land. It is inflected
both with a spirit of wonder and enthusiasm as well as immense obstacles of
class and race for those who are not well positioned to realize their dream.
The Desi teens of The Silicon Valley, to succeed in America had to negotiate
the race and the class based politics at their school, manage social and
academic expectations of being model minorities. If one was trying to live the
American ‘Amrikan’ Dream in the Silicon Valley one had to be actively
negotiating due to everyday dynamics about class, race and language. The
complex social cliques and dynamic of style of Desi teens in the Silicon Valley
undergo terms like “ABCD” or “American Born Confused Desi.” This term, often
used by the first generation Desis to describe the second generation.
Unlike the American Dream in the Silicon Valley where every
teen was a dot com millionaire. The American ‘Amrikan’ dream that Desi teens
saw were to work in in the upper management at the same place where some of the
Desi teens parents were working blue collared jobs. In the Desi Land the
American Dream stands for the notable contrast to the colour blind American
dream and its promise of upward mobility.
Therefore this shows that Desi Land, a place where one can
have countless opportunities and chances, due to the existence of stereotypical
thoughts of people and discrimination, one would have obstacles and
difficulties to pass through. As for the stereotypical thoughts, it created
nothing but false hopes and a situation where people from South Asia had to be
over achievers or there would be no place for them in the society. Desi teens
now are encouraged to express their culture heritage and display their
ethnicity, although in controlled ways. With help of multiculturism they
celebrate their cultural background in socially sanctioned spaces. Yet when
they cross these lines by engaging in cultural and linguistic expression that
challenges the ground rules and codes of their schools and communities, they
cease to be model and their status becomes more ambiguous. What happens to
these Desi teens in their community impacts greatly in the future. The
expectations of Desi land and how people manage them is a constant reminder of
inequality.
From my point of view, the book Desi Land is well written in
every aspect and shows how Asian teens struggle in the world outside and so
foreign to them due to the stereotypical thoughts that have been set on the
minds of the world. Being academically brilliant, show casing the acceptable
and perfect behaviour. The Desi’s idea of success is loyalty, reputation and
other signifiers and these are other than the latter aspects which is the over
achievement in every aspect of life.
I think that Desi teen were not only judged by people in
school and of other communities but also by their own, including their families
and other Desis. The ways Desi teens relate to these narrative success, how
they craft their own meanings of what it means to be successful, and how they aim
to achieve their goals in Silicon Valley are the core concern of this book.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Desi Land- Shalini Shankar
