Identitti

A satirical debut
about race,
sexuality and truth: German-Polish-Indian student Nivedita’s world is upended when she discovers that her beloved professor who passes for Indian was born white.

The Sellout meets Interior Chinatown in this satirical debut about race, sexuality and truth. German-Polish-Indian student Nivedita's world is upended when she discovers that her beloved professor who passed for Indian was born white.

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.