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Gender Identity And Identity

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While identity and identification are just word variations of one another, they actually convey different but powerful meanings and outlooks. This theme of identity versus identification is prevalent in the South Asian community and, therefore, prominent amongst the readings throughout this course. Identity is the embodiment of one’s beliefs and values that shapes who they are and how they express themselves. In contrast, identification refers to the manner in which one identifies oneself; it is subjective, as it is not necessarily an authentic portrayal of one’s identity because white communities too often posit the model minority label upon colored, ethnic communities. The difference between these two terms are both implied or stated throughout Sayantani Das Dasgupta and Shamita Dasgupta’s unique perspective writings on South Asian feminist issues, Kumarini Silva’s research on the label of “brown”, Vijay Prashad’s chapters about solidarity and religion in The Karma of Brown Folk, and Marina Budhos’s coming-of-age novel Watched about a Bangladeshi teen whose mistakes led him to spy on his own Muslim community after the 9/11 incident. Sayantani Das Dasgupta and Shamita Dasgupta’s main argument of “Woman in exile…” pertains to society’s ignorance towards the powerful activist role that Indian feminist women play in social change movements, which is an inherent issue of gender identity and identification. The authors provide strong analysis of how Indian American women

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