Gopinath discusses the importance  and meaning of queer diasporic critique by studying queer diasporic cultural forms and the way the cultural forms redefine ‘home’ as different to the traditional (blood, purity (chaste and cis), authenticity, patrilineal descent). Heteronormativity is the structure of colonialism and nationalism and influences the way cis-hood is valued over queer-ness. Therefore, studying sexuality and the absence of it, particularly in euro-Bollywood films, is central to the anti-imperialist and anti-racist project.

South Asian bodies in Bollywood films are seen purely as spectacles and entertainment, while South Asian communities in the U.S. are experiencing representational violences, such as seen after 9/11. They are in either criminal and anti-national or multicultural and assimilationist. It is the absence of queer-ness in Bollywood films that allows for assimilation.

The paper emphasizes the importance of queer diasporic critiques in order to understand the racist violence South Asian bodies are experiencing in a hegemonic cis-heteronormative narrative.

Gopinath writes about post 9/11 in the US and the rise of Bollywood type cinema. She discusses how the increase in surveillance of South Asian communities coincides with the rise of Bollywood, which she calls a “representational excess and material violence” (Gopinath, 157). This representational form perpetuates the disappearance of queer female subjectivities, maintaining heterosexualization of female characters and generating commodities of consumption of South Asian culture and South Asians. All the while South Asian men are being detained and questioned and labeled terrorist. It is interesting to consider how both these forms act together as a type of hyper-surveillance, policing bodies and behaviors.  Reading this article reminded me of a discussion in another class from last week. We were talking about how the increase in movies and shows that portray a slave narrative in the US coincides with the rise and rapid expansion of the PIC. Obviously there are huge differences between these two comparisons from Gopinath and my other class. But a similarity is how certain (sometimes historicized) subjectivities are being produced that incur sympathy, empathy, or maybe even humor while another politicized identity is being produced and reproduced in the US- that of the terrorist or the criminal, who is subsequently denied any such response from the public. Are those parallelisms functioning as a form of US nationalism? Gopinath goes on to look at some films that have reproduced certain heteronormative US nationalist narratives depicting South Asian characters. She then discusses Parminder Sekhon’s photography and how she works to bring visibility to queer female desire and subjectivity. Puar’s article looked at the torture and the depictions and discourse surrounding the torture of the prisoners of Abu Ghraib. Specifically she calls to question why was ‘disgusting’ was used over and over when describing these images and events when photos of body parts and bomb damage doesn’t cause similar reactions. The depictions of gay sex acts in these photos of torture by American soldiers causes major anxiety over calling into question the US as an authority of morality and ethics.

I liked reading the piece by Kapadia about MIA and queer cartographies. The idea of queer cartographies is very productive in the way it can allow consideration of other ways to be in the world, a reclamation of historical tropes and the rethinking of possibilities when looking through the opacity of globalized economy. The chapter in Hip Hop Desis was something I had read several quarters ago in another class. Something to note is that D’Lo is a trans comedian/actor now and was very recently in a Cheryl Dunye film. That chapter discusses gendered stereotypes and misogyny within hip hop communities. She discusses how these gendered stereotypes get mapped on to bodies differently, and that these unequal gendered relations can be worked out within and across race lines. And that ultimately they should be because hip hop has been a source of empowerment and space of politicization for many (Sharma, 189). I think something similar is happening in Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala, so much anxiety is generated from both Demetrius and Meena’s families and communities over their relationship.

Problematizing Mississippi Masala:

Mississippi Masala by Mira Nair tries to convey the complications of cross-racial interactions and even some inherent racisms people of color communities pose.  I do believe though, that the important underlying concepts about race and the implications of colorism and people’s forced removal are overshadowed by the concept of [romantic] love; Mississippi Masala definitely followed the ‘love fixes/overcomes all’ narrative.

This film has motifs similar to the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ narrative wherein boy meets girl and falls in love, however the two families collide, and in this particular situation due to racial conflicts.  The film primarily followed the love story between Demetrius and Meena, and shifted its focus [very quickly] away from Indians forced removal from Uganda.  Furthermore, although Demetrius pointed out a very special concept when he mentions to the father that ‘he is only a few shades lighter’ and that he has his own personal struggles as a black working man in Mississippi, the film does not very much convey struggles of black folk in Mississippi.

Lastly, the ending of the film seemed to ‘resolve’ all of the conflicts in the film, which in my opinion never happens in reality.  Meena’s father seemed to acquire closure after trying to say goodbye to his departed friend; Demetrius father and Meena’s mother seemed to be very okay with their children’s quick decision to leave Mississippi without much travel equipment or clothes with them; and both Meena and Demetrius seemed to forget all of the family conflicts they had because their ‘love conquered all.’

Mississippi Masala explores the relationships (romantic, civil, social) between people of color in various diaspora. Specifically, the film thinks about the relations between Indian and African diasporic subjects. The film complicates the subjectivity of our main Indian family, because they are South Asian in the African diaspora, meaning that they view Uganda as their homeland. This context, combined with the historical period at hand (1970s-90s, or, Uganda’s military dictatorship, as well as the post-Civil Rights movement in the USA), sets the ground for some of the themes in the film, including racial hierarchy within communities of color. Throughout the film there are discussions between the characters regarding both racial solidarity and accusations of anti-blackness in Indian culture. For example, Demitrius tells Meena’s father that his Indian skin is only a few shades lighter than his own Black skin. Earlier, an Indian character attempts to dissuade Demetrius from suing after the car crash given that they are all non-White persons of color.

