For some, 'South Asian,' 'brown,' and 'Desi' are apt names to describe inherently similar cultures and a connected history. Others say they paint over a vast array of peoples who make up the subcontinent and its diasporas.
, and a host of transnational solidarity movements have cycled them through lengthy acronyms and broad umbrella terms.
“They each have a place, but they don’t entirely encompass each of the others,” said Jasvir Singh, an activist who is a co-founder ofHistorians say that to look forward, it’s important to understand how people in the Western world came to view the community the way they do. North Indian culture is what people in the U.S. are most familiar with — butter chicken and naan, Hindi speakers, Bollywood music.
Indo-Caribbeans and the diasporas in East Africa were also ushered into the movement and are now considered part of the label, Maira said. “When I talk to friends who are North Indian, it could be as if I’m talking to friends from, really, anywhere in Asia,” she said. “It often feels to me like different countries.”
She doesn’t like “Desi” because it can be akin to"bumpkin" in some North Indian languages, and she thinks claiming “brown” can erase Latino, North African or Middle Eastern people who also identify with the term. Sunthar Vykunthanathan is Eelam Tamil, an oppressed group in Sri Lanka. His parents were refugees to Canada during the Sri Lankan civil war in the ’80s, and he saysSunthar Vykunthanathan, an Eelam Tamil Canadian whose parents fled Sri Lanka during the civil war.Identity erasure has been a constant reality for Vykunthanathan, even in spaces that claim to serve “Desis” or “South Asians.”
Universities, for example, might have “brown nights” but play only Hindi music or have North Indian food. All the umbrella terms have the potential to play into it, but Vykunthanathan said “Desi” especially leaves a bad taste in his mouth, given that it’s a Sanskrit-rooted, North Indian word itself. Azhar said that when she was growing up, peers' lack of understanding about South Asia led them to refer to her as “Arab.” She knew that wasn’t accurate, but she wasn’t totally sure how to explain it away. She also didn’t have a community of friends who looked like her to turn to. Forming bonds with other South Asians has been a big part of her identity, she said, and she is increasingly gravitated toward the “Desi” and “brown” labels.
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