In Shilpa Davé’s article, Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents, he analyzes the notion of “brown voice” and how the presence of this portrayal of South Asians in main stream media effects their positioning in American society. Davé highlights the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from The Simpsons to show how accents and cultural citizenship are related. The portrayal of a brown voice in media creates a specific positioning of South Asians in the American imagination. Davé argues that because Apu is one of the only South Asian character in the media, it creates a narrow view of South Asians and creates a static positioning of South Asians which makes it difficult for the views of Americans on cultural citizenship to change.
Davé uses the example of Apu to show the effects that brown voice has on American racial hierarchies. Because brown voice uses correct English grammar, it portrays the idea that South Asians are more assimilated than other minorities that do not use correct grammar. This places them above other minorities but also keeps them separated from being fully assimilated due to the portrayal of this accent and how the syllables are stressed differently. Davé also uses the idea of brown voice to exemplify how racial and ethnic identities are perceived beyond physical representation and how “brown voice is instructive in thinking about how race is separated from the visual and instead voice becomes another marker of cultural subjectivity” (pg. 319).
Some key terms that Davé uses are “brown voice” and “cultural citizenship”. “The term ‘brown voice’ identifies a specific racializing trait among South Asians which simultaneously connotes foreignness and class and cultural privilege” (pg. 314). In The Simpsons, brown voice is used with Apu, as his character has the stereotypical Indian English accent and he is voiced by a white male. The term “cultural citizenship” refers to the sense of belongingness to a country based on cultural differences. This was portrayed by Apu in the episode “Much Apu about Nothing” when he tries to assimilate into American culture by dressing in typical American clothes. This exemplifies the pressure that immigrants feel to assimilate to American culture.
The idea of brown voice relates very similarly to black face or yellow face. The difference between these forms of discrimination is that brown voice is not seen as offensive because it has been portrayed in media to be humorous and not demeaning. Davé also mentions the idea of the black/white racial binary that is present in American society and how Asian Americans disrupt this idea. From my understanding of the type of racial hierarchy in American society, in order to be an acceptable minority, you must be as close to “white” as possible while distancing yourself from “black”. This can be seen throughout history by other minorities oppressing African Americans, in order to prevent themselves from falling victim to the same treatment that African Americans receive in America.
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