A Patchwork Shawl

by Dasgupta, Shamita Das

• ISBN13: 9780813525174
• ISBN10: 0813525179
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

A Patchwork Shawl sheds light on the lives of a segment of the U.S. immigrant population that has long been relegated to the margins. It focuses on women's lives that span different worlds: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the United States. This collection of essays by and about South Asian women in America challenges stereotypes by allowing women to speak in their own words. Together they provide discerning insights into the reconstruction of immigrant patriarchy in a new world, and the development of women's resistance to that reconstruction. Shamita Das DasGupta's introduction also acquaints readers with the psychological topography of the South Asian community.

A Patchwork Shawl considers topics from re-negotiation of identity to sexuality, violence to intimacy, occupations to organizing within the community. The essays bear witness to women's negotiations for independent identities, their claim to their own bodies, and the right to choose relationships based on their own histories and truths. They bring new understanding to the intersection of gender, e

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction	p. 1
The Language of Identity	p. 21
Being "Amreekan": Fried Chicken versus Chicken Tikka	p. 33
"We Are Graceful Swans Who Can Also Be Crows": Hybrid Identities of Pakistani Muslim Women	p. 46
Sexual Exiles	p. 62
Naming Desire, Shaping Identity: Tracing the Experiences of Indian Lesbians in the United States	p. 72
Mothers and Daughters in Indian-American Families: A Failed Communication?	p. 97
Sex, Lies, and Women's Lives: An Intergenerational Dialogue	p. 111
Marital Rape: Some Ethical and Cultural Considerations	p. 129
Lifting the Veil of Secrecy: Domestic Violoence Against South Asian Women in the United States	p. 145
The Habit of Ex-Nomination: Nation, Woman, and the Indian Immigrant Bourgeoisie	p. 163
"Underneath My Blouse Beats My Indian Heart": Sexuality, Nationalism, and Indian Womanhood in the United States	p. 186
Three Hot Meals and a Full Day at Work: South Asian Women's Labor in the United States	p. 206
About the Contributors	p. 223
Index	p. 229
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