Not surprising because caste has been the foundational arrangement of indian society & caste IS hierarchy. So the aspiration towards whiteness shouldnt be surprising...disappointing..sure...so kash patel, zarna garg, usha vance, vivek ramaswamy and similar south asians show the same behaviour.
Oh for sure, and south Asians in the West have been trying to approach whiteness since forever. But I think their strategies and the particular type of whiteness they’re aspiring to is shifting. Hunting and partying with men’s hockey team, for example, seems new but very very intentional.
Hunting, drinking beer with hockey mens team...embibing the cowboy look are just ways and methods to embibe a white masculine aesthetic. So Kash and vivek are doing just that. And usha (vance) is just following the traditional trumpian woman iconography. Hierarchy does that to you. Its sanskritization(emulating the rituals and aesthetics of those in power to get/feel similar status or proximity to power) at play.
I am sufficiently stoked by this article and the insights you bring. Also I paused my reading to wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who liked this article Kiran Desai’s new book the loneliness of sunny and sonia. It’s an imperfect book but it explores these identity conflicts between whiteness and south asianness (?) better than any other book I’ve read from this century
I also enjoyed Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny! Like you said, it's an imperfect and sometimes bizarre book, but it does have a lot to say on this topic, and does so beautifully, in the way that only great fiction can.
Such precise observations and particularly how well you have described the new direction that South Asians are too eager to identify with:((
I recently learnt about Garg when a friend sent me a link to her YouTube video. What got my attention was that how incapable she is in reflecting on her own story all the while making fun of fellow immigrants. Her leaving home for a better future (not to mention when you read about her early circumstances, she would never pass the good Hindu litmus test) is so glorified by her all the while incapable of extending any pinch of empathy to her fellow Indians, other Southeast Asians, or folks who are fleeing from many parts of the world for a better life..
I even wonder Garg’s law degree (apparently she is a law graduate) sigh! Must be the only law school in east coast that didn’t teach students critical thinking..
Bingo, you hit it on the nail! This same tribe looks the other way and many don’t even understand how upper caste is a very powerful variable in the meritocracy equation. Economic class is another variable with wealth and income gaps being two different sides of an ugly coin.
That one YouTube video was enough to rile me up. I don’t have IG as I’m doing the economic boycott for what it is worth..
George Saunders was on The Ink book club and it was such a gem of a conversation. You will cherish it. Will post the link below.
I think she only knows and thinks about Indians in her orbit who are inevitably upper-caste / class, and forgets that south Asians also make their way to America out of desperation as refugees or undocumented people. I know this post also paints south Asians in similarly broad strokes, so I'm glad you brought this up.
Also, if you feel like getting angry, you should check out her IG page and/or podcast. So many instances of her and husband parroting the most stereotypical Indian shit about education, "good" matchmaking and so on. I wanted to throw my phone across the room.
(My personal favorite was that #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite that all the yogurt containers in his fridge actually have yogurt 😆 )
Back then, I used to be so confused by it, but now with more politicization and research I feel clear that this is a long held (high caste) desi tradition of kowtowing and enmeshing with the nearest white power, whether that’s be the republicans or the british sarkar. Especially given so many of the 70s, 80s & 90s waves of immigration to the US were high caste people (like my family) who imported and then held extra tight to their self importance, casteism and colorism as our “culture.”
This latest version is wild in its representation like you demonstrate so well, but I feel the motivations here of stepping on “those people” to maintain the power of “our people” is an ancient homegrown tradition - that we who don’t agree have to learn somehow to break.
Yeah I agree the goals are nothing new but the tactics seem to be changing and becoming more extreme in some ways. Bobby Jindall's whole thing feels almost quaint now!
So glad you mentioned Tressie. I’m thinking of a recent Instagram reel where she talked about the differences in “rural” and “country”. Always love seeing your take.
So good, so real, so sad
Thanks Clarisse and yes, truly so sad
Not surprising because caste has been the foundational arrangement of indian society & caste IS hierarchy. So the aspiration towards whiteness shouldnt be surprising...disappointing..sure...so kash patel, zarna garg, usha vance, vivek ramaswamy and similar south asians show the same behaviour.
