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Much queer theory is based on the white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to Third World activism. Within the last decade, chronicles from South Asian GLBT communities have appeared, but the richness and the contradictions that characterize these communities have often been stifled. Too often, the limitations due to undertheorized South Asian GLBT history is compounded with a South Asian queer canon overwrought with the East/West:traditional/modern equation. In this paper, I visit paradoxes, unity, and diversity by unraveling the lives of two queer-identified second-generation South Asian-American women - Rupa and Ronica. The paper is divided into three rich and thick sections. I begin with a thorough discussion of the literature on South Asian-Americans - a canon overwrought with white hetero-patriarchal pedagogy. I suggest that the current discourse encompassing the lives of South Asian-Americans is monolithic and it does not adequately reflect the realities of the lives of the two women's stories I share. In the subsequent section, I investigate acts that validate human visibility (oppositional active whiteness) by reviewing the ethnographic data. Rupa and Ronica produce several oppositional identifications to entice and isolate the white gaze. Third, and finally, I attempt to conclude the paper by offering a possible solution to rigid category work. This article examines the acceptance of, manipulation of, and resistance to hegemonic power by an often invisible and marginalized group: queer South Asian-American women. I accomplish this by presenting partial data from a six-month long cross-national ethnographic study. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Worker's Home is an interesting non-profit, social enterprise job-training program with a diverse mix of clients. This paper uses qualitative research methods to explore the ways that language (specifically name-calling) demonstrates the racial and class tensions that exist between participants. Specifically, native born African Americans used name-calling to differentiate themselves from foreign born South Asian participants on the basis of both race and class backgrounds. Additionally, African American participants used names to highlight class differences among themselves and racial and class differences between themselves and the program directors. This research is important because it indicates that racial and class tensions This paper represents preliminary research for my doctoral dissertation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on second generation South Asians women and their experience of the conflict between American and the traditional gender ideology of their native culture. Using the framework of segmented assimilation and the outcome of selective acculturation, it specifically addresses the gendered aspects of the assimilation experience, especially where the gender role expectations and gender ideology of the immigrant?s native culture contrast sharply with mainstream American society. The data for this paper is from a qualitative study that employs in depth interviews of 60 second generation South Asian men and women, using a life narrative approach. The findings of the study suggest that the phenomenon of selective acculturation places an added burden on South Asian women who are expected to achieve academic and career success while maintaining obedience and passivity in their family and personal life choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on the erstwhile South Asian enclaves or chhitmohols, has been limited to discussions on the isolation of these spaces and its people, who remained stateless for nearly 70 years before their integration in 2015. However, recent ethnographic work has revealed that the same conditions of isolation were circumvented by a substantial proportion of its residents who procured identification as citizens through reliance on associations of familiarity, kinship and matrimony to extend and legitimize ties to their country of residence or nationalistic association. The welfares of such identification as citizens of a country which never recognized them as constituents were negligible. In fact, voting was used as a means of asserting their unacknowledged identity as citizens within their immediate socialities. Citizenship, understood as a legal-political institution, based on status, rights and duties, involving practices that distinguish between formal and substantive citizenship and subjectivities of citizen and non-citizen falls short of explaining the motivations behind such acts of citizenship. Investigating it through acts will shift the contours of analyzing citizenship by asking 'what makes the citizen?' rather than 'who is the citizen?' The question that this paper seeks to answer is: How are identities of citizenship and claims of belonging to a space (re)defined by 'acts of citizenship' performed by communities lying outside the state's authoritative awning?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I use a historical lens and employ Critical Race Theory to analyze the racialized experiences of South Asians (people originating from the India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and nearby areas around the Indian subcontinent) in the U.S. I argue that South Asian Americans have been marked by a racial ambiguity that has always been molded to serve majoritarian interests. I examine how the racial classification of South Asians in the U.S. has changed over time to reflect these interests. This involves analysis of federal court cases, Census racial categorization, and also instances of racial profiling and discrimination. Further, I touch upon changes in immigration policy and stereotypes of South Asians in the U.S., including the model minority myth. My broader aim is use the example of South Asian Americans to illustrate the social and political construction of race in the U.S. and the interests that underlie this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While South Asians are among the fastest growing and most affluent ethnic groups in the country, there is a dearth of empirically based research on South Asian panethnicity and specifically on pan-South Asian identity. This paper examines the meaning of "South Asian," the degree to which individuals of South Asian descent relate to being South Asian, and the various dimensions of and implications behind the term itself. