Between the Lines: South Asians and Postcoloniality (Asian American History & Cultu)

This ground-breaking collection of new interviews, critical essays, and commentary explores South Asian identity and culture. Sensitive to the false homogeneity implied by 'South Asian', 'diaspora', 'postcolonial', and 'Asian American', the contributors attempt to unpack these terms. By examining the social, economic, and historical particularities of people who live 'between the lines' on and between borders they reinstate questions of power and privilege, agency and resistance. As South Asians living in the United States and Canada, each to some degree must reflect on the interaction of the personal 'I,' the collective 'we,' and the world beyond. The South Asian scholars gathered together in this volume speak from a variety of theoretical perspectives; in the essays and interviews that cross the boundaries of conventional academic disciplines, they engage in intense, sometimes contentious, debate. Author note: Deepika Bahri is Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature and Theory at Emory University. Mary Vasudeva is on the Board of Directors for the Academic Excellence Foundation at Bowling Green State University.