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Social Science Asian American Studies

Of Silk Saris & Mini-Skirts

South Asian Girls Walk the Tightrope of Culture

by (author) Amita Handa

Publisher
Canadian Scholars' Press Inc.
Initial publish date
Jan 2003
Category
Asian American Studies, Women's Studies, Urban
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780889614062
    Publish Date
    Jan 2003
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

Dr. Handa explores issues surrounding the way identity is imagined and constructed by South Asian girls, women and South Asian community workers in Toronto. The author also examines ways in which young South Asian women are constructed and represented through discourses of race, nation, culture and community.
Using feedback from her interviews, the author discusses South Asian women's struggle with the threat of the erosion of their authentic cultural practices. Handa's critical theoretical perspective illuminates how South Asian women struggle to live within the boundaries of cultural preservation at the same time that they embrace aspects of the communities in which they live. She explores whether they both desire and are excluded from Canadian cultural hegemony. She also examines the theoretical implications of exclusion and conversely, the problematic of cultural preservation.

About the author

Amita Handa has a doctorate in sociology and is a community-based research consultant. She is co-host of Masala Mixx on CKLN 88.1 FM, a radio program that presents a fusion of Eastern and Western music. She is also an editor and writer for BrownSugar, a New York-based art and culture magazine for South Asian women, produced by Vinita Srivastava.

Amita Handa's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Of Silk Saris and Mini-Skirts conveys a thoughtful and well-researched argument about the secrets and lies, pride and strength – in essence, the fragmentation and perseverance that characterize the lives of second generation South Asian women in the diaspora."— “Meera Sethi, Anoki Vibe