To Accept or to Reject? Navigating the Complexities of Multiple (Chosen and Given) Identities for Indian South Asians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)


Ritika Tanotra, York University

With an “alarming surge” of hate crimes against ‘Asians’ since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Chen and Wu, 2021, p. 6), those perpetrating anti-Asian violence or engaging in racist beliefs regarding Asians may see all as threatening and ‘foreign’ regardless of whether “... the person is from China, of Chinese origin, or simply looks Asian...” (Li and Nicholson Jr., 2021, p. 4). Commonly held stereotypes (such as the ‘model minority’ myth) ignore the diversity within these ethnic and racial groups and can obscure its complexities. As the category of ‘Asian’ gained increasing attention during the pandemic, it raises questions about what this means for other groups (such as Indians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshi, etc.) within this larger category, and how experiences of hate and racism are experienced by different segments of the overall ‘Asian’-Canadian population. Using semi-structured interviews, this paper seeks to examine how state-imposed and chosen identities (such as Asian, Indian, Canadian, etc.) intersect with feelings of national belonging for Indian South Asians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), who themselves have a long and complex history of experiencing instances of racism and feelings of exclusion. It examines how individuals belonging to this category navigate their (multiple) identities and relationships within these various classifications, and whether they adopt and share or reject a collective, one- group identity (or identities). As said by Pierre Bourdieu, “[N]othing classifies somebody more than the way he or she classifies” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 132).

This paper will be presented at the following session: