The Subaltern Writes Back

Abstract

The study was grounded in the lived experiences of 13 female and 20 male children of Bangladeshi descent in New York City. It explored how the intersection of ethnicity, gender, generation, and migration shaped the distinctive experiences of the girls as they came of age, straddling the native culture and the host culture. By walking a tightrope between intergenerational continuity of normative gender practice, and change, prompted by egalitarian socialization, they foregrounded educational/career trajectories. Unlike the boys, who acquiesced with the status quo despite its equal opportunity disadvantages, they started rewriting the rules of engagement with patriarchy from this new threshold.