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with 120 first-, 1.5-, and second-generation Indian Hindu, Pakistani Muslim, and Sikh informants (community leaders) and respondents (community members). It is argued that while "South Asian" was once an identity imposed from above, it is being claimed from below by individuals of South Asian descent as a distinct political and cultural identity in the United States. It is also suggested that a pan-South Asian identity and institutions will become more developed over time, and that South Asians pose a model of panethnicity that is in some ways similar to and different from previous models. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the term South Asian has become more and more common in identifying people who origins are in the Indian subcontinent. In the context of post-multicultural America, the South Asian designation had also become a racialized category to refer to people from that region of the world, referring to a phenotypic appearance, especially as it distinguishes them from Asian Americans from East or Southeast Asia. While the South Asian label has taken hold in academic, political, legal and media contexts, the picture is much more complex, especially in the period following September 11th and its increased surveillance and suspicion of South Asian Muslim communities. In the first half of this paper, I will address how and why second generation South Asians adopt or reject the South Asian label as a baseline for understanding the additional challenges brought on by September 11th. In the second half of the paper, I will examine the ways in which post-September 11th racism toward the South Asian community results in challenges to South Asian identity and potential for solidarity. Many in the South Asian community, notably Indian Americans, may wish to reassert their model minority status as they distance themselves from other, especially working class Muslim, South Asians, who have face increased discrimination and racism after September 11th. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the results of a preliminary study into the characteristics and development of South Asian gangs, which have evolved to become one of the most serious crime problems in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia - the most ethnically diverse area in Canada, and one which boasts a significantly large population of people whose roots originate in India. The characteristics of South Asian gangs (at least as they appear in British Columbia) are particularily interesting because they are so different from characteristics of minority gangs described in the literature. The background of South Asian gang members is different, as are the reasons for joining into a South Asian gang. The size, structure, and development of these gangs is also different. In seeking to explain these differences the authors found that the most commanly referenced theoritical explanations for minority gang development were not well suited to the case of South Asian gangs. Rather, the authors found that a greater understanding of the characteristics and development of South Asian gangs can be drawn from the attention to the nature of South Asian culture and to hegemonic masculinity theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this research has been to investigate the experience of young South Asian people in an ethnically diverse city in the United Kingdom. Offending levels amongst South Asians have either been portrayed as being lower than the level amongst other ethnic groups, or at the other end of the spectrum, and more recently, it has been presumed that young Asian people are becoming more violent, initiators of riots and more likely to be members of gangs which engage in criminal or deviant activity. Consequently there is much ambiguity about Asian peoples actual involvement in crime. Academic and popular debate has also presumed that there is historic and cultural homogeneity amongst Asian groups. A central premise of this project has been to understand variation between and within Asian ethnic groups and to understand how structural and ecological theories of crime may apply (or not apply) to the Asian communities being looked at. The paper will discuss the findings from research which has utilised a combination of methods to understand Asian communities and specifically levels of crime committed by young people. Parents, community members, key agencies and young Asian offenders have been interviewed to educe attitudes towards offending, non-offending and wider experiences in the community context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this research has been to investigate the experience of young South Asian people in an ethnically diverse city in the United Kingdom. Offending levels amongst South Asians have either been portrayed as being lower than the level amongst other ethnic groups, or at the other end of the spectrum, and more recently, it has been presumed that young Asian people are becoming more violent, initiators of riots and more likely to be members of gangs which engage in criminal or deviant activity. Consequently there is much ambiguity about Asian peoples involvement in crime. Academic and popular debate has presumed that there is historic and cultural homogeneity amongst Asian groups. A central premise of this project has been to understand variation between and within Asian ethnic groups and to understand how structural and ecological theories of crime may apply (or not apply) to the Asian communities being looked at. The paper will discuss the findings from research which has utilised a combination of methods to understand Asian communities and specifically levels of crime committed by young people. Parents, community members, key agencies and young Asian offenders have been interviewed to educe attitudes towards offending, non-offending and wider experiences in the community context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, the term South Asian has become an increasingly common way to refer to immigrants from the South Asian subcontinent. Organizations of all types, especially second generation organizations define themselves as South Asian, choosing the panethnic label over Indian American or other labels that refer to the national origins of their members. In the context of post-multicultural America, the South Asian designation has also become a racialized category or shorthand to refer to people from that region of the world, especially as it distinguishes them from Asian Americans from East or Southeast Asia. While the South Asian label has taken hold in academic and media accounts, it is not clear to what extent the second generation of immigrants from that region personally identify with the designation or whether they feel themselves tied to an identity based on national origin. Much has been made about the