“I feel pressure to produce perfect chapattis despite being a successful comedian!”
I speak with Shazia Mirza, a famous comedian and writer, appearing on Jonathan Ross, Celebrity Island with Bear Gryls, Celebs in Solitary & many more shows. Her new show ‘Coconut’ will be on tour in 2021. Shazia travels all over the world doing stand-up comedy, is hugely successful but still feels the pressure to be the perfect South Asian woman.
Shazia and I speak about some of the issues we’ve experienced in our culture:
• The expectation to always be the dutiful daughter, to be the quiet subservient one
• The expectation to get married, have kids, look after everyone around us
• How cultural conditioning carries on even with professional successful South Asian womxn
• Anti-blackness that pervades South Asian society, and what can be done to change it
• Getting our names mis-pronounced (Shazia being called ‘Shava Minza’ has got to be the funniest!)
• How all brown women are lumped into the same person (Shazia talks about being mistaken for everyone from Meera Syal to Malala to her local GP)
MORE ABOUT SHAZIA:
https://www.shazia-mirza.com/
Instagram: @theshaziamirza
Twitter: @shaziamirza1
RESOURCES
Want to explore more about the themes discussed in this episode? Here are some resources/social media accounts that you might find useful:
THE INDIAN FEMINIST
https://www.instagram.com/the_indian_feminist/?hl=en
ASIAN WOMEN FESTIVAL:
https://www.asianwomanfestival.com/
BROWN GIRL MAGAZINE
https://www.browngirlmagazine.com/
BURNT ROTI
https://www.burntroti.com/