Episode 19

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Published on:

7th Mar 2025

Make Indian American Women Brown Again

Suchitra, Bhakti, and Madhuri take a sharp, witty, and incisive look at the identity crisis of Indian American women in the public eye. From Kamala Harris to Mindy Kaling to Usha Vance, the hosts ask: why is the dominant representation of the Indian American woman so adjacent to whiteness? Why does she either perform hyper-assimilation or lean into fetishised exoticism? In an era where South Asian identity is being flattened into elite, upper-caste, and Hindu-coded narratives, how do we reclaim a more expansive, authentic brown identity?

The hosts dissect Mindy Kaling’s on-screen self-erasure, Usha Vance’s conservative alliances, and the broader South Asian diaspora’s complicity in white supremacy. They examine how caste privilege shapes diasporic politics, how food and media representation have been co-opted, and why so many Indian Americans seek proximity to power instead of solidarity with marginalised communities.

This episode also asks: is there a way forward? They explore figures like Padma Lakshmi, who has maintained an unabashedly brown identity despite liberal constraints, and critique the rise of regressive South Asian comedy that recycles tired stereotypes for Western approval. From Indian Matchmaking’s caste erasure to Zarna Garg’s traditional parenting jokes, the hosts unpack why certain narratives thrive while others are erased.

Key Takeaways

  • Whether through Usha Vance’s conservative alignment or Mindy Kaling’s relentless need to “prove” her Americanness, Indian American women in the public eye often seek whiteness as a marker of success.
  • The upper-caste dominance of South Asian migration shapes political and social attitudes, reinforcing Hindu supremacy and white supremacist alliances.
  • Figures like Kamala Harris and Priyanka Chopra signal progress but rarely challenge systemic structures. Is a “brown face in a high place” enough?
  • Zarna Garg, Lily Singh, and other South Asian comedians rely on outdated tropes of strict immigrant parents and curry-scented jokes, reinforcing stereotypes instead of dismantling them.
  • Instead of flattening identity for laughs or assimilation, Indian American women need to embrace a more complex, radical, and self-determined identity.

References

"The Coconut Empire: How Mindy Kaling Has Created a Prototype of the Indian-American Woman Who Aspires to Whiteness" by Bhakti Shringarpure https://www.thepolisproject.com/read/mindy-kaling-coconut-indian-american/

Keywords

Indian American, caste privilege, whiteness, South Asian diaspora, Mindy Kaling, Kamala Harris, Usha Vance, Priyanka Chopra, Padma Lakshmi, model minority myth, Bollywood, Indian Matchmaking, Zarna Garg, comedy stereotypes, brown identity, liberal politics, white supremacy, Hindu nationalism, feminism, intersectionality.

Hosted by Suchitra Vijayan, Bhakti Shringarpure, and Madhuri Sastry

A podcast by The Polis Project www.thepolisproject.com

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About the Podcast

It's Not You, It's The Media
Resist media gaslighting
It's Not You, It's The Media! unpacks the ways that the media manipulates narratives and makes you question your reality. You're being gaslighted. Suchitra Vijayan, Bhakti Shringarpure and Madhuri Sastry eviscerate the propaganda, set the record straight and offer moral clarity.

Suchitra Vijayan is a writer, photographer and activist. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Polis Project. For her first book, The Midnight's Border: A People's History of India, Suchitra traveled across the 9000-mile Indian border. A barrister by training, she previously worked for the United Nations war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda before co-founding the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, which gives legal aid to Iraqi refugees. She is the co-author of How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners (2023) which offers a lens into today's India through the lived experiences of political prisoners.

Bhakti Shringarpure is a writer and editor. She is the co-founder of Warscapes magazine which transitioned into the Radical Books Collective, a multi-faceted community building project that creates an alternative, inclusive and non-commercial approach to books and reading. Bhakti is the author of Cold War Assemblages: Decolonization to Digital (2019) and editor of Literary Sudans: An Anthology of Literature from Sudan and South Sudan (2017), Imagine Africa (2017) Mediterranean: Migrant Crossings (2018) and most recently, Insurgent Feminisms: Writing War (2023).

Madhuri Sastry is a former lawyer, specializing in international and human rights law. She was the publisher of Guernica Magazine. Her political writing, cultural criticism, interviews and essays have appeared in several publications including The Nation, Guernica, Slate, Bitch and New York Magazine. She is on the editorial board at the Polis Project.