"What does it mean to be both Indian and, like, American?" Representation in Contemporary South Asian American Young Adult Literature

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: This thesis studies the contemporary landscape of South Asian American Young Adult Literature through its relationship with a specific set of emic readers, namely, young, wealthy South Asian Americans living in suburban ethnic enclaves. It explores how the bildungsroman format privileges uniquely South Asian generational conflicts and inherited traumas that craft a hybrid, mutable sense of identity. The answer to the question the title poses, “What does it mean to be both Indian and, like, American?” is simply a slew of related questions that signify different things to each individual. Using the case studies of three recent releases in the genre, this thesis endeavors to illustrate that second-generation immigrant identity conflicts are not a power struggle between two binaristic identities, but instead create a generative space that embraces different parts of any identity.

Subject	South Asian literature
Subject	Young adult fiction
Subject	Identification
Subject	Symbolism in literature
Subject	Emigration and immigration
Subject	South Asian American teenagers > Ethnic identity
Subject	South Asian Americans in literature
Genre	Text
Genre	Thesis

DOI	https://doi.org/10.25740/zg436bv5314
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/zg436bv5314

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Preferred citation: Bhramasandra, K. (2022). "What does it mean to be both Indian and, like, American?" Representation in Contemporary South Asian American Young Adult Literature. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/zg436bv5314

Stanford University, Department of English, Undergraduate Honors Theses

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