Becoming ‘Authentic’ Indian women: displacement, home, and identity among women of the Indian diaspora in the USA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes interviews with 25 immigrant Indian women in the USA, most of whom arrived during the 1980s. Combining data from in-depth interviews of eight of these women from a cultural psychological study and interviews of 17 immigrant Indian women from the Indiana University Oral History Research Center, I use qualitative analysis within the grounded theory approach to offer insights into their lives in the USA. Six themes emerged from their narratives: the move to the USA (‘the shift’) and their feeling of displacement; experiences with religious and racial discrimination; their roles as cultural and national ambassadors for India; employment; marriage; and identity dilemmas. Adding to the literature that eschews hegemonic Western analytical categories to actively consider the perspectives of the participants themselves, I render a nuanced portrayal of the women’s experiences as they actively synthesize a new ‘authentic’ Indianness for themselves and their families while navigating the melancholia of loss, separation, and exclusion.