Hi everyone. I'm Rincey and I am one of
the contributing editors over at book
riot. So on book riot and in like the
book world in general there's a lot of
talk about representation and own voices
and things like that. And one of the
things that is often talked about is
like why is that even important. And so I
wanted to talk about that a little bit
and talk about it in the view of some
books that I have read in my life and
one that I specifically read really
recently. One of the many reasons why
it's important is because people like me
very rarely get to see certain aspects
of themselves in media. Like obviously
when you're reading books you can find
characters that you relate to. You know,
when I was reading Sweet Valley High
when I was a kid, I related a lot to
Elizabeth. But there are other parts of
my life that I never saw. The fact that
my parents came from India to the United
States in like the 70s and the fact that
I grew up in the United States that
whole dichotomy, I suppose you could say,
experience is very unique and is not
something that until extremely recently
it feels like to me at least was
represented in media at all. So I thought
I would talk to you guys about three
different times when I was reading
something where I finally saw that part
of myself in those pieces of media that
I was reading and sort of like my
experiences around them. And so hopefully me talking about it in this way would
help provide some perspective for people
who might not necessarily understand why
this stuff is so important to so many
people. So the first example that I have
is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This is
the very first time that I experienced
seeing myself or seeing this part of
myself in a book. I read this when I was
in college, I came across this book
completely randomly. I was just in a
Borders I was in college. There was a
borders close to my dorm and I used to
go there all the time and just sort of
peruse the shelves and I just happened
to see this one sitting on the table. And
I obviously recognized that Jhumpa
Lahiri was an Indian name or Indian
sounding name at least. So I picked
it up and I read the back and the back
mentions Calcutta which is a part of
India not where I'm from or my family's
from but I knew that you know this was
talking about who were Indian. And I think
this might have been the first book that
I ever read that had Indian people in it.
But not only did it have Indian people
in it, because obviously there are other
books by Indian authors, but it was the
first time I had ever experienced the
book that talked about what it was like
for people to immigrate to the United
States. Gogol's parents immigrated to
the United States in around the 70s
which is what my parents did and then
you see Gogol's experiences growing up
here in the United States and his whole
conflict that he feels sort of in
between these two worlds not being fully
American and not being fully Indian. And,
oo boy, just like a shocking experience
for me because I never known that that
was kind of what I was going through.
Like I always felt that but I never knew
how to express it until I read this book
and then I saw it. It also really helped
me understand my parents a lot better
and understand their motivations and
their experiences and recognizing how
much they sacrificed for me, which is
also a very eye-opening experience. Again
this all happened to me in college which
I feel like college in general is just
a very eye-opening experience for people
especially if it's like your first time
going away like it was for me and sort
of being away from home I think also
just added to all those emotions. But
yeah this was the very first piece of
media that I ever experienced sort of
seeing my family represented in that way
even though it wasn't exactly my
experience and it definitely wasn't
exactly my story but it was the closest
it had ever gotten for me personally. And
that's sort of why Jhumpa Lahiri will
always have a special place in my heart.
I mean she's a fantastic writer, like
there's no doubt about that.
She exposed me to myself very first time
in a way that I just never had before.
I'm always grateful for that. Now after
that point I didn't have a very easy
time finding other pieces of media that
expressed that for me. I feel like I was
searching for other Indian authors or
Indian American authors and I was mostly
finding Indian authors. And while those are
also very eye-opening and enlightening
that wasn't my personal experience, like
being an Indian in India is very
different than being
in the United States. And so the next
example that i have is an example that
didn't happen until relatively recently
and that was Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel is not
Indian American, she's Pakistani
American but the experiences are very,
very similar. At least experiences in
this story are very similar to
things that I experienced. A lot of the
stuff that Kamala Kahn it deals with
with her family and with her parents
it feels like G willow Wilson was my
like teenage life and like plucked stories
out. Like it feels so real and there are
times when I'm reading Ms. Marvel where
I feel like my heart just breaking
because I know exactly what Kamala is
going through and I want to like go in
and give her a hug and tell her it's
going to be okay. Yeah if you aren't
aware Ms. Marvel is a Marvel comic book,
obviously. And it follows a
pakistani-american teenage girl who ends
up with superpowers and ends up being a
superhero. And it's about her struggles
between doing what she knows is right or
what her calling is versus doing the
things that her family expects of her.
Finding out who she really is and who
she's meant to be despite or because of
her culture and her experiences and
things like that. Yeah again this is
another one where it's like I will read
all of this as long as G. Willow Wilson is
writing it or as long as someone you
know fully capable and they don't like
ruin this character is writing this,
I will continue to read these issues.
Because I feel even now like in vol 6 or
7 that they're in now, the stories that she
deals with are very much like typical
superhero stuff. But the added element of
having Pakistani parents and the
responsibilities that you might have, the
expectations that are set out for you,
things like that just blew me away.
I was so, like, I can't describe to you
what it was like to see yourself in
comic book form. Like it's one thing to
see yourself in books but to see
yourself as a comic book character is
completely something different because
it's a world that up until this point
never was there. And then the most recent
example that I have of this is from one
day we'll all be dead and none of this
will matter by Scaachi Soul. I feel so bad.
I should probably have looked up this
author's name. She is an Indian Canadian
writer, essayist, comedian, sort of. I don't know if she
actually consider some herself a comedian
but she writes funny things. And again
this is one of those experiences where I
was reading this book and I was just
sort of like shocked that there was
someone else who would relate to me in
this way.
Obviously like I have friends who are
going through similar things than I am
and you know I have friends who are the
kids of Indian parents and things like
that and growing up here in the United
States, like there's no lack of that. But
again seeing someone write about it is a
completely different experience because
it makes you realize that the things
that you're going through aren't so
weird. That's a really weird way to put it.
But there's things that she talks
about in here like dating and marriage
and even things like body hair,
which I mean other people talk about
these things but there's a different
level to it when you're Indian or
there's a different angle to it that she
talks about so openly in here that again
just made it feel like I was lost alone
in the world. Even now as like a 30 year
old we still can feel that way
apparently. But that's what happens when
there is a lack of certain voices or
stories being told is like even at the
age of like 30 or so you can still be
surprised by just slightly more
representation or just seeing yourself a
little bit more in media. I think it also
helps a lot to just help me understand
myself a little bit better because
sometimes personally I feel like I'm
going through stuff or I'm thinking
about stuff or there are just like
things that happen. It's hard to process
it but having that sort of removed
experience from it helps provide me with
some perspective. Or even just the fact
that knowing you're not alone helps make
it a little bit easier to, I don't want
to say deal with, but it just makes the
experiences easier knowing that you're
not completely alone. So yeah that's
everything that I have for you guys
today a little bit of a different video
or a little bit of a different type of
discussion. Obviously I didn't talk too
much about like the plots of those books
or anything like that.
Obviously I recommend all of them.
I really enjoyed them but again I'm super
biased with those books. I'm completely
willing to admit that. But I know a lot
of other people love these books too so
I can at least recommend these with the
assurance that it's not just me who loves
these books. So yeah, let me know down in
the comments below if you've had
experiences like this. If you've sort of
had this eye-opening experience with the
book before where you saw a part of
yourself that you never really saw
before. I feel like it's happening a lot
more now. I feel like
a lot more voices and stories are being
given the opportunity to be told and to
be published and to be spread. I'm so
grateful for it and so I'd love to know
if you have similar experiences with
this as well. Obviously not all of you
are going to be Indian American but if
you are and you have other
recommendations besides those again
I will happily take them. But yeah, that's
all I have for this week and I will see
you guys next week. Bye.
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