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But he’s not desi: articulating ‘Indianness’ through partnership preference in the Indian-Australian diaspora

ABSTRACT This article examines young Indian-Australians’ understandings of identity expressed through their preferences in an intimate partnership. Studies in comparable contexts have indicated that diasporic Indians may identify as generically ‘Indian’, and express a desire for partners who are the same. This is no less true for many of Australia’s Indians. Based on fieldwork with members of the diaspora in Sydney, this paper looks at the extent to which the social hierarchies of regional/linguistic identity, religion, caste and class are reproduced through this group’s marriage and partnership practices. I find that their varying relationships with these hierarchies are often unconsciously shaped, and find expression in a sense of ‘Indianness’ and adherence to ‘Indian’ values. This paper further disrupts essentialising conceptions of inherent, intransient diasporic identity by highlighting that the diasporic negotiation of self is deeply personal and prone to differentiation.