Abstract
The research in this Senior Independent Research Study examines the synchronization of Hindu and American cultural elements and rituals in diasporic Hindu-American wedding ceremonies. The study examines the key wedding rituals and symbols in these ceremonies to conclude that they help affirm and perpetuate a multicultural ethnic identity for the bride. It demonstrates that certain wedding symbols, such as the dress, jewelry, and flowers, have a vocality of meaning in the Hindu-American context. This analysis of the transformation of Hindu-American brides from maidenhood to womanhood, and from daughter to wife, shows how such wedding ceremonies represent a careful negotiation between distinctly Hindu and American models of ideal womanhood. In doing so, it establishes how the women who were the contributors of the study were able to utilize both Hindu and American values and rituals in their wedding ceremonies to both shape and to affirm their multicultural identities.
Advisor
Frese, Pamela
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Mixter, Amy, "Diasporic Wedding Culture: How Wedding Rituals and Symbols Confirm the Creation of a Multicultural Gender and Ethnic Identity Among Hindu-American Women" (2012). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 1125.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/1125
Disciplines
Race and Ethnicity | Social and Cultural Anthropology
Keywords
hindu-american, wedding, rituals, ceremonies, gender, ethnicity, multiculturalism, multivocal symbols
Publication Date
2012
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2012 Amy Mixter