Sepia Mutiny
Encyclopedia
Sepia Mutiny is a blog
and discussion forum, initially conceived by a group of mostly second generation Indian American
students and young professionals in August 2004. The site has had an exponential growth rate and according to its FAQ
, as of May 2007 had amassed over five million readers since inception. The majority of the posts on the site are authored by its main roster of bloggers — Amardeep, Anna, Abhi, Vinod, and Ennis, though many posts are also authored by "regular contributors." The site also functions as a public forum on South Asian issues and boasts a wide range of commenters hailing from diverse geographic locations, although predominantly the United States
and England
.
The title is a pun on the Sepoy Mutiny, or First War of Indian Independence in 1857, a violent widespread movement by sepoys against the British Raj
during the latter's imperialist rule in India. Sepia
, a shade of brown, was intended as a tongue-in-cheek
reference to the tone of South Asian skin.http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004614.html
. The goal of the site is to in effect capture the position of the South Asian American diaspora
as it emigrates to foreign nations and primarily North America. Sepia Mutiny's has become a focal point of discussion for Desis
on the Internet in the United States and, to some extent, other parts of the South Asian diaspora.
Sepia Mutiny's emergence is part of the increase in mainstream diasporic Desi writing and creative arts outside the traditional genres — the effects of which can be seen in Indian subcontinent
and spills over to the America
, Canada
, and the United Kingdom
, given the presence of Desis. A similar trend is seen at sites like Badmash
, an online comic that gained notice for its Amitabh for President
campaign, South Asian magazines such as ABCDlady, as well as the greater prominence of Bollywood
films in the United States. Crossovers movies such as Bride and Prejudice
, Bollywood/Hollywood
and Monsoon Wedding
have helped the western audience understand the desi culture. The blog also addresses the growing prominence of South Asian Americans like Bobby Jindal
, Russell Peters
, Sanjay Gupta
, Neel Kashkari
and Kal Penn
, among others, as they enter the mainstream of Western culture.
Senator
for Virginia
, George Allen
, in which he used the ethnic slur macaca to refer to S.R. Sidarth, an Indian American aide working for his opponent's Senatorial campaign. Sepia Mutiny also drew attention to other public figures in America who have used racial slurs against Indians in the past such as Vice-President Joe Biden and major radio personalities in Philadelphia and New York
.
The bloggers at Sepia Mutiny often focus on the emergence of South Asians in the Western political structure. The site serves as fertile ground for discussion regarding the actions of these politicians in the Western world, ranging from Bobby Jindal
to Nikki Haley
to Shahid Malik
.
. The site, however, broadens its awareness of violence beyond simple hate crimes. The recent tragedy at Virginia Tech was discussed from a South Asian perspective with posts about South Asian shooting victims Professor G. V. Loganathan
and student Minal "Minu" Panchal, victims the mainstream media failed to talk in depth about. They also were one of the few media sources that addressed the recent assault of a young Indian American National Lawyer's Guild observer Sanjukta Paul during the Los Angeles May Day Mêlée at MacArthur Park
by a member of the Los Angeles Police Department
.
in Kaavya Viswanathan
's novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. Posts related to Viswanathan were widely cited by other blogs and the mass-media, including The New York Times
and The Washington Post
. The site has also highlighted South Asian authors that have come to attention in the United States and abroad, including Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai
, and Pulitzer Prize
-winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri
.
There is considerable discussion about South Asians in the music industry, ranging from recent Bollywood
soundtracks to mainstream Western musicians, such as recent American Idol
contestant Sanjaya Malakar
. The site also provides coverage of the long history in the music industry of fusing Eastern and Western styles of music, as can be seen through the work of artists like Panjabi MC
, Raghav
, and Talvin Singh
, and unique new niche genres such as Desi Ska and Hindu Rock.
In addition Indian American film and television are highlighted on the blog. Be it mainstream releases to Western audiences like Harold and Kumar, Salaam Bombay, and the Elements Trilogy
, or lesser known work such as the cult-classic American Desi
, Sepia Mutiny bloggers cover it.
