Out of Place in the Domestic Space

Abstract

This chapter examines the textual, discursive, and networking politics of Indian immigrant women residing in the United States on the H-4 temporary visa, through a close reading of the discussion forum by and about these women on the community website, indusladies.com. It argues that the politics of household and networking evidenced through the discussion cultures and online practices of forum participants exemplifies the repurposing of the virtual network to foreground a particular immigrant formation articulated along relations of gender and visa-defined immigrant class. H-4 women make visible their diverse and embodied experiences of feeling like outsiders in the immigrant space. They narrate their histories of migration from India and relocation in the United States, culminating in their becoming out of place in the nonresident Indian (NRI) household. In turn, their testimonials unsettle idealized discourses of gendered NRI belonging, which mostly by absence of representation assume that the H-4 wives of H-1B professionals are happily ensconced in domestic bliss as NRI householders.