Keywords: South Asian American Studies, Political Anthropology, Citizenship & belonging, Race & racialization
Bio: Anar Parikh holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the Department of Anthropology at Brown University. Her dissertaton, Getting Out the Vote in South Asian Chicago (2022) explores questions of race/racialization, politics, citizenship, and belonging among South Asians in the US. She was recently awarded an ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, (2022-2024) where she will be a Policy Analyst for an electoral language access campaign. She also serves on the editorial board of American Anthropologist as Associate Editor of the Podcast and Executive Producer of Anthropological Airwaves.
Citizenship is in itself based on exclusion, or who is included as a citizen is based on who is not eligible or acknowledged as citizens
In this interview, Anar discusses:
- What it means to be South Asian American and politically engaged in the US
- Shifting South Asian American identities in civic and political spaces
- Intersectionality and silence around caste in South Asian American political spaces
- The tensions in negotiating a community of belonging along with critical perspectives enmeshed within community practices
Further Reading:
- Parikh, A. (2017). Desis divided: the political lives of South Asian Americans.
- Parikh, A. (2016). Lone Star Muslims: Transnational Lives and the South Asian Experience in Texas by Ahmed Afzal. Anthropological Quarterly, 89(1), 345-350.