, communal tensions, AIDS
, and even the rapid evolution of the Bollywood
film industry. Sepia Mutiny's comprehensive international awareness serves to highlight that the changing South Asian culture in the Western world is often mirrored by reciprocal evolution on the Indian subcontinent itself.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
and discussion forum, initially conceived by a group of mostly second generation Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
students and young professionals in August 2004. The site has had an exponential growth rate and according to its FAQ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...
, as of May 2007 had amassed over five million readers since inception. The majority of the posts on the site are authored by its main roster of bloggers — Amardeep, Anna, Abhi, Vinod, and Ennis, though many posts are also authored by "regular contributors." The site also functions as a public forum on South Asian issues and boasts a wide range of commenters hailing from diverse geographic locations, although predominantly the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The title is a pun on the Sepoy Mutiny, or First War of Indian Independence in 1857, a violent widespread movement by sepoys against the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
during the latter's imperialist rule in India. Sepia
Sepia (color)
Sepia is a dark brown-grey color, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia.The word sepia is the Latinized form of the Greek σηπία, sēpía, cuttlefish.-Sepia in human culture:...
, a shade of brown, was intended as a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
reference to the tone of South Asian skin.http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004614.html
Social context
Sepia Mutiny discusses issues facing first and second generation immigrants from the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The goal of the site is to in effect capture the position of the South Asian American diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
as it emigrates to foreign nations and primarily North America. Sepia Mutiny's has become a focal point of discussion for Desis
Desis
Desis can refer to:* plural of Desi* one of a type of List of surgical procedures...
on the Internet in the United States and, to some extent, other parts of the South Asian diaspora.
Sepia Mutiny's emergence is part of the increase in mainstream diasporic Desi writing and creative arts outside the traditional genres — the effects of which can be seen in Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and spills over to the America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, given the presence of Desis. A similar trend is seen at sites like Badmash
Badmash.org
Badmash is a Hindi word that means "naughty". Badmash.org hosts animations, sketches and video clips. Their weekly email and print-media newsletters reach over a million people. Their works have a mix of political and social satire...
, an online comic that gained notice for its Amitabh for President
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
campaign, South Asian magazines such as ABCDlady, as well as the greater prominence of Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
films in the United States. Crossovers movies such as Bride and Prejudice
Bride and Prejudice
Bride and Prejudice is a 2004 romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was filmed primarily in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi dialogue. The film released in...
, Bollywood/Hollywood
Bollywood/Hollywood
Bollywood/Hollywood is a 2002 film by Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta. It is lighthearted, humorous, and family-oriented in nature, as opposed to Mehta's other films , which feature very serious themes and focus on social issues.The film pokes fun at traditional Indian stereotypes, as well as at...
and Monsoon Wedding
Monsoon Wedding
* Originally featured in the Hindi film Loafer * Originally featured in the Hindi film Biwi No.1 -Awards:The movie won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival...
have helped the western audience understand the desi culture. The blog also addresses the growing prominence of South Asian Americans like Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
, Russell Peters
Russell Peters
Russell Dominic Peters is an Indo-Canadian comedian, actor and disc jockey. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and has been nominated for four Gemini Awards.-Early life :...
, Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay Gupta is an American neurosurgeon and an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia....
, Neel Kashkari
Neel Kashkari
Neel T. Kashkari was the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability in the United States Department of the Treasury. While in this role, he led the Office of Financial Stability, the office set up to buy troubled financial assets from U.S. financial firms under the $700...
and Kal Penn
Kal Penn
Kalpen Suresh Modi , best known by his stage name Kal Penn, is an American film and television actor, producer, and civil servant....
, among others, as they enter the mainstream of Western culture.
South Asians and American politics
Part of the focus of Sepia Mutiny is to bring attention to the expanding involvement of South Asian Americans as a political body in the United States, perhaps most notably in the 2004 and 2006 congressional and presidential elections. A lot of attention was given to the controversy surrounding MacacaGate, a scandal that erupted due to comments by former RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, George Allen
George Allen (U.S. politician)
George Felix Allen is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as the 67th Governor, and in both bodies of the U.S. Congress, winning election to the Senate in 2000...