Mississippi Masala explored the aftermath of colonialism in Africa. The forced removal of South Asians in Uganda is complicated because while you don’t want South Asians displaced, their presence is a sign of colonialism and the influences of the Western nation. In the South Asian communities there is a lot of anti-blackness and so it is no wonder that Africans would want to go back to pre-colonial times when there was no anti-black sentiment in their homes by their South Asian neighbors.

Black and South Asian interactions are also explored in “Flipping the Gender Script” in the hip hop community. While there is already limited space for women in the hip hop industry, non-black women and South Asian women in particular have an even harder time navigating the space. They constantly have to “prove themselves” which is exhausting and unfair. MIA is a successful representation of South Asians in the hip hop community, producing songs that have to deal with death, disease, terror, and more.

I really enjoyed the readings and movie for this week. The movie Mississippi Masala by Mira Mair was really relatable for me. I relate to the character Mina in small ways. My grandparents came to America in the 1980s because of the Vietnam War, and for them, that relocation was difficult because they had to leave their home and other family members behind. Even though my own parents are more open-minded about the culture here in the United States, my grandparents held their own traditions and beliefs. Growing up, I had a lot of friends from different backgrounds and ethnic groups. It wasn’t until later when I began to notice the subtle difference in how my grandparents would treat my friends whenever they come over to my house. Toward my Asian friends, my grandparents were more open when interacting with them. However, my grandparents would often be more reserved, or careful, around my friends of other ethnicities. It wasn’t until when my uncle married my aunt-in-law, who is caucasian, that my grandparents began to be more accepting and open. After watching this movie and thinking back about this, I think that even though assimilation is difficult to me being accepting is even harder, especially when such a deep history is being involved. For the character Jay, Mina’s father, the relocation to him wasn’t just a political inequality but a personal injustice. Throughout the movie, he thought of Uganda as his true home and dreamed of going back, similarly to a lot of immigrants who had to relocate because of warfare or the oppressive government of their country. Because of this, I think it had prevented Jay from assimilating into the new culture and from being more accepting toward the black community because to him, it was “them” who had driven him away from his home.

Both the film Mississipi Masala and “Flipping the Gender Script” explore interactions between Black people and South Asian people. In “Flipping the Gender Script”, South Asian hip-hop artists have to navigate the world of hip-hop not only with gendered limitations, but raced ones as well. Black female hip-hop artists were exclusionary towards D’Lo and Deejay Bella because they were working hard enough to be accepted in the hip-hop community as women, and there seemed to be limited room for inclusion.

In Mississipi Masala, Mina and Demetrius fall in love and have to deal with their parents’ reactions to their romance. The scene I found most interesting was when Demetrius confronts Mina’s father and says he is “only a few shades lighter”, referring to his attitude that Demetrius is not good enough for his daughter. It is made clearer toward the end of the film that part of Mina’s father’s prejudice against Demetrius and his romance with Mina is the reason why he left Uganda: his Black friend tells him he has to leave Uganda because Africa is only for Black Africans. I perceived this to be part of the reason that Mina’s father is resentful towards Black people. Thus, his perception of race is affected by his position in the South Asian diaspora– Uganda was his home, where he had been born and raised, but even in Uganda he was “othered”.

The readings and videos this week gave the most heart wrenching feeling through out; this deep sense and theme of outside looking in transcended across each piece hurt me every and I could not imagine the actual lives of queer diasporic South Asians as they navigate themselves through colonization and de-colonization.

The experiences of brown queer men living in a world that tells them queer is to be white, rendering them invisible, yet still a part of the “community”. Are they in or are they out? This place of outside/in between resonates feelings of diasporic living as queer brown mens’ identities that they cannot let go of.

I felt personally connected to a line in “bodymaps” that mentions the panic of leaving and not being able to return–the sense that you don’t belong neither here no there. Where do you belong? How do you come to peace with your situation?

But, “Corporate Tax” by Darkmatter has left a lasting impression on me, as I have archived it and will hopefully watch it periodically through out my life. I want to do this as a reminder to remain resistant, to stay true to myself, to not allow others, societies, anyone’s interpretation of me to define me, to not allow goals to be set for me, to not let anyone determine or guide my life for a purpose outside of myself. I do not want to lose myself.

I really appreciated all of the readings and videos from this week. Dark Matter’s poetry and performance is extremely moving. Alok is on instagram and facebook and I highly recommend following them if you are also on those platforms. In Trans/Generation, addressing why they don’t smile in family photos as a form of resistance, the silence and violence inherited from men, and the rage that their grandmother puts into her painting- as gender for short, narrates all the ways in which the gender binary enacted onto society creates so many different forms of violence and oppression. In When Brown looks in the Mirror…calling out the english language, a language for hurting, reminded me of our discussion in class of Cereus and what it meant when Mala stopped speaking english. I had seen LaWhore Vagistan’s video #SarinotSorry before and really appreciated reading this interview. LaWhore Vagistan talks about how she worked toward her drag persona and performance. She also discusses the role of the auntie in various ways and how that cultural support and knowledge comes from many different places and travels in many different ways. She also talks about the slippage between her drag persona and no drag persona. And how Vagistan represents the rupture and separation between India and Pakistan and the affects this had on her family. Roy’s short story addressed his experience being gay in the midwest and how white supremacy informs the exotifying and fethishism that he experiences within white gay culture. I really loved the poems by Leah Lakshmi Piepza-Samarasinha and how she discusses queer culture and diaspora living in the bay area. Also what it is like living with mcs among other chronic illnesses that limits the way in which she and others can interact in a space. My city is a hard femme was my favorite poem, completely unapologetic femmedom and how that is related to a city space.