Attempting avoidance of non-normative identities
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Roach Killa's song poses an interesting contrast, beginning with a hyper-masculine gun-glorifying theme that feeds off of a violent dialogue. Lines such as "Bandook up in my pocket, Pistol in my waistline, kartoos up" offer a straightforward and aggressive perspective, which transitions into a more intellectual narrative with Blitzkrieg explicitly stating the answer to this post question about modifications by saying, "I don't shoot guns, don't get it twisted, kid. It's a metaphor, meaning all the rhymes I spit." The objects they use are similar as both talk about guns and bullets. However, the second portion is done through metaphors and rhymes, taking on an intellectual high ground and asserting authority in a different manner—toying with the black cultural appropriation narrative.
This theme of redefining dominance extends into Stanley Thangaraj's study, where he explores how South Asian men in the West are put in a place where they have to challenge racial stereotypes of lacking masculinity in comparison to white and black masculinity. In particular, he looks at Indo-Pak basketball, which drew a lot of attention from South Asian Americans who faced direct and indirect racism in multi-ethnic basketball leagues, with players saying, "Don't you guys play cricket?" or "Go back to Afghanistan." The Western perspective on South Asians immediately doubts their masculinity to the point where it is embedded "with a certain asexuality." This is more prevalent due to South Asian American men who succeed in the professional world but fail to display their masculinity in a way that is acceptable to the West (through sports). Through these leagues, South Asians are able to avoid the racism that is so prevalent even in multi-ethnic associations and redefine the non-masculine narrative. One interesting aspect that was explored was the relation to cultural blackness and how South Asian Americans, through the adoption of black cultural aesthetics, were able to display a level of authenticity that cannot be achieved by white basketball players—opposing white masculinity. Page 378 provides a detailed quote of a female spectator who, upon seeing a brown man wearing "what you would see a black guy wear," is accepting of this identity adoption, stating that a white person doing the same would seem "inauthentic."
Puar's work on The Turban is Not a Hat furthers the exploration of non-normative identities placed upon Sikh men, with the turban being the center of attention. Wearing a physical marker of religion is a simple manner of marking oneself as being a "devout anything but Christian" (Shouzab Awan, 2024), naturally drawing considerable negative attention. The wearing of this physical marker lays at the heart of the case of Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a turban-wearing Sikh man whose case went to the Supreme Court, eventually failing his claim for citizenship due to his race. This was particularly interesting because experts and scientists testified that he was Caucasian. However, as we've discussed in previous classes, being Caucasian is not good enough because not all Caucasians are white. While the SCOTUS decision revoked Thind's citizenship, it did not stop there. It also led to revoking more than 60 other South Asian citizenships between 1923 and 1927. Additionally, this decision also resulted in many discriminatory practices, particularly in California, where Sikhs were then unequivocally considered aliens, leading to land seizures per California's 1913 Alien law. While some were able to marry into whiteness, this non-normative perception hurt and continues to hurt the progress of minorities in the West.
Note: creating my own terminology and citing my thoughts was great; I highly recommend it.
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SHOUZAB AWAN, 2024
I want to see a full citation in Chicago Style though.
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Awan, Shouzab. “Extremely Insightful Terminology that No One Has Ever Thought Of” The Most Prestigious Journal Article, November 30, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shouzab/