![]() You spell the word correctly, you move on in the competition. ![]() ![]() On television, the bee plays out as pure meritocracy. As the comic Hari Kondabolu has joked, the bee has quickly become the “Indian Super Bowl.” The run up to and the aftermath of the bee have become fodder across the media landscape. ![]() Watching the bee, I suspect, allows many Americans to simultaneously celebrate the American Dream and ease their anxieties about the success of one particular race.ĭuring these years when Indian Americans have been dominating the national bee, television viewership has increased as ESPN airs the various rounds across its different television platforms. Rather, what’s interesting is the rising cultural obsession over Indian American spelling stars. It is also not the most interesting thing about this phenomenon. However, figuring out some all-encompassing answer to why these kids are winning ultimately raises thorny questions about the tenuous relationship between cultural characteristics and success in particular fields. ![]() Including: memorization as a reflection of Indian learning the parents of the competitors, featured prominently in ESPN’s coverage of the bee, as tigers in sheep’s clothing competition, academic rigor, and discipline as values that align with Indian American immigrant life and the practice the spellers get in regional Indian American bees. The Most Haunting Truth of Parenthood Mary Laura PhilpottĪs Indian Americans have been winning the bee, the explanations for the streak are often boiled down to a static notion of culture. ![]()
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