Interconnections and Uneasy Alliances Between the Black and South Asian Diasporas: a Study of Hip Hop Videos, Film, and Literature

INTERCONNECTIONS AND UNEASY ALLIANCES BETWEEN THE BLACK AND SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORAS: A STUDY OF HIP HOP VIDEOS, FILM, AND LITERATURE VISHA GANDHI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO SEPTEMBER 2014 © Visha Gandhi, 2014 Interconnections and Uneasy Alliances Between the Black and South Asian Diasporas: A Study of Hip Hop Videos, Film, and Literature This dissertation challenges the belief that racialized communities do immediately support and identify with each other; my research on the Black and South Asian diasporas unearths the Orientalist thoughts and anti-Black racisms that exist in each respective community. Using the work of Edward Said in his text, Orientalism, and research on racial triangulation by Asian Americanist Claire Jean Kim, my work attempts to clarify the often-conflicted relations and dynamics between South Asians, Blacks, and whites. Chapter two of this dissertation looks at romantic and sexual involvement between different racial communities; I specifically look at the films Mississippi Masala and Bhaji on the Beach to delve into the cultural rarity that is the Black-South Asian romance. Chapter three discusses Black Orientalism in American hip hop videos by such artists as Truth Hurts, and Timbaland and Magoo. Finally, chapter four looks at gendered dynamics and longings for blackness in the texts Consensual Genocide, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Londonstani, by Gautam Malkani. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my family, and especially to Catherine Thompson, for her unending support. And to all hip hop brown girls who practice their appreciation respectfully. iii Acknowledgements While engaging in a process as difficult and lengthy as the writing of a dissertation, it becomes challenging to remember all who inspired, challenged, and aided along the way. If I have forgotten to specifically name any friends or colleagues, please blame a sieve-like memory, and not a lack of appreciation. I’d like to thank my colleagues at York University, particularly Stephanie Hart and Jaspreet Gill, who joined me on the adventure of studying Bengali Cinema. I’d like to thank Megan Hillman and James Papoutsis. Thank you, Sailaja Krishmamurti, for being so generous and providing your dissertation proposal as a guideline. Thanks go to Nehal El Hadi and Shadi Eskandani, my hip hop advisors. Some of my research was tested out at Congress 2010 at Concordia University and The Cultural Studies Association Meeting at New York University in 2008; thanks go to audience members of both conferences for comments and critiques. Thank you to Lu Lam for being a steady research companion, and to Krista Parker for discussions that pushed my writing forward. Thanks go to non-academic friends Anisha Abdulla and Alex Tso for their slightly bewildered support. And I am grateful for part-time work with The Stop Community Food Centre and Not Far From the Tree, which allowed me to continue my writing. I would like to thank my committee, Leslie Sanders, Lily Cho, and especially Arun Mukherjee, for their guidance and support. I greatly appreciate Arun’s guidance, encouragement, and friendship. Final and heartfelt gratitude goes to my Mom and Dad, Sima, Shital, Amit, and of course Cathy Thompson. I couldn’t have done this without you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….……….…..ii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..…...……..iii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………..….…..……iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………...……..…....v Chapter One: Introduction……………………..………………………………….………...…….1 Chapter Two: Chickenheads and “Arabic Chicks”: Disposable Women and the Indeterminate Asian in Twenty-First Century Hip Hop ………………………………………….………….....28 Chapter Three: “The World is Not So Quick to Change”: Interracial Desire and Racial Triangulation in Mississippi Masala and Bhaji on Beach………………………………………….72 Chapter Four: Coconuts, Batty Bwoys, and Good Sistas: Racialized Representations of Genderin Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Consensual Genocide and Gautam Malkani’s Londonstani…………………………………………………………………………………….119 Chapter Five: Conclusion…………………………………..…………………………………..158 Bibliography…………………………...…………………………………...