2026/04/21 by Nazia Hussein · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity #Gender, Feminism, and Media #South Asian Cinema and Culture
paper · doi:10.1080/1070289x.2026.2655598
openalex publication_date 2026/04/21 · openalex created_date 2026/04/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/05
Despite their ubiquity and integration into everyday life, social media platforms remain under-theorized as central spaces for the curation and negotiation of diasporic identity. Contributing to the knowledge in diaspora studies, using digital ethnography and case studies from two Bangladeshi American influencers’ Instagram accounts, this paper shows that from within the postfeminist neoliberal space of social media these women curate a transnational brown/desi girl identity through their drive towards inclusive beauty, challenging patriarchy, racism and global injustices. I argue this enables them to symbolically rupture classifications like racial hierarchies of beauty, normative discourses around ethnic and migrant women and their position within global politics, creating a ‘brown girl’ space built on sharing of common experiences or <i>assemblies</i> whereby the followers of these influencers relate and add to their experiences via like, comment and share – multiplying the reach of the diasporic community.