Sunaina Marr Maira is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies in the English and Anthropology Departments at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; she is the co-editor of Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America, recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1997. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies.

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. To Be Young, Brown, and Hip: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Indian American Youth Culture 3. Nostalgia: ideology and Performance 4. Chaste identities: The Eroticization of Nostalgia 5. Conclusion: Critical Nostalgia and Commodified Cool Appendix: Notes on Research Methods Notes References Index

"Desis in the House is what cultural studies ought to be. Sunaina Maira gets deep inside of the social and cultural worlds of second generation Indian Americans and illuminates the links between the local and global, history and nostalgia, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Maira's perceptive insights into the complex and fluid styles, music, dances, desires and dreams of desi youth will force us all to think about cultural identities in new ways." -Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "Sunaina Maira guides us into the bog of nostalgia where beleaguered immigrants of color forge a memory that is at odds with their homeland, but also with the dreams of their home boys and home girls. An honest ethnography gives us ample evidence that nostalgia is a feint. Rather than leave us with this conclusion alone, Maira posits something called critical nostalgia, and you'll find out what that is when you read this important book." -Vijay Prashad, author of Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity "Finally, an entertaining study of a second generation immigrant youth group that exposes all that goes on behind U.S. black and white racial and national imagery. A brilliant behind the scenes look that shows how immigrant youth's struggles of what's cool, authentic and fun are really about the reconstitution of racial, class and gender identities." -Arlene Davila, anthropology and American studies, New York University, and author of Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People and Sponsored Identities (Temple)

Sunaina Marr Maira is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies in the English and Anthropology Departments at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; she is the co-editor of Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America, recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1997. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies.

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. To Be Young, Brown, and Hip: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Indian American Youth Culture 3. Nostalgia: ideology and Performance 4. Chaste identities: The Eroticization of Nostalgia 5. Conclusion: Critical Nostalgia and Commodified Cool Appendix: Notes on Research Methods Notes References Index

"Desis in the House is what cultural studies ought to be. Sunaina Maira gets deep inside of the social and cultural worlds of second generation Indian Americans and illuminates the links between the local and global, history and nostalgia, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Maira's perceptive insights into the complex and fluid styles, music, dances, desires and dreams of desi youth will force us all to think about cultural identities in new ways." -Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "Sunaina Maira guides us into the bog of nostalgia where beleaguered immigrants of color forge a memory that is at odds with their homeland, but also with the dreams of their home boys and home girls. An honest ethnography gives us ample evidence that nostalgia is a feint. Rather than leave us with this conclusion alone, Maira posits something called critical nostalgia, and you'll find out what that is when you read this important book." -Vijay Prashad, author of Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity "Finally, an entertaining study of a second generation immigrant youth group that exposes all that goes on behind U.S. black and white racial and national imagery. A brilliant behind the scenes look that shows how immigrant youth's struggles of what's cool, authentic and fun are really about the reconstitution of racial, class and gender identities." -Arlene Davila, anthropology and American studies, New York University, and author of Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People and Sponsored Identities (Temple)

Sunaina Marr Maira is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies in the English and Anthropology Departments at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; she is the co-editor of Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America, recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1997. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies.

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. To Be Young, Brown, and Hip: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Indian American Youth Culture 3. Nostalgia: ideology and Performance 4. Chaste identities: The Eroticization of Nostalgia 5. Conclusion: Critical Nostalgia and Commodified Cool Appendix: Notes on Research Methods Notes References Index

"Desis in the House is what cultural studies ought to be. Sunaina Maira gets deep inside of the social and cultural worlds of second generation Indian Americans and illuminates the links between the local and global, history and nostalgia, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Maira's perceptive insights into the complex and fluid styles, music, dances, desires and dreams of desi youth will force us all to think about cultural identities in new ways." -Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "Sunaina Maira guides us into the bog of nostalgia where beleaguered immigrants of color forge a memory that is at odds with their homeland, but also with the dreams of their home boys and home girls. An honest ethnography gives us ample evidence that nostalgia is a feint. Rather than leave us with this conclusion alone, Maira posits something called critical nostalgia, and you'll find out what that is when you read this important book." -Vijay Prashad, author of Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity "Finally, an entertaining study of a second generation immigrant youth group that exposes all that goes on behind U.S. black and white racial and national imagery. A brilliant behind the scenes look that shows how immigrant youth's struggles of what's cool, authentic and fun are really about the reconstitution of racial, class and gender identities." -Arlene Davila, anthropology and American studies, New York University, and author of Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People and Sponsored Identities (Temple)