…………………..168 v Introduction - Chapter One "I love 'Slumdog.' I love naan. Uh… pepper, Ben Kingsley; the stories of Rudyard Kipling. I have respect for cows, of course. I love the Taj Mahal, Deepak Chopra, anyone named Patel. I love monsoon. I love cobras in baskets. Growing up to be a doctor. I love mango chutney. Really any type of chutney." (Schmidt, New Girl - "Cece Crashes") This dissertation explores the themes of expressive cultures, identity, and diaspora in cities such as Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and London. It examines the literary and musical art forms/works of African and South Asian diasporic cultures in these metropolises to probe the fraught relations of these cultural and ethnic groups. While studies of minority cultures abound, they seldom examine the interconnections, alliances, as well as conflicts that emerge in contemporary youth cultures (Maira 2003; Deike and Hodkinson 2009; Chatterton 2003). The current study breaks the mould of single cultural/ethnic group focused critical work and attempts to probe the cross cultural points of contact through an examination of selected literary, filmic and musical texts. This study examines these cross-cultural representations to ferret out the embedded stereotypes that circulate in the social imaginary and are imbibed by the youth themselves. Thus, while African diasporic musical cultures such as hip hop may utilize Orientalist imagery to represent South Asian cultures, South Asian literary and filmic representations often contain stereotypes and fetishistic attitudes towards Black communities. Neither cultural community is innocent of racism or simplistic views of the other ethnic group, 1 and yet in both the Black and South Asian cultural groups we do find moments of connection and cultural understanding. One might ask several questions at the outset of analysis of research of the intersecting Black and South Asian diasporas. Firstly, how do gender and sexuality solidify or complicate seemingly simplistic ethnic identities? Also, how do South Asian artists and cultural workers enter into a dialogue with Blacknesses and Black identity in their cultural products? How can one look at such from an intersectional perspective, one that delves into the multiplicities of race, class, gender, and sexuality and how they come together in complex ways in the identity formation of the individual and in the cultural products studied? I use the term intersecting to the full limits of its meaning, as this study will delve into the often conflicted crossroads of said identity markers. The identity formation of “South Asian” usually applies to those whose are in the countries of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan. The use of the term South Asian has developed over time, and is rarely used transnationally. According to Harish Trivedi, “‘South Asia’ is, of course, a term of factual geographical description…but its rapidly growing significance for us derives from its being used as a political, or more accurately, geo-political category” (6). Those called “South Asian” in North America are called “Asian” in the U.K. (in North America, Asian refers more commonly to those of East Asian descent). Also, in North America, “East Indian” was once common terminology; those in western Canada still use the term East Indian colloquially. “‘South Asia’ was virtually invented by the Pentagon in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the wake of the post-Sputnik Cold war panic when the USA, having been overtaken in the race to outer space, felt the need as a counter-offensive, to look closely at and cultivate a knowledge of several areas at least of our terra firma which had for it until then 2 lay in darkness” (6). In the 2006 Canadian census, respondents were asked to identify themselves as South Asian as opposed to East Indian or another designation. South Asian identity formation in diasporic geographies solidifies in youth cultures who look towards common cultural reference points in a way that challenges communal and nationalistic discord. For many second-generation youth the struggle against racism and invisibility by the media and mainstream societies often necessitates solidarity between diverse South Asian communities. Thus, in places like Canada, Indo-Canadians and Pakistani-Canadians might find common ground where their parents and relatives in South Asia might not think any commonality to be possible. Yet the unifying aspects of the term South Asian do not fully alleviate the hierarchies and privileges within the community. In many cases the term “South Asian” is just a gloss for Indian cultures and people, while giving a cursory nod towards other nations in the region. A clear example of this might be Toronto’s downtown South Asian district, which is named Gerrard India Bazaar, and is known colloquially as Little India. In both the official name and nickname, the other five nations of South Asia are conspicuously missing. It is difficult to find common ground amongst academics, community members, and others on a suitable nomenclature for Black communities and peoples. Currently terms like African diasporic, or Afrodiasporic are de rigeur, yet merely a decade ago the term Black

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