South Asians on the U.S. Screen

Just Like Everyone Else?

By (author) Bhoomi K. Thakore Foreword by Matthew W. Hughey

Not available to order

Publication date:

20 June 2016

Length of book:

178 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498506571

How does the media influence society? How do media representations of South Asians, as racial and ethnic minorities, perpetuate stereotypes about this group? How do advancements in visual media, from creative storytelling to streaming technology, inform changing dynamics of all non-white media representations in the 21^st century? Analyzing audience perceptions of South Asian characters from The Simpsons, Slumdog Millionaire, Harold and Kumar, The Office, Parks and Recreation, The Big Bang Theory, Outsourced, and many others, Bhoomi K. Thakore argues for the importance of understanding these representations as they influence the positioning of South Asians into the 21^st century U.S. racial hierarchy. On one hand, increased acceptance of this group into the entertainment fold has informed audience perceptions of these characters as “just like everyone else.” However, these images remain secondary on the U.S. Screen, and are limited in their ability to break out of traditional stereotypes. As a result, a normative and assimilated white American identity is privileged both on the Screen, and in our increasingly multicultural society.

Foreword: The Browning of American Media and the Whitewashing of Inequality, Matthew W. Hughey
Preface: Just Like No One Else
Introduction: South Asians in 21^st Century U.S. Television and Film

Chapter 1: Seeing is Believing: A Brief History of Non-Whites Representation in U.S. Television and Film
Chapter 2: A Snapshot of South Asian Characters in U.S. Media (2010)
Chapter 3: Three Degrees of Ethnicity: Racialized Representations of South Asians
Chapter 4: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Representations of Gender, Ethnicity, and Nationality
Chapter 5: What’s the Matter with Outsourced?
Conclusion: The Future of South Asians on the U.S. Screen

Appendix A: Research Methods and Data
Appendix B: Survey Questions
Appendix C: Interview Questions

This book is a fresh and analytically incisive addition to the burgeoning sociological scholarship on racial representations in the mass media. A rich mixed-methods investigation of the historic and contemporary role of South Asians (e.g., Indians) and their representations within the American mass media, Thakore’s book is an important intervention in this growing body of literature for both empirical/substantive reasons as well as the potential to develop theoretical understandings of how racial and ethnic representations operate in a colorblind/postracial society still structured by white supremacy.