Imagining New Racial Politics: Identity Work and Coalition Building in South Asian American Podcasts
Mentor 1
Lia Wolock
Start Date
16-4-2021 12:00 AM
Description
This project examines the coalitions and expressions of identity forged through podcasts by South Asian American hosts and producers. South Asian American is a coalitional identity label that encompasses people who live in the United States and Canada and trace their heritage to the South Asian subcontinent, consisting today of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Fighting against internal divisions and outward misrepresentation, the young, digitally-savvy advocates of coalitional South Asian America reflect critically on their identities and histories to build radical futures. We mapped and catalogued a network of podcasters who are actively negotiating the politics of this emergent South Asian American identity, specifically looking at podcasts which are hosted and/or run by someone in the South Asian diaspora in North America, or has an intended South Asian American audience. Additionally, our work required careful analysis of the podcasts’ sound design, language of community or affinity, host and guests brought together, discussion topics or themes, building of the relationship between hosts and audiences, and overall listening experience. In particular, we carefully analyzed the ways that the intimate soundwork and confidential conversations so central to this genre of podcasting are productive tools for forging internal and external solidarities based on shared experiences of racialization. Podcasting, talking together as a community in a sincere and personal manner, is a crucial way South Asian Americans process their positionality and foster a sense of community through lived experiences. Podcasting allows for deep listening that feels lively, sociable, and co-present, and for the honoring of other’s personal experiences. This creates a meaningful platform for listeners and hosts to work through their understanding of themselves as part of a larger, emerging social justice-oriented community.
Imagining New Racial Politics: Identity Work and Coalition Building in South Asian American Podcasts
This project examines the coalitions and expressions of identity forged through podcasts by South Asian American hosts and producers. South Asian American is a coalitional identity label that encompasses people who live in the United States and Canada and trace their heritage to the South Asian subcontinent, consisting today of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Fighting against internal divisions and outward misrepresentation, the young, digitally-savvy advocates of coalitional South Asian America reflect critically on their identities and histories to build radical futures. We mapped and catalogued a network of podcasters who are actively negotiating the politics of this emergent South Asian American identity, specifically looking at podcasts which are hosted and/or run by someone in the South Asian diaspora in North America, or has an intended South Asian American audience. Additionally, our work required careful analysis of the podcasts’ sound design, language of community or affinity, host and guests brought together, discussion topics or themes, building of the relationship between hosts and audiences, and overall listening experience. In particular, we carefully analyzed the ways that the intimate soundwork and confidential conversations so central to this genre of podcasting are productive tools for forging internal and external solidarities based on shared experiences of racialization. Podcasting, talking together as a community in a sincere and personal manner, is a crucial way South Asian Americans process their positionality and foster a sense of community through lived experiences. Podcasting allows for deep listening that feels lively, sociable, and co-present, and for the honoring of other’s personal experiences. This creates a meaningful platform for listeners and hosts to work through their understanding of themselves as part of a larger, emerging social justice-oriented community.
