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Ramdya, Kavita. "Bollywood Weddings: Accruing Symbolic Ethnic Capital in Second-Generation Indian-American Hindu Matrimonials," American and New England Studies, Boston University, May 2007. Advisor: Stephen Prothero
This dissertation examines how middle to upper class second-generation Indian-American Hindus negotiate wedding rituals, including the dating and engagement processes. Many of these couples are (in my neologism) “occasional Hindus” who display their Hindu religious background only on important occasions such as the rite of passage that is marriage. These couples (and their extended families) negotiate two vastly different cultures and sets of values inside a community that has itself largely pre-determined how to mix American and Indian/Hindu elements into this ritual. As a rule, the first generation organizes the wedding, which is largely Hindu, and their children coordinate the American-style reception. Instead of choosing either India or America, or arriving at a compromise in between the two, this community takes a “both/and” approach, embracing both cultures simultaneously.
Inside this community, a suitable marriage candidate must possess both symbolic ethnic Indian capital and symbolic ethnic American capital—terms I employ to describe the quality of a person when acting, speaking, or dressing in an Indian (or American) manner. Individuals desire mates that meet both Indian/Hindu and mainstream-American standards of success. This both/and model can also be seen in the engagement process: U.S-born Hindus are expected to participate in both American and Indian-Hindu engagement rituals.
This study is based on ethnographic field work including in-depth interviews of engaged couples, observation at their wedding ceremonies, wedding videography and photography. Material culture such as the clothing my participants wore on their wedding day constitutes a significant portion of my study. Part I explores pre-wedding day topics such as America’s Indian-Hindu marriage market and bridal industry. Part II describes pre-wedding and wedding-day customs including the engagement party, kanyadan and baraat. Bollywood, whose Indian origins grants it authenticity from the Hindu perspective and whose emphasis on romance accommodates American values, emerges in this dissertation as the key mediating third culture around which the community applies the both/and model to wedding rituals. The both/and model uncovered here reinforces the community’s identity as ethnic and American even as it confirms that success in America need not be bought at the expense of one’s religious background and cultural heritage.
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