The following post was sent to us by Karim Murji, and originally appeared in Awaaz magazine. Using one of MG Vassanji’s novels as a reference, Murji meditates on the in-between identity of the East African Asian. It’s a fascinating piece, and raises a host of questions for readers of this blog. Are we really in-between, and possibly quite lost? Can we simply choose to adopt one of the other identity, using Bollywood or matooke as the appropriate signifier? And are these questions even relevant to a younger generation, so far removed from the migration and then the exile, that they are simply free to adopt a New World, multi-culti identity? Your thoughts welcome.
Click here to read: viva! east africa: OUT OF AFRICA: Racialisation and Ethnicisation through Culture.
Ismailimail 