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THIRD SPACE: AN INTERCULTURAL NEGOTIATION OF SOUTH ÁSIAN DIASPORA IN CANADA
in postmodern, postcolonial and urban sociology, the intercultural minority/
native cultural conflicts and the varying degree of cultural “hybridization”
that occurs in these spaces.
SPACES
In this paper, I use the following categories: (1) First Space: Comprising of people
hailing from South Asia (2) Second Spaces: Anglophone Western countries
like the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand serving
as host societies for the diasporic populace; (3) Third, inter-cultural spaces: A
result of hybridization/intersection of (1) and (2) sees the creation of culturally
hybrid transnational citizens — who in their host societies have a unique
cultural position which allows them to access disparate cultural spaces of
both the diaspora and the host society. Through their adequate understanding
of cultural nuances of these two spaces, they serve as authentic interpreters
of the diasporic culture to their hosts and vice-versa. This is culturally
enunciated through the popular: (1) Indian and South Asian diasporic cinema;
(2) The artistic expression of urban resident and non-resident South Asian
transnational citizens.
According to Ray Oldenburg’s classification, the First Space is often seen
as “home”, and the Second Space as “work”!° and the Third Space is an in¬
between/liminal/interstitial area formed of “ambiguity” and “ambivalence”!!
— where actors/hybrids/interlocutors can create, a form of “social capital” that
moves beyond interpersonal cultural and socio-economic networks restricted
within South Asian “First Space” and Canadian mainstream “Second Space.”
I see the construction of my arguments as a consequence of the South
Asian minority perspective in the Western host nation of Canada, who have
an anglophone-desi belonging (and will be considered non-francophone
Canadian cultures).
First Space
The First Space is where iterations of culture, identity and discourses are
grounded in one’s home, that is, related to native and ethnic discourses. They
can be seen as neighbourhoods facilitating cultural, commercial and religious
organizations/communities often referring to the discourses of the South
Asian “homeland,” and they can also be seen as “ethnic enclaves.” In Canada,
the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia have a significant South Asian
10 Pete Myers, Going Home: Essays, Articles and Stories in Honour of the Andersons, Oak Hill
College, 2012.
1! Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture, London, Routledge, 1994.