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general > is the term Desi inclusive?

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message 1: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments ik I made this w/o asking a mod but I wanted to talk about this. what are y'all's opinions on this matter? I think Desi is inclusive. it includes people from neighboring south asian countries apart from India. i have no clue why it would be uninclusive but I wanted to hear differing opinions


sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (godblessthishotmess) | 41 comments i think it's inclusive too, because its social definition has changed
like, i think before, it was only used for the south asian diaspora but now has opened up to people living in south asia as well


message 3: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments what do you mean now it's opened up to people living in south Asia as well


message 4: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments south asian diaspora means people living in south asian or people of south asian descent


sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (godblessthishotmess) | 41 comments ☼ lezzie [[ please don't ruin this for me ]] ☽ wrote: "south asian diaspora means people living in south asian or people of south asian descent"

definition of diaspora taken from merriam-webster:
"the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland"


message 6: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments yes and i'm confused as to how that would make it uninclusive?


message 7: by sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (last edited Apr 19, 2022 05:27PM) (new)

sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (godblessthishotmess) | 41 comments Desi is not uninclusive now, though when the term originally came into use and was established, it was used to describe the diaspora, which refers to people and their culture settling away from their 'ancestral homeland', but now it has expanded to include people who still live there


message 8: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments yeah i get that lol but can you explain how the original term would make it uninclusive? and since when did people refer to desis as j people who moved away from South Asia like my relatives use Desi to describe themselves. I'm so very confused LMAO /nm


sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (godblessthishotmess) | 41 comments nah youre good, and it makes sense that your relatives would use it bc in the last ~75 years (lmao i fell into a rabbithole a couple months ago and researched this) it has changed to include basically anyone south asian, though the term was first coined in the late 1700s for anyone south asian (at the time, only used for indians tho) who lived outside of south asia. so it wouldnt include people who lived in suth asia, but now it does.


message 10: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments yeah but how is that uninclusive? it doesn't include everyone but it's not uninclusive


message 11: by sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (last edited Apr 19, 2022 05:59PM) (new)

sephora ౨ৎ⸆⸉ (godblessthishotmess) | 41 comments don't "not including" and "uninclusive" mean the same thing?


message 12: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) ☼ lezzie [[ please don't ruin this for me ]] ☽ wrote: "what do you mean now it's opened up to people living in south Asia as well"

i think the term comes from sanskrit so it does only apply to india, pakistan and bangledesh (basically countries before the split from gandhi) so it doesn't apply to other south asian countries like nepal and sri lanka


message 13: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments ash ♥ wrote: "☼ lezzie [[ please don't ruin this for me ]] ☽ wrote: "what do you mean now it's opened up to people living in south Asia as well"

i think the term comes from sanskrit so it does only apply to ind..."


oh cool thanks for letting me know :)


message 14: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments ✨wannabe inej ghafa✨ wrote: "don't "not including" and "uninclusive" mean the same thing?"

nope ---> in this sense, it's including of certain people but it's not an umbrella term. it's more specific. saying uninclusive holds a negative connotation yet it's still a term for a large group (albeit a more specific one than what the now definition of desi is)


message 15: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) ^yeah, i guess i'd personally just say desi ≠ south asian cause it doesn't include a few countries but at the same time, for people that are in the 3 desi countries, it's inclusive cause desi people are from country(s) that were once one


message 16: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments wait doesn't now it includes all ppl of south asian descent/ppl who live in south Asia? or-


message 17: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) ash ♥ wrote: "☼ lezzie [[ please don't ruin this for me ]] ☽ wrote: "what do you mean now it's opened up to people living in south Asia as well"

i think the term comes from sanskrit so it does only apply to india, pakistan and bangledesh (basically countries before the split from gandhi) so it doesn't apply to other south asian countries like nepal and sri lanka."


^^^
but yeah, all people from pakistan, india and bangledesh (descent too)


message 18: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments wait :

"Desi is sometimes used as an identifying term for a person who is of South Asian descent or who traces their heritage to the Indian subcontinent. Its exact meaning and implications vary from person to person. Some use it as a positive self-identifier, while others view it as too limiting or even disparaging.:


message 19: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) wait, where's the definition from?
also, alot of nepali and sri lankan and other south-asian / south asian descent people don't use the term "desi" to identify with themself
and
desi comes from the Sanskrit word "country" or desh, in Hindi-so countries that are part of the original "desh" are indian, pakistan and bangledesh (but other south asian countries probably do share some similar aspects/languages/etc but those lands weren't part)


message 20: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments ah inch resting

do you know of any other terms?

here's the link: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/desi


message 21: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) terms for south asian or.?

ohh yeah i googled it up lol but south asian and desi aren't exactly interchangeable (well desi ppl are south asian but not always vice versa)


message 22: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments inch resting inch resting

ya like other terms for south asian as a whole


message 23: by ౨ৎ (new)

౨ৎ (vxnicebxtch) i don't think so (at least not yet) but most people usually just say south asian ig


message 24: by ash (new)

ash  | 21 comments gotcha


message 25: by gurnaaz (new)

gurnaaz | 5 comments i feel like now it's developed more into a casual slang for south asians in general (at least that's how me and most of the people around me use it) so it is inclusive, in my opinion


message 26: by Vruta (new)

Vruta Gupte (vsgupte) | 2 comments a lot of people from dravidian language speaking states don't consider themselves desi because there are a lot of cultural differences. generally desi only includes north indians, pakistanis, and bangladeshis. most sri lankans, nepalese, bhutanese, and burmese people don't consider themselves desi


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