South Asians in the United States primarily trace their heritage to the Republic of India, including Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians. Other South Asian countries have diaspora communities in the United States, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
Today, South Asians are a rapidly growing demographic in the United States, comprising nearly 2 percent of the population. But there was a time in the not-too-distant past when the United States was far less hospitable to South Asian immigrants. In fact, until 1952, only white immigrants could become naturalized American citizens. Yet in the first half of the twentieth century, many states still had thriving communities of South Asians. In Here to Stay, Geetika Rudra, a second-generation Indian immigrant and American history buff, takes readers on a journey across the country to unearth the little-known histories of earlier generations of South Asian Americans. She visits storied sites such as Oregon's "Hindoo Alley," home to many lumber workers at the turn of the century, and Angel Island, California's immigration hub. She also introduces readers to such inspiring figures as Bhagat Singh Thind, an immigrant who had enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve his adopted country in World War I, but who was later denied citizenship and took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In turns both serious and joyful, this book vividly reveals how South Asians have always been a vital part of the American tapestry.
Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America explores the challenges that Asian immigrants face when their religion--and consequently culture--is "remade in the U.S.A." Peppered with stories of individual people and how they actually live their religion, this informative book gives an overview of each religion's beliefs, a short history of immigration--and discrimination--for each group, and how immigrants have adapted their religious beliefs since they arrived. Along the way, the roles of men and women, views toward dating and marriage, the relationship to the homeland, the "brain drain" from Asia of scientists, engineers, physicians, and other professionals, and American offshoots of Asian religions, such as the Hare Krishnas and Transcendental Meditation (TM), are discussed.
Read Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs online via ProQuest ebooks.
Print book also available in the library, call number: Children's 294 Man
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.
Print book available in the library, call number: F548.9 .E2 R36 2000
The nationally renowned racial justice advocate's illumination of the ongoing persecution of a range of American minorities In the lead-up to the recent presidential election, Donald Trump called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States, surveillance against mosques, and a database for all Muslims living in the country, tapping into anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim hysteria to a degree little seen since the targeting of South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh people in the wake of 9/11. In the American Book Award-winning We Too Sing America, nationally renowned activist Deepa Iyer shows that this is the latest in a series of recent racial flash points, from the 2012 massacre at the Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, to the violent opposition to the Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and to the Park 51 Community Center in Lower Manhattan. Iyer asks whether hate crimes should be considered domestic terrorism and explores the role of the state in perpetuating racism through detentions, national registration programs, police profiling, and constant surveillance. Reframing the discussion of race in America, she "reaches into the complexities of the many cultures that make up South Asia" (Publishers Weekly) and provides ideas from the front lines of post-9/11 America.
Print book available in Stockton library, Stockton E184 .A1 I94 2017
Desi Land: Teen Culture, Class, and Success in Silicon Valley by
An ethnography of South Asian American teenagers in Silicon Valley.
The Sikh Diaspora by
The Sikh Diaspora is an impressive, probing and original examination of the Sikh communities of Britain, Canada, and the United States. The author examines the cultural, economic and social linkages between overseas Sikh communities and the Punjab, discussing the Sikh diaspora's support for a Sikh homelandand its role in highlighting human rights? abuses in the Punjab. Exploring the diaspora's close involvement in issues emanating from its homeland, Dr. Tatla asks whether this involvement indicates an insecure settlement in the new countries. He is especially interested in the ways in which inter-state diplomacy, notably India's pressure on host states to curb ?Sikh extremism?, has affected the position of Sikh communities abroad. Drawing on literature and media from English and Punjabi sources, Dr. Tatla provides an insight into the emotional and psychological world of the diaspora and its yearning for an independent homeland. The book is a significant contribution to the growing literature on the role of diaspora communities as international actors in challenging the power of nation-states and of host societies. It will be an indispensable text for students of South Asia, and of great interest for those studying international migration and diasporas from the perspective of sociology or politics.
Strangers in a Not-So-Strange Land : Indian American Immigrants in the Global Age by
This text is a case study of the Asian Indians in the United States. Almost unheard of three decades ago and almost nonexistent in the United States in the 1970s, this community is, on the average, the highest educated and claims the highest average family income of any ethnic community in North America. They are part of and representative of the new kind of immigrant coming to America. This text delves into the subject of immigration by focusing on how the immigration of highly educated and professionally trained migrants, which began in the late 1960s/early 1970s, differs from and challenges the traditional concepts of migration studies. The case study takes a transnational perspective and discusses the role of globalization and the current world system to form a more comprehensive study than those studies that have dominated migration studies and anthropology to date.
Acts of Faith : The Story of an American Muslim, The struggle for the Soul of a Generation by
Acts of Faith is a remarkable account of growing up Muslim in America and coming to believe in religious pluralism, from one of the most prominent faith leaders in the United States. Eboo Patel's story is a hopeful and moving testament to the power and passion of young people--and of the world-changing potential of an interfaith youth movement.
All for Love by
Ved Mehta joined the staff of The New Yorker in the 1960s, blind since the age of four and already on his way to a career as a writer. In a series of four relationships he demanded that his lovers, like him, pretend he could see. With lyrical and stirring accuracy, Mehta revisits these love affairs today, tracing the links between his denial of his disability and the cruel transformations that each of his lovers underwent.