Universal Processes of Cultural Change: reflections on the identity strategies of Indian and Australian youth

Abstract

This paper explores the universality of processes of cultural change by comparing identity narratives of young people living in periods of intense social and personal transformation in India and Australia. The responses of Indian youth to economic liberalisation in that country and the generational experiences of young people from migrant backgrounds in Sydney highlights that, despite different contexts, common responses to change appear in the processes of identity re‐evaluation and in the creation and consumption of strategies of identity. These processes revolve around the tensions of difference and continuity, managing hybridity and the reconciliation of ‘being in‐between’.

Notes

This section is developed from work in Butcher (2003) Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: when STAR came to India (New Delhi, Sage).

Interviews in Sydney were carried out by our research assistants Ozdem Cemali, Diane Ngo, Hiba Souied, William Leveni and Sivear Ung.