While interviewing Gaya Sivakumar last week, we stumbled onto a topic that I think deserved its own post. It all started with an anecdote. Sivakumar was explaining to me how her niece wanted to go into graphic design, straying away from the typical South-Asian jobs. 

“I hope my sister saved enough money for her,” was the first thought Sivakumar had when she had heard of her niece’s potential career path. Though she herself was not in a typical South-Asian career, she was initially afraid for her niece. This feeling did pass quickly and Sivakumar was able to understand why she felt the way she did. 

“I am looking for role models of different people of different ethnicities excelling in different fields and there’s so little. I know there’s a cultural component of succeeding in a non-science job. In this country if you look anything like a South-Asian, they’ll accept you as a doctor or engineer, but to gain respect from peers in a non-scientific sphere, I think there’s a lot more hard work that needs to be done.” 

She wanted to know that someone else from our culture made it as a graphic designer, a role model for her niece. That got me thinking about the role models that South-Asians have in jobs that aren’t a part of the typical sought after jobs. 

If you take a look at the role models children have, many turn to the fictional heroes and characters that are portrayed in all forms of media. And if you look, you don’t even have to look too hard, you can see that there’s a clear lack of South-Asian role models. 

Me and Baljeet

The number of South-Asian representation in media is very limited, and the representation that exists tends to usually be very stereotypical and not at all flattering. 

No matter how far from reality tv shows or movies can be, humans still use media to process what their lives should look like. Cartoons and movies have a great impact on children. Little kids want to be dressed in pretty ball gowns like Cinderella, or in a suit of armor like Iron-Man. We like to see ourselves in the characters that we look up to. 

As a South-Asian boy, my options were limited. Common stereotypes of South-Asians include the nerd, the convenience store owner, and the taxi driver. Not really characters I wanted to be associated with. 

In middle and high school, I was always compared to Baljeet, the nerdy Indian kid on the popular Disney show, Phineas and Ferb. 

Granted, I did have a similar skin tone and similar hair to Baljeet, that was really where our similarities started and ended. Baljeet is a likable character. He is smart and dorky. There is nothing inherently wrong with a nerdy character, but because there is a lack of representation of South-Asian characters, especially South-Asians kids, there is an idea that is formed that this is the only way that Indian kids can exist, as nerds. 

It is nice to see someone that looks like you on screen, but when there is only one or two characters like you that exist in this medium, you’re forced to relate to these characters, even if you don’t.

I accepted the comparison to Baljeet, though we were not really similar at all. I let myself believe that I was the same as this character though deep down I knew I wasn’t. This reinforced the idea that maybe South-Asians are supposed to be nerdy. That’s what the TV says at least. 

A Changing Culture 

For a long time, South-Asian representation has been something that has been lacking in the west, but there are people that are pushing for a change. 

Mindy Chokalingam, known professionally as Mindy Kaling, is a second generation Indian-American who has become very successful in Hollywood. She works to show her own personal experience as an Indian-American in the United States. 

She gained popularity when she played Kelly Kapoor on the smash hit mockumentary series, The Office. She was the sole recurring women of color in the series, and the only woman in the writers room.

She was able to develop and progress the boundaries of what South-Asians and women of color can do on TV. Her character diverged from any normal stereotype that followed Indian women. She portrayed a unique character that was funny, but not for any of the typical reasons Indians are found to be funny. 

After her time on The Office, she was able to work on her very own show, The Mindy Project. Her show is about a young Gynecologist, played by her, that is navigating life and love in New York City.

This show was big for South-Asian representation to say the least. 

In her Vanity Fair article published in 2019, “Mindy Kaling in Full Bloom,” Samhita Mukhopadhyay spoke about the importance of the tv show after an interview with Kaling. 

“The Mindy Project was also revolutionary. Viewers, including, importantly, women like myself, had never seen a character like Lahiri (the main character of The Mindy Project) before, never mind in a leading role. Kaling turned one of the most common tropes about Indian-Americans on its head: the aspiring, straight-A student who becomes a physician.” Mukhopadhyay said. “Lahiri is a doctor, but she is not quiet or particularly geeky. She takes up space (sometimes to the point of narcissism), dresses in bright colors, subsists on rom-coms. She dates, and she likes sex. She is also sometimes offensive–this was no ‘good Indian girl.’”

Kaling has worked on breaking the bounds Indian stereotypes have. She continues doing this with her other shows The Sex Lives of College Girls, and Never Have I Ever. Though there has been critiques on her shows only showcasing the love interests of the main characters as white males, she defends these claims by saying that she is using her platform to speak from her own experience. 

“White guys were the ones who hit on me,” Kaling said in her Vanity Fair interview. “Indian men didn’t.”

Even if there isn’t a whole lot of representation in the love interest side of things in Kaling’s shows, by telling her own stories and experiences, she is able to allow for the creation of depth in South-Asians. We are not just nerds who are straight-A students. We are complex individuals who are worthy of representation on all screens, big and small. 

Kaling’s work has paved the way for other South-Asians to create representation based on their own experiences. Shows like Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, Priyankra Chopra’s Quantico, and Fatimah Asghar’s Brown Girls, have been able to push the culture forward, welcoming a more rounded, more complex representation of South-Asians. We are more than just doctors and nerds. 

Circling Back 

We know that the tv shows and movies we consume aren’t real life, but we can’t help but relate to the characters and stories we see. The South-Asian representation, and the lack thereof, has had an impact on the way that South-Asians see themselves and the roles that we let ourselves play in society. 

We look for role models, heroes that inspire us to do the things we hope and dream of doing. 

For generations, South-Asians have held a very specific niche in society. We have held very specific jobs, and there are powerful forces that reinforce these stereotypes.

As a South-Asian pursuing journalism, I currently stand with no real role models in my field. But I have a feeling that that will be changing. I believe that us South-Asians will be able to break ourselves out of the box, and to explore a world different from the one we have been locked into. 

I have faith that we will be seeing more and more South-Asians in different jobs, humanities included amongst them. The change will take time, patience, and vulnerability, like the conversations Sivakumar, Kakumanu, and I have had with our parents. 

Progressives like Kaling will continue to humanize South-Asians, to give depth and personality to our culture that is developing in the western world. When South-Asians can see themselves in different careers on TV, when they can find role models that stray from the norm and expand our culture from being stuck in STEM, as it has been for generations, I am sure we will begin to see South-Asians in jobs that we have never seen them in before.

When there are new role models, we can expect new niches to be filled by the South-Asian population. Whether that niche is Cinderella, Iron-Man, or a journalist.