ABSTRACT
Another way in which young Muslim women in the bustees are living more Bollywood-inspired lives in a globalising India is through participation in middle-class consumption practices. Through their participation in self-perceived modern clothing and food consumption, bustee youth try to resist dominant societal discourses of being ‘poor Muslims’ and try to experience a lifestyle that aligns itself with a contemporary youth culture which they view through Bollywood. The chapter shows how young women manage their money and how they use consumption to gain status and cultural capital amongst their peers. While shifting their class position is an aim for many young women, it is shifts in status – through the acquisition of cultural capital like dance knowledge and higher education and particular to this chapter, participation in a variety of perceived middle-class consumption arenas – that is more realistic for young women in the bustees.
