Date of Completion

5-3-2024

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Discipline

Communication Studies (CMST)

First Advisor

Allison Noyes

Abstract

Intersectional media serves as poignant representations of marginalized communities, and as few positive models exist, researchers must explore the efficacy and impacts of celebrated works on consumers’ perspectives.

“Ethnic identity is less a process of ‘being’ and more a process of ‘becoming…’ The factors that form an ethnic identity allow its members to establish their distinguishing features from other groups, creating a sense of solidarity, belonging, and connection within their own definable cultural group through customs and celebrations, like festivals and religious gatherings, as well as through particular cultural artifacts, like a style of dress” (Stuart Hall, 1996). I will expand upon previous research by dissecting a specific piece of media focused on the complexity of ethnic identity.

I will conduct a thematic content analysis of selected episodes of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever to determine a) how the representation of Indian American women in the show promotes or rejects South Asian stereotypes and b) how it depicts the ethnic socialization and identity development of a second-generation Indian American teen. I plan to code variables such as the model minority myth, docility, occupation, characters’ experience of discrimination, ascribed versus achieved identity, and the stages of identity development.

I expect that my findings will note the conducive representations of the show and indicate gaps for future media to address. As a South Asian researcher, there may be unintentional results concerning the show’s success in influencing my ethnic identity.

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