Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance in American Television and Film [Paperback]

Amid immigrant narratives of assimilation,Indian Accentsfocuses on the representations and stereotypes of South Asian characters in American film and television. Exploring key examples in popular culture ranging from Peter Sellers' portrayal of Hrundi Bakshi in the 1968 filmThe Partyto contemporary representations such as Apu fromThe Simpsonsand characters inHarold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Shilpa S. Dave develops the ideas of "accent," "brownface," and "brown voice" as new ways to explore the racialization of South Asians beyond just visual appearance. Dave relates these examples to earlier scholarship on blackface, race, and performance to show how "accents" are a means of representing racial difference, national origin, and belonging, as well as distinctions of class and privilege. While focusing on racial impersonations in mainstream film and television,Indian Accentsalso amplifies the work of South Asian American actors who push back against brown voice performances, showing how strategic use of accent can expand and challenge such narrow stereotypes.

"A truly innovative use of 'accents' as a methodological entry into understanding where South Asians are positioned within America and American popular culture. Persuasively argued and full of many sharp insightful moments,Indian Accentswill be invaluable to scholars of American studies, Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and media studies." --Gita Rajan, coeditor ofNew Cosmopolitanisms: South Asians in the U.S

"Davé brilliantly studies the racialized, classed, and nationalistic codes of Orientalist and model minority representations with an underwriting analysis of heteronormative masculinity… Davé does crucial critical work in diasporic visual culture."--Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas