Abstract
Tins paper examines everyday storytelling practices among Indiati immigrants living in the United States. I will show that the nature of hone-based, familycentered storytelling, in its simplicity and accessibility, makes it an ideal mechanism for linking far-flung family members, and can abo be used to draw in non-family members. By looking carefully at the relationships developed ivith my most important stcnytellers in India and Philadelphia, I discovered that the content of the stoiies told in Indian families is not nearly as important as is the experience of being told stories by the women. To tell stories to another person is to bring him or her into the family. Among Indians, storytelling is an act of incorporation.
Recommended Citation
Marvin, Lee-Ellen
(2004)
"Why Mamiji Cried: Stories Defining Families,"
Storytelling, Self, Society: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/storytelling/vol1/iss1/3