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This volume contains articles on other important Asian communities and their interaction with the American legal system. In the case of two of these groups - Filipinos and Asian Indians- this involvement goes back many decades. ... Read more

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Contrary to the stereotype which depicts them as economic successes, Asian workers have a high incidence of underemployment when compared to white workers. This book integrates immigration and labor market trends into an analysis of the economic assimilation of Asians in the U.S. It examines four forms of underemployment (unemployment, part-time employment, working poverty, and job mismatch) for Asian Indian, Filipino, and Vietnamese men and women. This study shows that Asian underemployment rates are consistently higher than for non-Hispanic whites, with Asian Indians having the highest rate. Each Asian group displayed varied effects of human capital, family and household, industry, and assimilation variables on the different underemployment categories. Important implications of the findings show that ethnic group variation in underemployment appears stronger than differences by gender.
(Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1994; revised with new preface and index) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a hot topic rendered dull
Talking heads that exploit Asian Americans as "model minorities" assume that all Asian Americans are doing well.The author hear divides underemployment into four parts:those with no job, those with a job beneath their qualifications, those working part-time who could work full-time, and those getting paid unconscionable salaries and then asks how this affects three Asian-American groups: Indians, Filipinos, and the Vietnamese.

The author is diverse in choosing these groups, they are both yellow and brown, South Asian and Southeast Asian.The groups came to the United States at differing times, in differing numbers, and for differing reasons.The author also looks at how gender, years in the US, college education, and other factors affect this data.Her point is that Asian Americans are not in better positions than European Americans as some falsely argue.

While I loved this book's subject, the actual reading was painful.Only number crunchers would enjoy this book.She could have been discussing issues about which I don't care as boring as most of this read.I also wonder if the Census Bureau now has computer programs that could generate this info in a few minutes compared to someone actually getting a Ph.D. through presenting this info.This book felt so impersonal.Firstly, the author describes Asian immigration in terms that I don't think underscored the racism and imperialism that these groups faced.Second, when Apu spoke of being the top of his graduate class but still working at the Quik-E-Mart, I related more to a cartoon character than the dull info presented here.

This topic is timely and important.However, this book is only for hardcore statisticians, not for round-the-way anti-racist activists, readers, and thinkers. ... Read more

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The population of the South Asian Diaspora in the US is over 2.5 million people. Yet in a post 9/11 climate of opinion, little is known about this group beyond images of Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists and terrorists. This is particularly true of women where simplistic assumptions about veils and subordination obscure the voices of the women themselves.

Rarely are Hindu and Muslim American women—many of whom are social workers, physicians, lawyers, academics, students, homemakers—asked about their everyday lives and religious beliefs.

Living our Religions brings out these hidden stories from South Asian American women of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian and Nepali origin. Their accounts show how diverse and culturally dynamic religious practices emerge within the intersection of histories and politics of specific locales. The authors describe the race, gender, and ethnic boundaries they encounter; they also document how they resist and challenge these boundaries. Living our Religions cuts through the myths and ethnocentrism of popular portrayals to reveal the vibrancy, courage and agency of an “invisible” minority.

Other Contributors: Shobha Hamal Gurung, Selina Jamil, Salma Kamal, Shweta Majumdar, Bidya Ranjeet, Shanthi Rao, Aysha Saeed, Monoswita Saha, Neela, Bhattacharya Saxena, Parveen Talpur, Elora Halim Chowdhury and Rafia Zakaria ... Read more

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Highly recommended
America is dominated by Christian society, and to be something else brings its own unusual experiences. "Living Our Religions: Hindu and Muslim South Asian American Women Narrate Their Experiences" tells the story of two women who live in America, believing different religious beliefs from a vast majority of the population. Hoping to end the idea of an 'invisible minority', Narayan and Purkayastha tell their stories, and show where racism and sexism still stand in modern America. "Living Our Religions" is a fine read of life on the other side, highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Phenomenal book
Definitely the authoratative history of Asian Indian migration to the USA. Tough to find now, but this is the most comprehensive I have ever seen on the subject. Easy to read for non historians as well.

The Best Historical review of India's immigrants to the US
Of the many books written about Indian immigrants, Joan Jensen's doctoral dissertation published as a book with the above title (Yale Univ Press)is by far the best and most comprehensive one that I have read. It is a pity that this book is now out of print. It is well worth the efforts of Indian organizations in the US to have this book reprinted again so that Indian-Americans will get a more comprehehnsive understanding of the links between India and the US, almost from the times of the early colonial settlements in Salem, MA, the indentured Indian laborers who passed thro US ports en route to West Indies, those who worked on our railorads alongside the Chinese immigrants, the ignoble US Supreme Court judgment against Thind (Thind vs. the US) who was stripped of his US citizenship etc.. all meticulously documented by Jensen. It is a great book worth reading by every Indian-American.

