From: amiller@almaden.ibm.com (Alex Miller)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Problems faced by Indian immigrants not common to Chinese or
         Japanese
Date: 11 Nov 1992 20:53:00 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

I'm taking an American History ("The History of the Asians in
the U.S. Since 1850") and I'm looking for ideas or suggestions
for a short paper I'm writing on the following subject:

      Select three unique challenges faced by immigrants
      from India which were not common to their counterparts
      from either China or Japan.  How do you account for
      the differences?

My sources, thus far, have been:
H.Kitano, "Asian American"
Takaki,   "Strangers from a Difference Shore"
and help from many people on "alt.culture.us.asian-indian".

I've tried to look for demographic differences then consider
which of these differences are actually challenges.  For
example, most Chinese and Japanese arrived to the U.S. on the
West Coast, and the majority of the Chinese and Japanese
population in the U.S. remained on the West Coast, with some
scattering in major urban areas.  Most Asian Indians who arrived
after 1968 flew into JFK or other North East cities and over
half of the AI community is still in the N.Y.C. metro area, but
professionals have moved to major urban areas throughout the
U.S. and some have gone to the sunbelt and southwest U.S..  The
GATEWAY to the U.S. is demographic different, but I cannot find
any unique challenges which this presented.  The anti-Asian
movement has been around longer on the West Coast, so perhaps
the influx in the '70s and '80s look the East Coast by surprise.

Challenges:

(1) Religious misunderstanding

There is little understanding of Hinduism and Islam in the U.S..
Many Chinese immigrants and some Japanese immigrants converted
to Christianity and received acculturation help from church
groups.  Few (if any) Hindus or Muslims have converted to
Christianity.  The caste system does not transport outside of
India, making it difficult to maintain traditions.

(2) The U.S. image of India

The 1900s romantic/exotic/mystic poor third-world image of India
seen in American movies makes it hard to reconcile the highly
skilled and educated professionals that have immigrated in the
1970s and 80s.  In some cases, the image of Gandhi suggests that
Asian Indians are no "threat", whereas the image of Hare
Krishnas might be an embarrassment.

(3) International Politics

The Gadar Movement in the early 1900s was an example of
political activism (freedom fighters -v-terrorist?)  by the
American A-I community causing grief to American politics since
Britain was our ally in WW-I.  Oddly, India is an active
democracy yet it receives little if any political recognition.
Is this some after effect of British colonialism?  Are Asian
Indians more involved in American politics because of their
experience with democracy?  Do A-I hold a stronger long term
goal of returning to India than immigrants from China or Japan?

(4) Group Support

Are Asian Indians less likely to form immigrant supports groups
than Chinese or Japanese?  India's history was full of large
empires with many different languages and little mixing.  Some
of this is reflected in the caste system.  Is there less sense
of unity and more focus on individualism?

I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, and even arguments
with the above.  My paper is due next Monday and I've discovered
the internet is a fantastic way to discuss ideas.  I apologize
in advance if my comments or questions are insulting to anyone,
my intention is to learn.

Alex Miller     DISCLAIMER: my employer doesn't tell me opinions
amiller@almaden.ibm.com     opinions, so these must be mine.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.indian.telugu