navigating empire: independence through food and the arbitrary nature of race labels
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Something that stood out to me in Bald's exploration of Western consumption of "Eastern" goods was the way it served as a means of asserting mobility, particularly in terms of gender and class. For many American women, confined to domestic spaces, acquiring "Eastern" goods and decorating their homes with exotic furnishings not only elevated their social status but also created a sense of connectedness and worldliness within the private sphere.
Bengali peddlers capitalized on this demand, a result of the colonial project. British industry flooded the Indian market with cheaper, machine-made textiles, rendering village goods less valuable locally. Simultaneously, Westerners, whose ideas of India were shaped by fantasy and fetishization, sought out the foreign and authentic for their own consumer satisfaction. Bengali merchants, displaced by colonialism, navigated this inequity to support themselves: "Having been displaced by colonial pursuits on the subcontinent, these men used the very infrastructure of the British Empire to beyond the empire's reach."
Their efforts were not individual pursuits but part of complex kinship networks. Terms like "uncle" and "brother" had broader meanings than in Western contexts, and these familial networks spanned from local villages to cultural hubs in Calcutta and the U.S., creating a dynamic terrain of connections and business opportunities. This expansive concept of family helped these men navigate the constraints of the Contract Labor Law.
As seen in chapter 5, these networks extended beyond South Asians, as their connections in Harlem were shaped by shared minority struggles and cross-cultural relationships. Found family and interracial solidarity became central themes. Something that stood out to me was the drive for autonomy among the South Asian men who established restaurants. While profit was essential for survival, many seemed more focused on independence within a predominantly white society than on material wealth alone. It's also interesting to see how this independence manifested itself in direct linkage to identity, through the cultural medium of food.
These restaurants and food carts became cultural touchstones—places where migrants could find familiarity and respite from the alienation of 1950s New York City. Small rituals like drinking tea and gossiping, alongside cross-cultural debates (such as discussions on Islam and Malcolm X's movement), created spaces for migrants to not only survive but build a sense of home. This effort ranged from Ibrahim Choudry's political and civic endeavors, aimed at fostering security and solidarity for Muslims and South Asians, to hot dog carts that served as checkpoints in New York neighborhoods, sustaining the social fabric of migrant communities.
Lastly: "The Indian grooms seemed to confound the city marriage clerk's understanding of race. When it came to 'color,' these men were classified in every possible way: white, colored, Negro, Indian, and East Indian." Perhaps these men were racially ambiguous to the max, but I feel this instance really underscores how arbitrary racial classifications can be, and how flimsy and subjective racial distinctions really are. Despite this arbitrariness, these labels carry significant real-world implications, shaping people's lives in tangible and often tragic ways.