Exploring the Identity of First and Second-Generation Bengali Diaspora in the United States - A Personal Account

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-31-2024

Publication Title

Asian Qualitative Inquiry Journal

DOI

10.56428/aqij.2024.3.1.33

Abstract

Stuart Hall once said, “the diaspora identities are constantly producing and reproducing themselves and becoming new

through transformation and difference.” The article A Personal Narrative: Reviewing the Identity of First and Second-Gen- eration Bengali Diaspora in the United States will discuss the issue of culture & identity in the lives of the Indian/ Bengali

diaspora in the United States. It is important for us to understand that the locations in which diasporas live are fundamental for the understanding of diasporic constructions of the homeland and self-identity. This chapter will discuss how culture and identity form a “contact zone,” (A Sense of Belonging and Who Belongs to Diaspora) where the emigrants experience identity issues and are also forced to adjust their cultural practices to those of the hostlands. Consequently, their emigrant culture becomes a hybrid, and a kind of cultural hybrid and Indo-American hovering goes on and those results in the need

for cultural mediation or translation. Next, the chapter will discuss how the first-generation immigrants transmit the cul- tural patterns of their native countries to their U.S.-born children (A Home Away from Home and A Second-generation

Banglamerican Perspectives), while the latter translates the American cultural patterns to their parents, thereby examining the complexities and the relationship dynamics that either hinder or promote the well-being of the first and the second generations. Finally, the chapter will explain (When does a Place of Residence become Home) and conclude how the second generations adapt to the culture of the hostlands and play the role of cultural translators interchangeably between the adopted culture and the culture of the motherland.

Comments

Georgia Southern University faculty member, Nalanda Roy co-authored Exploring the Identity of First and Second-Generation Bengali Diaspora in the United States - A Personal Account.

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