Copyright by Smita Sundaresan Ruzicka 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Smita Sundaresan Ruzicka Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: DESI WOMEN ON THE FORTY ACRES: Exploring Intergenerational Issues and Identity Development of South Asian American College Students Committee: Victor B. Sáenz, Supervisor Richard J. Reddick Edwin R. Sharpe Rowena Fong Vagdevi Meunier DESI WOMEN ON THE FORTY ACRES: Exploring Intergenerational Issues and Identity Development of South Asian American College Students by Smita Sundaresan Ruzicka, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2011 Dedication I dedicate this dissertation and important milestone of my life to my parents. To my mother, Snehlata Sundaresan You have always inspired me with your strength, resilience, and intelligence. I thank you for all the hours you spent taking me to dance and music and your endless reservoir of patience in teaching me. I thank you for always being there in both good times and challenging ones. This work is just a small symbol of my deep love and appreciation for all the sacrifices you have made for me. Thank you for making me the woman I am today. To my father, K.S.Sundaresan You have always been my hero and source of inspiration. Your hard work, dedication, and commitment to your work and family have taught me the importance of building and creating meaningful relationships with the people in my life. Your sense of humor, enthusiasm and energy for life are the most treasured gifts that I have inherited from you. Thank you for being the most wonderful father in the world and believing in me always. Acknowledgements As I embarked on this journey of writing my dissertation, I heard many people express that writing a dissertation was a lonely process. While I experienced isolation many times, I never felt alone. I always carried in my heart the voices and faces of the many phenomenal people who stood beside me throughout this process. It is their unconditional love, support, and confidence in me that has helped me through the challenges, barriers, and frustrations that I experienced along the way. I take this opportunity to express my love and gratitude. The seeds of this dissertation were planted along the years as a result of relationships that I built with many amazing students during my time at The University of Texas at Austin. Without their stories, I would not feel the drive, passion, and urgency to conduct research on South Asian American college students. I thank these students for sharing their stories, which were often painful and heartbreaking but so important to tell. I arrive at the completion of this dissertation and my doctoral journey in large part due to my committee chair and advisor, Dr. Victor B. Sáenz. Without your unwavering support, patience, and encouragement, this journey would have been very challenging. Thank you for all the times you let me vent, cry, be angry, and be excited. You helped me discover the researcher and writer within me and I am truly grateful for that. Thank you for challenging me to take risks and produce such a meaningful research project. You are truly an amazing advisor, teacher, and mentor. In addition to Victor, I am grateful for the support and encouragement of my dissertation committee. I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Richard Reddick who despite his busy schedule always made time to meet with me or respond to my emails. Your guidance with the methodology for the study was invaluable and your v thorough and detailed feedback was always greatly appreciated. I knew that I wanted to ask Dr. Edwin Sharpe to be on my dissertation committee from the very first day that I had the honor of meeting him. Dr. Sharpe, you were my very first professor in the program and I credit you in large part for making my experiences as a doctoral student so positive. I thank you for the genuine care and interest you have always shown toward my personal and professional development. Your vast knowledge and experience as an administrator served as powerful lessons in my professional development. As the first co-chairs of the Asian and Asian American faculty and staff association at the university, Dr. Rowena Fong and I shared a lot of laughs and some tears as well. Rowena, I have always appreciated your ability to critically analyze situations, ask important questions and come up with solutions. Thank you for your love and all the breakfasts at Kerby Lane. Dr. Vagdevi Meunier has been a significant role model and mentor to me. Vagdevi, you have been such as incredible mentor to me as a young professional when I first started at UT Austin, to a therapist venturing into the realm of building her own private practice, to a South Asian woman trying to find her place in spaces where there are not many other South Asians. Your creativity, enthusiasm, warmth and wisdom truly inspire me and I feel so lucky to have you in my life. I would like to also express my deep thanks to faculty and staff members in the Educational Administration program including Dr. Juan González, Dr. Martha Ovando, Dr. Pat Somers, and Dr. Gregory Vincent, Linda Overton, and Hortensia Palomares. My experience in this program was additionally enriched due to the connections made with other students in the program. I want to thank all the wonderful members of “Cube 68,” our informal higher education cohort. In particular, I want to say a huge thanks to Matt Page, Steve Alvarez, Krystal Peralez, Diane Ginsburg, FranCee Brown-McClure who vi made going to class and working on class assignments always fun and entertaining. And finally, I want to thank the three phenomenal women who shared and completed this journey of writing the dissertation with me this year, CeCe Ridder, Laura Cortez, and Tracy Arambula-Turner. Just remember we are the “Fab Four” and I am honored to have you three in my life. In addition to my graduate school friends, I also want to thank my friends outside graduate school that helped me stay grounded to the world outside of books and papers. I give special thanks to Sally Jackman and Jeff Igoe who were my fearless cheerleaders. To my “DWs,” Adrienne, KJ, Liz, LaToya and Martha who were always there when I needed to cry and especially when I needed to laugh. Your sassiness, wit, and perspectives kept me grounded. I have been very fortunate to work in The Office of the Dean of Students while completing the doctoral program. To my DoS family, I want to say thank you for your support, encouragement and willingness to help with projects and tasks when school was a priority. I want to especially thank Dr. Soncia Reagins-Lilly for your support. Your perspectives, advice, and experiences have been invaluable to me and I truly value the time you took out of your busy schedule to check in with me about my progress. You are an inspiration as a leader and I am honored to work with you. I would not have been able to successfully complete this dissertation without the unwavering support of Dr. Elizabeth Medina who provided me with the flexibility to manage both work and school. Thank you for always being there for me. I want to thank my DoS friends, Jason Sick and Jason Thibbodeaux for always having your doors open and for sharing many laughs with me. The richness of this dissertation lies in the words and stories of my participants. I want to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the participant mothers of this vii study who opened up their homes to me and shared with me their powerful stories. I was deeply moved by your love for your daughters and your families. To the student participants of my study, I was deeply moved by your stories and the immense amounts of love and respect that you expressed for your mothers. Your stories and descriptions reaffirmed for me the significance of the connection between Desi mothers and daughters. To all the participants of this study, I thank you for your truth, your love, and your strength. I want to express my endless love and appreciation for my family who have been powerful sources of support for me. I want to thank Ellen and Akhtar Sagarwala for being the best parents-in-law. Thank you for celebrating both the big and small successes in my life. I would like to thank my brother-in-law, Adam who provided me with the laughs when I most needed them. I want to thank my wonderful sister, Namita who has always been a source of inspiration to me. Your wit, intelligence, and confidence have always amazed me. Thank you for always believing in me. My parents, K.S. and Sneh Sundaresan have been my foundation. I thank you both for your tireless dedication and unconditional love. Thank you for allowing me to pursue my dreams even when they were not the most practical. Thank you for being the phenomenal parents that you are. I love you both very much. Finally, to my dear husband and partner, Frank Ruzicka who lived this experience with me everyday for the past four years. Your unwavering faith in me has been a source of great comfort and strength. Your love has kept me motivated and energized throughout this process.