Women in Translation: Identitti

The Women In Translation reading group provides a free, friendly and gentle environment in which opinions are shared and new appreciations can be discovered. A place for curious minds and relaxed conversation hosted by poet and translator Annie Rutherford.

Our August meeting of Women In Translation will be discussing Mithu Sanyal's Identitti, translated by Alta L. Price

Nivedita (a.k.a. Identitti), a doctoral student who blogs about race with the help of Hindu goddess Kali, is in awe of Saraswati, her outrageous superstar post-colonial and race studies tutor. But Nivedita’s life and sense of self begin to unravel when it emerges that Saraswati is actually white. Hours before learning the truth Nivedita praises her tutor in a radio interview, jeopardising her reputation and igniting an angry backlash among her peers and online community.

In her complex and genre-bending debut, Mithu Sanyal collages commentary from real-life intellectuals, blogs, articles, race theory and academic warfare, combining campus novel and coming-of-age drama. A darkly comedic tour de force astutely translated, Identitti showcases the outsized power of social media in the current debates around identity politics and the power of claiming your own voice.