Oh for sure, and south Asians in the West have been trying to approach whiteness since forever. But I think their strategies and the particular type of whiteness they’re aspiring to is shifting. Hunting and partying with men’s hockey team, for example, seems new but very very intentional.
Hunting, drinking beer with hockey mens team...embibing the cowboy look are just ways and methods to embibe a white masculine aesthetic. So Kash and vivek are doing just that. And usha (vance) is just following the traditional trumpian woman iconography. Hierarchy does that to you. Its sanskritization(emulating the rituals and aesthetics of those in power to get/feel similar status or proximity to power) at play.
Agreed!
I am sufficiently stoked by this article and the insights you bring. Also I paused my reading to wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who liked this article Kiran Desai’s new book the loneliness of sunny and sonia. It’s an imperfect book but it explores these identity conflicts between whiteness and south asianness (?) better than any other book I’ve read from this century
I also enjoyed Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny! Like you said, it's an imperfect and sometimes bizarre book, but it does have a lot to say on this topic, and does so beautifully, in the way that only great fiction can.
Such precise observations and particularly how well you have described the new direction that South Asians are too eager to identify with:((
I recently learnt about Garg when a friend sent me a link to her YouTube video. What got my attention was that how incapable she is in reflecting on her own story all the while making fun of fellow immigrants. Her leaving home for a better future (not to mention when you read about her early circumstances, she would never pass the good Hindu litmus test) is so glorified by her all the while incapable of extending any pinch of empathy to her fellow Indians, other Southeast Asians, or folks who are fleeing from many parts of the world for a better life..
https://romaticize.substack.com/p/the-country-that-educated-itself?r=5psbn&utm_medium=ios
Here is another to understand lack of empathy among South Asians..
https://anandwrites.substack.com/p/book-club-george-saunders-points?r=5psbn&utm_medium=ios
I even wonder Garg’s law degree (apparently she is a law graduate) sigh! Must be the only law school in east coast that didn’t teach students critical thinking..
Bingo, you hit it on the nail! This same tribe looks the other way and many don’t even understand how upper caste is a very powerful variable in the meritocracy equation. Economic class is another variable with wealth and income gaps being two different sides of an ugly coin.
That one YouTube video was enough to rile me up. I don’t have IG as I’m doing the economic boycott for what it is worth..
George Saunders was on The Ink book club and it was such a gem of a conversation. You will cherish it. Will post the link below.
Thank you! I look forward to checking these out. I'm a fan of Anand's work.
I think she only knows and thinks about Indians in her orbit who are inevitably upper-caste / class, and forgets that south Asians also make their way to America out of desperation as refugees or undocumented people. I know this post also paints south Asians in similarly broad strokes, so I'm glad you brought this up.
Also, if you feel like getting angry, you should check out her IG page and/or podcast. So many instances of her and husband parroting the most stereotypical Indian shit about education, "good" matchmaking and so on. I wanted to throw my phone across the room.
This makes me think of
#BobbyJindalIsSoWhite - remember?
(My personal favorite was that #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite that all the yogurt containers in his fridge actually have yogurt 😆 )
Back then, I used to be so confused by it, but now with more politicization and research I feel clear that this is a long held (high caste) desi tradition of kowtowing and enmeshing with the nearest white power, whether that’s be the republicans or the british sarkar. Especially given so many of the 70s, 80s & 90s waves of immigration to the US were high caste people (like my family) who imported and then held extra tight to their self importance, casteism and colorism as our “culture.”
This latest version is wild in its representation like you demonstrate so well, but I feel the motivations here of stepping on “those people” to maintain the power of “our people” is an ancient homegrown tradition - that we who don’t agree have to learn somehow to break.
Yeah I agree the goals are nothing new but the tactics seem to be changing and becoming more extreme in some ways. Bobby Jindall's whole thing feels almost quaint now!
So glad you mentioned Tressie. I’m thinking of a recent Instagram reel where she talked about the differences in “rural” and “country”. Always love seeing your take.
I’ll have to look that up! I revisited a bunch of her NYT pieces for this and I felt smarter just reading them 🫠
you know, I really liked Zarna at first, I thought she was doing a kind of desi mom drag performance. So bummed to be wrong.
I think she’s mocking it while also playing into it, which threw me off too.