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[h=2]India has had a long history of foreigners being part of the local culture, says Jonathan Gil Harris. He’s one himself, and he has written a book about the experience.[/h]
Jonathan Gil Harris has a fascinating trajectory. He was born in New Zealand, studied in England, lived in the USA for two decades, and now calls India his home. He is now Dean of Academic Affairs at Ashoka University, where his students know him as a teacher of Shakespeare; he is also the author of The First Firangis, a curious mix of autobiography, history and speculative fiction. He dips into archives, and his own bodily experience, to tell the stories of firangis, or foreigners, from faraway lands who moved to India and built a new life. The Hindu caught up with him at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai.
Excerpts from an interview:
In The First Firangis, you write, “Wherever I go, my body carries with it the imprint of its past environments. But it is always becoming different in its new ones. It is always becoming another.” How do you navigate this in-between-ness?
No matter how much you try to embrace a new identity, there is always another one putting you on the back and saying: Hey, I am here.
When I began writing this book, I decided to treat my body as an archive. I began to observe its transformation through food, clothes, language, weather. My body was altered in fundamental ways, like that of other firangis who became Indian.
What does 'becoming Indian' mean to you?
To me, becoming Indian is about moving in the direction of Indian-ness without fully coinciding with it. Many years ago, the actor Raj Kapoor said: “Mera joota hai Japaani, yeh patloon Inglistani; sar pe laal topi Roosi, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.” (“My shoes are Japanese, my trousers are English; the hat on my head is Russian, yet my heart is Indian.”) We live in a hybrid, global world. We take on elements from here and there. Unfortunately, the zealots of purity are yelling out louder, everywhere.
What are the dominant stereotypes about India in the so-called Western world?
The big one is that Indians are deeply spiritual; that they are in touch with some higher truth. Therefore, people in the West think that India is a good place to come and find yourself. The assumption is that India is a homogenous place. They are shocked when they see fair Kashmiris, or people from the north-east. These folks do not fit the Western idea of what Indians look like.
Would you say that your experience of being firangi in India is determined by your gender and your race? Other foreigners [living here] do not have the same experience as you do. The Tanzanian woman who was assaulted by a violent mob in Bangalore recently was a victim of racism…
What happened to the Tanzanian woman was horrific. The experience of migration is not the same across the board. Everyone has a different kind of access. My race and gender, on their own, do not determine my experience. It is determined by the race and gender that are assigned to me in India. While I was researching this book, I wanted to include more stories of firangi women who came to India, but it was hard to find even a vapour trail of their stories. Eventually, I did include some, but not as many as I would have liked.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...article8208397.ece?homepage=true?w=homemumbai
Jonathan Gil Harris has a fascinating trajectory. He was born in New Zealand, studied in England, lived in the USA for two decades, and now calls India his home. He is now Dean of Academic Affairs at Ashoka University, where his students know him as a teacher of Shakespeare; he is also the author of The First Firangis, a curious mix of autobiography, history and speculative fiction. He dips into archives, and his own bodily experience, to tell the stories of firangis, or foreigners, from faraway lands who moved to India and built a new life. The Hindu caught up with him at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai.
Excerpts from an interview:
In The First Firangis, you write, “Wherever I go, my body carries with it the imprint of its past environments. But it is always becoming different in its new ones. It is always becoming another.” How do you navigate this in-between-ness?
No matter how much you try to embrace a new identity, there is always another one putting you on the back and saying: Hey, I am here.
When I began writing this book, I decided to treat my body as an archive. I began to observe its transformation through food, clothes, language, weather. My body was altered in fundamental ways, like that of other firangis who became Indian.
What does 'becoming Indian' mean to you?
To me, becoming Indian is about moving in the direction of Indian-ness without fully coinciding with it. Many years ago, the actor Raj Kapoor said: “Mera joota hai Japaani, yeh patloon Inglistani; sar pe laal topi Roosi, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.” (“My shoes are Japanese, my trousers are English; the hat on my head is Russian, yet my heart is Indian.”) We live in a hybrid, global world. We take on elements from here and there. Unfortunately, the zealots of purity are yelling out louder, everywhere.
What are the dominant stereotypes about India in the so-called Western world?
The big one is that Indians are deeply spiritual; that they are in touch with some higher truth. Therefore, people in the West think that India is a good place to come and find yourself. The assumption is that India is a homogenous place. They are shocked when they see fair Kashmiris, or people from the north-east. These folks do not fit the Western idea of what Indians look like.
Would you say that your experience of being firangi in India is determined by your gender and your race? Other foreigners [living here] do not have the same experience as you do. The Tanzanian woman who was assaulted by a violent mob in Bangalore recently was a victim of racism…
What happened to the Tanzanian woman was horrific. The experience of migration is not the same across the board. Everyone has a different kind of access. My race and gender, on their own, do not determine my experience. It is determined by the race and gender that are assigned to me in India. While I was researching this book, I wanted to include more stories of firangi women who came to India, but it was hard to find even a vapour trail of their stories. Eventually, I did include some, but not as many as I would have liked.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...article8208397.ece?homepage=true?w=homemumbai