Well-researched, unknown history of Indians in America
You thought Chinese were the only ones who worked in the early railroads in America? Wrong.. some Indians also did. And they faced incredible hardships and racial discrimination. At the end, some married Mexicans and assimilated. ... Read more

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There are over 1.5 million Asian Indians in the Americas, most of whom have transplanted the religious customs of their homeland. Transplanting Religious Traditions is a study of how individuals, families, and small groups transport and sustain their religious practices and how they eventually construct stable religious institutions suited to the American context. The book centers on the Indian community in Atlanta, Georgia from 1979 to 1988 but relates the study to America's East Indian population as a whole. ... Read more

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Since 1970, a growing number of Asian Indians have called Michigan home. Representative of the "new immigration," Asian Indians come from a democratic country, are well-educated, and come from middle- and upper-class families. Unlike older immigrant groups, Asian Indians do not form urban ethnic enclaves or found their own communities to meet the challenges of living in a new society. As Arthur W. Helweg shows, Asian Indians in Michigan contribute to the richness and diversity of Michigan’s culture through active participation in local institutions, while maintaining a strong ethnic identity rooted in India. ... Read more

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This study addresses the way gender mediates the lives of employed immigrant women in an ethnic minority community. Light is shed on the interplay of race-ethnicity, social class, and history and generates multiple contexts within which individual and collective attitudes are situated. ... Read more

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Culture shock, role reversal, and adapting to a new society are major challenges for immigrants to meet. For older immigrants, a move to a Western society with a remarkably different sociocultural milieu can be overwhelming and stressful. Perhaps because of the media stereotypes of Asians as the "model minority," the fact that most have immigrated recently, and the assumption that Asian Americans take care of their own, scant attention has been paid to the issues of older Asian immigrants.
Acknowledging the diversity among older Asian Indian immigrants to the United States, this book evaluates their life satisfaction. This study conducted with 50 elderly Asian Indian immigrants finds that gender differences in levels of life satisfaction were significant, and that self-assessed health is the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Other contributors to life satisfaction included reasons for coming to the United States, living arrangement, and social networks.The historical and sociocultural framework for aging in India is presented as a contextualizing exercise for the study of older Asian Indians in the United States. This study addresses the issues of cultural barriers, intergenerational relations, and filial piety, and highlights the implications for gerontological practice.
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland, 1990; revised with new preface) ... Read more

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This book is a vivacious inquiry into how Asian Indians in New York, or Desis, as they describe themselves, perform Indianness, or Desiness, in several cultural variety shows that are mounted in New York City: The Indian Independence Day Parade and Cultural Program, the South Street Seaport Deepavali Festival, the Sindhi Divali Show in Queens, and the variety shows of the South Asian college students of New York University.

Along with the fact that these community cultural productions underscore Desiness (i.e., that these are songs, dances, foods, and crafts for the non-Indian to see, learn from and consume and for the Desi to reminisce, enjoy, and be validated by) these productions reveal a tense negotiation between the preservation of Indianness and the assimilation to US American life. Indeed, though the traditional, touristic kind of Indianness may be touted by certain elite groups, this type of Indianness is simultaneously being deconstructed and subverted by other Indians who assert their own, sometimes opposing views of what it means to be Desi. This work utimately demonstrates that Desi identity is ephemeral-it constantly needs to be manufactured and begs to be performed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

well researched
Mukhi provides a good amount of research and understanding into the South Asian Diasporia in the northeast. There is a growing sense of how these people identify themselves in America. Different factors such as caste, ethnicity and religion come into play. The 'desi'- those of South Asian ancestory or immigrated at a young age are trying to identify themslves in the larger society. They are trying to find out what's like to be an Indian so far away. One of the more public displays of this is that of parades such as the India day parade or performance such as during deepavali festivals which are the focus of Mukhi's research. She's a desi being born in the Phillipeans and then immigrating in to the U.S. These public displays provide an opportunity to be in a large group to celebrate people's ethnicity, they can wear traditional indian clothing and eat Indian food. Indian movies also come into play because of India's role as the world's larges film producing nation and its imports to the Indian diaspoira. These movies provide an opporunity for desis to see movies made by those of their heritage.

much props to this desi sista!
This is indeed a one-of-a-kind book that everyone interested in performance practice should read.It exposes us to the south asian american (desi) community in the NYC area...Don't let the price scare u off -- it's really worth every penny.I've seen the writer, Sunita, perform around the NYC area and she is a true artist to the core.Her one-woman-shows are creative pieces of genius and her acting ability on par with folks like Eve Ensler, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Sarah Jones, Danny Hoch, and other amazing talents.be sure 2 check it out!Peace...

