The Negotiation of U.S. Advertising Among Bengali Immigrants: A Journey in Hybridity

The process of globalization has unsettled the idea of territories and space, disrupting certainties of culture and altering the way identities are constructed. Understanding diasporic complexities can inform media studies about the intersection of globality and locality and the issue of identity. However, this has remained a marginal area of inquiry in communication studies, particularly in advertising research. With an ever-increasing number of people now defining themselves in terms of multiple attachments, it has become imperative for advertising research to address hybridity, an inherent characterization of globalization. This project examines the discursive construction of advertisements by Bengali immigrants from East India and demonstrates the hybrid existences of diasporic groups, positioning themselves at the crossroads of global and local.