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THIRD SPACE: AN INTERCULTURAL NEGOTIATION OF SOUTH ÁSIAN DIASPORA IN CANADA
to negotiate such a cross-cultural representation through "third cultures,"
which I see as “authentic” modes of representation channels, relaying nuances
of minority belonging in Canada.
First Space:
Second Space
. a »
~ Diasporic “Home — Western "Host"
— Transnational Communities
— Inhabited by the Immigrants
of South Asia
— Strong South Asian Cultural
— Anglophone Western
Communities
— Inhabited by natives of
Anglophone West
— Strong British/French/
American Cultural Influences
Influences
— Co-ethnic South Asian
space
Third Space
— Hybridization/
Intersection of the First and
Second Spaces
— Fluidity of being both “Home” and
“Work” at the same time
— Occupied by South Asian - Westerners
— Conducive for South Asian Disporic
Expressions
— Invites both the Diasporic and
the Host to meet at cultural
intersections
Figure I: Representation of the “Postcolonial-Postmodern-Urban” South Asian¬
Western Third Space.
THIRD CULTURE
It is the collision of South Asian culture with the mainstream Canadian
Anglophone or French one which gives rise to the Third Space, an in-between
condition forming liminalities and identities that can very well be Indian/
Pakistani/Bangladeshi-Canadian. The “transient” nature of South Asian
immigrant identity in the Canadian landscape is a multi- and cross-cultural