“Ethnicized Consumption”

• -Indian food very popular in UK• -Upscale fusion cuisine• -Asian style moving into British mainstream• -Women at the center• -Salwaar-kameez extremely popular

-now high fashion, not immigrant clothes

-worn by many races• -“Brown is the new black”

Discussion Questions:• Is this empowering for women? It’s an industry they are at the center of,

but does it give them more agency? Does it give more presence and identity to Asian women?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR_L4y5WFqA• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_7Y3qUyDk• http://www.desiblitz.com/content/fashion-for-asian-weddings• Is the popularity of the suit aiding assimilation or continuing otherization

and exoticization? Even if chic, it is still labeled as different. Is this an occurrence of New Orientalism as well?

Discussion Questions:“This label, says Sarb Basran, is about a clothing style which emphasizes: ‘It’s not where you are from but where you are at in a global world. It’s a clothes label that attempts to unify cultures, races and ideologies and attempts to harmonize the conflicts posed by a multicultural world. It reflects the choices you make in such a complex diverse setting amidst global changes.’ ” (Bhachu, 29). Are these clothes actually doing what Basran says?

Should British Asians feel pride in the popularity of Asian and fusion fashion/styles/cuisine (maybe in a similar respect to the pride they felt about Asian electronic music)?

“The answer must be that this is a dress not seen as "Western" or immodest, and yet a dress that allows one to go to school or college, and to participate in the work force. Jeans and tops can be worn in cosmopolitan cities like Bombay, Delhi, Banglore, Madras. The salwar kameez is suitably "decent", yet it allows far more mobility than either the pavade or the sari. One can walk in it, one can bicycle in it, one can even run a 100-metre race in it.” -http://www.salwarsuits.com/shalwar-kameez.htm“But the salwar kameez is perfect. The innate non-sexual modesty of the neck-to-ankle coverage says: "Forget I'm a woman, I'm only here to work," while the iconic femininity of that trailing veiling breathes, "But I'm gorgeous." Divine! It's got all the resonance of a nurse's uniform. I mean your Farewell to Arms/first world war nurses in capes and long pinnies, obviously, not those tetchy women from ER in polyester coveralls.”-http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2001/apr/11/features11.g22

Asian Woman Magazine

• Are these orientalist images?• How do you think consumption of these products

influences British Asian Women’s identity construction? Can they feel more Asian?

• One article talked says “true beauty begins from the inside”, but this seems to contradict the rest of the magazine. Do you think it’s contradictory or is there some way to negotiate this?

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think the images/themes in the magazine fit right in with the messages of DDLJ about holding onto values in the diaspora? Thoughts on this?

• Does the diasporic desire to hold onto traditional values contradict the sexualized images/themes of this magazine?

What does continued desire for skin lightening say about the diaspora?