meghna :)

megu's masala mind

Society EN ↓ 6 episodes

Join me in my messy, spicy, thinking-out loud space as we theorize! Rooted in research on South Asian students and life in higher education, each episode blends theory, lived experience, cultural observation, and a lot of honest questioning. This is a space for synthesis: noticing patterns, sitting with tension, and naming the things we inherit from our families, communities, and institutions. We decide what to keep, revise, or unlearn.

Author

meghna :)

Episodes

holding complexity: queerness and south asian belonging with calliope 30.06.2026 47:36

what does it mean to navigate queerness within south asian communities? how do culture, family, religion, tradition, and identity shape our understanding of ourselves and one another? how does whiteness show up in understanding transphobia and antiqueer rhetoric? in this guest episode, i sit down with my friend calliope for an honest conversation about queerness, belonging, and the complexities of...

the inherited self: inside the bircch framework 09.06.2026 37:13

What does it really mean to be Indian American and where did the parts of you that feel complicated actually come from? In this episode, we walk through the BIRCCH framework: a psychological model built specifically to understand Asian Indian American identity through four lenses: biculturalism, intergenerational transmission, caste-based history, and colonial history. This isn't just an expla...

re-centering: coming back to the why 11.04.2026 31:19

After a month-long pause, I’m coming back to this space: not to start over, but to re-center. In this episode, I revisit why I started this podcast and what it’s becoming. What began as a messy, thinking-out-loud space is shifting into something more intentional: a place where lived experience, theory, and cultural observation come together to make meaning. Using ideas from DesiCrit, I reflect on...

neither/nor: the formal racialization of south asians in the u.s. 10.02.2026 49:54

Do you ever feel like we have an unique racialized experience in the U.S.? In this episode, I break down the formal racialization of South Asians in the United States: how laws, institutions, and official categories have tried to place us into fixed racial boxes. Using the DesiCrit framework, I trace how South Asians have been racially ambiguous from the beginning: sometimes treated as proximate t...

growing up brown: race, identity, & the in-between 27.01.2026 45:15

What happens when you grow up navigating race, but no one ever names it? In this episode, I reflect on and theorize from the landmark study Racial Socialization Experiences Among 1.5 and 2nd Generation Indian Americans by Tummala-Narra, Inman, Kaduvettoor Davidson, and Yeh (2024). Drawing from their qualitative findings and my own lived reflections, this conversation explores how silence, achievem...

welcome to megu's masala mind! 13.01.2026 26:56

This is the beginning of megu's masala mind: a space where I think out loud, mid-process. In this intro episode, I share why I started this podcast, what I’ve been sitting with in my research on South Asian students and higher education, and why I’m more interested in asking questions than draw conclusions. We talk about unlearning, inherited ways of thinking, colonized mindsets, and the cultu...