Border crossing, migrations, and desire are deeply interconnected. Using a Desi historiography, I trace the entanglement of migration and desire, examining both what is made possible through geopolitical, emotional, and ideological border crossings and what lies in the wreckage of certain crossings. Using the trope of fish doodles, I trace the intractability of desire and highlight how the distortions inherent in migratory experience shatter illusions and innocence, creating a sense of betrayal yet failing to mitigate desire. Drawing on a South Asian sensibility of communal and national insider and outsider positions, I explore the complicated terrain of Desi transnational existence.
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2019
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