EXTREMELY INSIGHTFUL & WELL WRITTEN!!
Sunita Mukhi's book provides an extremely insightful glimpse into the lives of Indians living in New York City. Amongst a backdrop of a cosmopolitan melting pot like New York, Dr. Mukhi accurately portrays the identity challenges many Indians face: they are caught in between cultures. If you are an Indian like myself, you will find many parallels within your own life. It is a poignant book & I highly recommend it! ... Read more

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The Indian American community is one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the U.S. Unlike previous generations, they are marked by a high degree of training as medical doctors, engineers, scientists, and university professors.

American Karma draws on participant observation and in-depth interviews to explore how these highly skilled professionals have been inserted into the racial dynamics of American society and transformed into "people of color." Focusing on first-generation, middle-class Indians in American suburbia, it also sheds light on how these transnational immigrants themselves come to understand and negotiate their identities.

Customer Reviews (2)

Great
Finally a book that deals with race in the Indian immigrant community. As a first generation Indian American I can relate to the book very well. The author brings together many excellent examples to illustrate the ways in which Indian Americans experience race in America. The focus is on the hidden and subtle ways in which discrimination takes place. A must read to understand the complex ways in which identity works.

disappointing
As an anthropologist and a high-tech employee with lots of Indian friends and colleagues, I found the book shallow. I had high hopes when I bought it to find a book I could share with others. I did learn some things, for instance the author claims that professional Indians in diaspora have to deal with a "people of color" issue. I was also sorry to learn that some children of Indians had trouble finding play dates. Maybe it's Connecticut and the whole Stamford thing. I was uncomfortable in my New England prep school and I am Caucasian. My only awareness of the "color" issue is that right after 9/11 my Indian friends, along with my Hispanic friends, found themselves indistinguishable by the average ignoramus from potential terror suspects when on airplanes. I did not think the ethnography was adequate or deep enough, and the fact that psychologists have suddenly "discovered" ethnography does not excuse them from doing a proper job of it. Interviewing a circle of friends, for instance, does not really cover the territory, and there was no evidence from other parts of the US or UK for generalizing the diaspora question. As well, there is whole set of reference material on cross-cultural communication that is missing, case in point the extensive work of John J Gumperz, who specifically wrote on India. As well, the book does not deal with the multi-cultural essence of India itself, where language groups mingle with certain conventions acrosss the boundaries on a regular basis. I would have to see the reviews of Indians in the US to know whether the book resonated well with them. Unfortunately, although I diligently finish almost every book I start, I could not finish this one despite my original interest in the subject matter. ... Read more

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India’s 1997 celebration of the Golden Jubilee markedfifty years of independence from British colonial rule. Thisanniversary is the impetus for Bishnupriya Ghosh’s exploration of theEnglish language icons of South Asian postcolonial literature: SalmanRushdie, Vikram Chandra, Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, andArundhati Roy. These authors, grouped together as South Asiancosmopolitical writers, produce work challenging and expandingpreconceived notions of Indian cultural identity, while being soldsimultaneously as popular English literature within the globalmarket. This commodification of Indian language and identityreinforces incomplete and simplified images of India and its writers,and at times counteracts the expressed agenda of the writers. In thisbook, Ghosh focuses on the politics of language and history, and therelated processes of translation and migration within the globalnetwork. In so doing, she develops a new approach to literary studiesthat adapts conventional literary analysis to the pressures,constraints, and liberties of our present era of globalization. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1899 edition by George Bell and Sons, London. ... Read more

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At some point during the 1990s the size of the Asian Indian population in the United States surpassed the one million mark. Today's Indians in America are a diverse group. They come from every state in India as well as from around the globe: England, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Fiji, Guyana, and Trinidad. They also belong to many religious faiths, including Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. Many have high professional skills and are fluent in English and familiar with Western culture. They have settled throughout the United States, largely in metropolitan areas. Namasté America tells this story of Indian immigrants in America, focusing on one of the largest communities, Chicago. ... Read more

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Understanding Asian Indian Americans
This is a very good book to understand lhe new wave of immigation from India. She puts forth a balanced and understandable view of the new immigrations.

A sympahetic ooutstanding unbiasedd accoount

Interesting but . . .
I found te book interesting but I did have my problems with it. First off though she does a fine job organizing her immense data into a easily readable narrative/descriptive hybrid. She explains how things are and thenenters into her interviews which make a great mix. The only bad part Ithought was her failure to enter any important conclusions to the end ofher work.However I do recommend this book especially for the SouthAsian in urban areas dealing with identity. ... Read more