Where Do I Fit?: Stories of Racial Identity, Resistance, and Community Belonging in Bi- and Multiracial South Asians Open Access

Abstract

This thesis investigates bi- and multiracial South Asians’ identity construction, community belonging, and resistance to white supremacy. “Biracial South Asian” and “Multiracial South Asian” are terms I use to refer to bi- and multiracial people with South Asian parentage. I centralize South Asian identity in this work in order to evaluate, complicate, and reimagine race in the United States. This thesis uses interdisciplinary modes of storytelling, including poetry, scholarship, narrative, photography, exhibition, interviews and history, to explore bi- and multiracial South Asian figures, individuals, and communities such as Cedric Dover, a twentieth century Eurasian scholar, contemporary American participants in my interviews and the UK-based Mixedracefaces organization, Vice President Kamala Harris, Dalip Singh Saund, and early twentieth century mono-, bi-, and multiracial South Asians in California like Jawala Singh and the Punjabi-Mexican community in the Imperial Valley. While all of these narratives begin to fill the glaring absence of scholarly and cultural representations of bi- and multiracial South Asians, this thesis ultimately calls for greater research on this community in order to realize and actualize a more liberatory and justice-seeking future through nuanced and humanizing scholarship.

Table of Contents

List of Figures......................................................................................................................1

Introduction: "When the Absence of Community Creates Community: One Biracial South Asian’s Quest for Discovery, Meaning, and Power"..................................................3

Chapter 1: "Recovering the Brown Phoenix: Cedric Dover, Race, and Eurasian Experience"..............................................................................................................19

Chapter 2: "Oral, Visual, and Textual Representations: Contemporary Bi- and Multiracial South Asian Identity through Interview and Exhibition"........................................40

Chapter 3: "Politics of Visibility: Kamala Harris, Dalip Singh Saund, and South Asian Organizing in Early Twentieth Century California".................................................70

Conclusion: "A Realization of the Self, Community, and Power".................................................87

Bibliography.......................................................................................................................93

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	South Asian Studies American Studies
Keyword	Race and Ethnic Studies Biracial South Asian Cedric Dover Mixed Race Studies Dalip Singh Saund Visual Culture Studies Kamala Harris Archival Studies Multiracial South Asian the US, the UK, and India Storytelling Multiracial Studies
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Dr. Katie Schank, Emory University Dr. Michelle Gordon, Emory University
Committee Members	Dr. Joyce Flueckiger, Emory University

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