, in which he used the ethnic slur macaca to refer to S.R. Sidarth, an Indian American aide working for his opponent's Senatorial campaign. Sepia Mutiny also drew attention to other public figures in America who have used racial slurs against Indians in the past such as Vice-President Joe Biden and major radio personalities in Philadelphia and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
The bloggers at Sepia Mutiny often focus on the emergence of South Asians in the Western political structure. The site serves as fertile ground for discussion regarding the actions of these politicians in the Western world, ranging from Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
to Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley
Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
to Shahid Malik
Shahid Malik
Shahid Rafique Malik is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in 2005 after defeating Conservative Sayeeda Warsi, now Conservative Chair Baroness Warsi and remained so till 2010 when Conservative candidate Simon Reevell won Dewsbury...
.
Violence against South Asians
Another focus of the blog has been to highlight violence against South Asians — a phenomenon which has become more common since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. The site, however, broadens its awareness of violence beyond simple hate crimes. The recent tragedy at Virginia Tech was discussed from a South Asian perspective with posts about South Asian shooting victims Professor G. V. Loganathan
G. V. Loganathan
Gobichettipalayam Vasudevan "G. V." Loganathan was an Indian-born American professor, whose most recent position was a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental engineering, part of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, United States...
and student Minal "Minu" Panchal, victims the mainstream media failed to talk in depth about. They also were one of the few media sources that addressed the recent assault of a young Indian American National Lawyer's Guild observer Sanjukta Paul during the Los Angeles May Day Mêlée at MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.- Geography :...
by a member of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
.
South Asian literature, music, and the arts
In the spring and summer of 2006, a number of Sepia Mutiny posts debated the allegations of plagiarismPlagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
in Kaavya Viswanathan
Kaavya Viswanathan
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life is a young adult novel by Kaavya Viswanathan, an Indian-American woman who wrote it just after she graduated from high school. Its 2006 debut was highly publicized, but the book was withdrawn after allegations that portions had been plagiarized...
's novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. Posts related to Viswanathan were widely cited by other blogs and the mass-media, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. The site has also highlighted South Asian authors that have come to attention in the United States and abroad, including Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
, and Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri is a Bengali American author. Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies , won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and her first novel, The Namesake , was adapted into the popular film of the same name. She was born Nilanjana Sudeshna, which she says are both...
.
There is considerable discussion about South Asians in the music industry, ranging from recent Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
soundtracks to mainstream Western musicians, such as recent American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Joseph Malakar is an American singer of Indian origin, who was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon...
. The site also provides coverage of the long history in the music industry of fusing Eastern and Western styles of music, as can be seen through the work of artists like Panjabi MC
Panjabi MC
Rajinder Singh Rai , better known by his stage name Panjabi MC is a British Indian musician.-Career:...
, Raghav
Raghav
Raghav Mathur , known professionally as Raghav, is a Canadian singer currently signed to Cordova Bay Records. He is best known for his single "Angel Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005...
, and Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...
, and unique new niche genres such as Desi Ska and Hindu Rock.
In addition Indian American film and television are highlighted on the blog. Be it mainstream releases to Western audiences like Harold and Kumar, Salaam Bombay, and the Elements Trilogy
Elements trilogy
The Elements trilogy is a trilogy of films by Indian film-maker Deepa Mehta, dealing with controversial issues of social reform on the Indian subcontinent. Fire, the first release in 1996, dealt with issues of arranged marriage and homosexuality in the patriarchal culture of India...
, or lesser known work such as the cult-classic American Desi
American Desi
American Desi is a 2001 American film with Indian influence, notable for featuring many prominent South Asian American actors. Also featured is an a cappella version of the Hindi classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", sung by Penn Masala and originally from the movie Qurbani...
, Sepia Mutiny bloggers cover it.
South Asian Americans and the Indian subcontinent
In addition to being aware of issues faced by South Asians outside of India, Sepia Mutiny is also cognizant of current events within the subcontinent as well. Many posts discuss current events in India, including controversial topics such as terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, communal tensions, AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, and even the rapid evolution of the Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film industry. Sepia Mutiny's comprehensive international awareness serves to highlight that the changing South Asian culture in the Western world is often mirrored by reciprocal evolution on the Indian subcontinent itself.