Not Quite Not White - Sharmila Sen

At the age of 12 Sharmila Sen emigrated from India to the U.S. The year was 1982 and everywhere she turned she was asked to self-report her race-on INS forms at the doctor's office in middle school. Never identifying with a race in the India of her childhood she rejects her new not quite designation-not quite white not quite black not quite Asian-and spends much of her life attempting to blend into American whiteness. But after her teen years trying to assimilate-watching shows like General Hospital and The Jeffersons dancing to Duran Duran and Prince and perfecting the art of Jell-O no-bake desserts-she is forced to reckon with the hard questions- What does it mean to be white why does whiteness retain the magic cloak of invisibility while other colors are made hypervisible and how much does whiteness figure into Americanness? Part memoir part manifesto Not Quite Not White is a searing appraisal of race and a path forward for the next not quite not white generation-a witty and sharply honest story of discovering that not-whiteness can be the very thing that makes us American.

TITLE: Not Quite Not White

AUTHOR: Sharmila Sen

SKU: 9780143131380

PUBLISHER: Penguin Putnam Inc

DATE PUBLISHED: 30/08/2018

PLACE PUBLISHED: United States

PAGES: 224

BINDING: Paperback / softback

LANGUAGE: English

DIMENSIONS: 129 mm x 197 mm