According to Pawan Dhingra, Professor and Chair of Sociology and Professor of American Studies at Tufts University, and Smithsonian Institution curator of Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation, Indian Americans occupy a unique place in today’s cultural imaginary, as the epitome of the “model minority.” Whether doctors, software engineers, or spelling bee champions, Indian Americans are praised for their professional achievements and hard work. Efforts to dismantle the stereotype argue that portrayals cover up much of the heterogeneity of Indian America, those in poverty, survivors of violence, activists, and more. This presentation, however, deconstructs the model minority notion in a different way, one hopefully more persuasive to its supporters. It argues that the best way to deconstruct the stereotype is to connect those who are on different sides of it as having similar pasts and trajectories rather than presenting them as distinct. Doing so undermines the notion of a model minority exceptionalism without dismissing the achievements or struggles of various groups.Dhingra is the author of the award-winning Life Behind the Lobby: Indian American Motel Owners and the American Dream (Stanford University Press, 2012) which has been profiled in National Public Radio, Philadelphia Inquirer, Colorlines Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. He also authored the award-winning Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities (Stanford University Press, 2007), and co-authored the Asian America: Sociological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Polity Press 2014), and is President of the Board of the South Asian American Digital Archive. The lecture will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation, created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The Mathers Museum’s presentation of the exhibit and related programming has been generously funded by Indiana University alumnus Robert N. Johnson, the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Department of American Studies. The event will be free and open to the public.
Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets. An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.
Cost: Free
For more information contact:
Mathers Museum of World Cultures
(812) 855-1696
[email protected]