emergence of South Asian identity among the second generation but it is important to understand individual accounts of the experience of ethnic identity. The second generation subjects of this study reveal a wide variety of attitudes and understanding of the South Asian label and reject or adopt it based on personal, organizational and political understandings of ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall objective of the proposed study is to understand how NPOs serving the South Asian immigrant community in NYC engage in social movement activities (such as community organizing or advocacy efforts) in the public health arena. The study aims to understand how South Asian NPOs that address health issues reconcile the tension between service delivery, community organizing, and advocacy; and determine how these organizations? identity and ideological commitments play a role in their strategic decision-making.. Literature on social movement organizations has indicated that organizations engage in different strategies when new forms of action are legitimated by the state, funding institutions, or the organization?s constituency. Studies have also shown that organizations may attempt to combine forms in order to engage simultaneously in service delivery and social movement activities. Finally, studies have indicated that an organization?s identity and ideological commitments also play a role in negotiating strategies. In the proposed study, South Asian NPOs that address health issues will be selected base on two variables ? the primary strategic choice of the organization and the organization?s identity in terms of its accountability to various players. Using a qualitative case study methodology of four NPOs that serve the South Asian community, the study will provide theoretical advancements in understanding how pressures toward accountability and ideological and identity commitments influence the way that NPOs negotiate between strategies of service delivery, community organizing, and advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the diversity within the panethnic Asian American "racial" category frequently used in demographic research, investigating the variation in the lived experiences of South Asians, Southeast Asians and East Asians. We review the arguments for and against the inclusion of South Asians in the Asian American category and discourse, and provide descriptive data demonstrating the similarities and differences between South Asians and other Asian American ethnic groups. We make recommendations for new analytical categories, focusing on the differences in outcomes across various demographic domains of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research demonstrates that transnational systems of stratification have an impact on the lives of first generation immigrants, while the influence dwindles by the second generation (Smith 2006; Dowling 2014). However, this study reveals the enduring impact of such systems in the racial formation even for the second generation. Through 120 in-depth interviews and supplemental ethnographic observations on skin color, I find that second generation South Asian racial formation continues to be impacted by transnational colorism based on class and caste stratification from South Asia. Through indirect transnational processes such as socialization by first generation family members, interaction with relatives from abroad, and local consumption of global transnational colorism, the second generation comes to learn about South Asian racial logics steeped in color and caste. Ultimately, these processes indirectly preserve the links between color and caste and underscore the ways transnational stratification systems are reproduced in immigrant communities beyond the first generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caste-based discrimination is an important issue that severely affects hundreds of millions of Dalits (Untouchables) and Advasis (Tribals) in South Asia and the diaspora. There is a vast body of sociological literature on caste and untouchability in South Asia, however, only a handful of studies are available on the persistence of caste in the diaspora (Judge 2012; Manohar 2013). Similarily, the sociological work of Dalit leader, BR Ambedkar, is well-known in India, but there are few studies on his relevance outside of the sub-continent (Zene 2013). And, research linking Ambedkar to other scholars and leaders of descent-based discrimination is lacking. This exploratory qualitative study utilizes historical and content analysis to interpret aspects of caste and class issues within the South Asian diaspora, and how Ambedkar's ideas may be used to help this community to face its many challenges. The study also looks into similarities between casteism and racism by briefly comparing Ambedkar's struggle against the caste-based subjection of Dalits in India, and Du Bois's and Garvey's resistance to racial oppression of African Americans in the USA. Applying Gramsci's notion of the 'organic intellectual' to the work of these leaders, the study finds important commonalities between Ambedkar, Du Bois and Garvey in their framing of the subaltern, and approaches to liberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precariousness refers to the notion that most of the world's population is engaged in unstable, informal, and temporary employment, thus inducing in them feelings of vulnerability, displacement, and hopelessness. South Asian Americans hardly comprise a group that many would describe as precarious. Rather, this mostly foreign-born population has long been lauded as a racial minority that has "made it" in America because of their high levels of education and economic attainments. However, ethnographic observations on Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian Muslim immigrants and their offspring reveals a collective precariousness of this so-called "successful" immigrant group. Despite their measures of success that one would expect to provide them with a sense of security, their positionality as a racialized "outsider" group combined with the stigma attached to their religious identity in post- 9/11 America induce in them a sense of insecurity. They fear that despite their achievements, they will never be viewed to belong in the U.S. society, and can be discriminated against in their workplace because of their race and religion. This anxiety in turn influences various aspects of their life's decision-making, including education, career choices, and political engagements. Moreover, this article shows that South Asian Muslim Americans' precariousness is influenced by that of Muslims of other nationalities and ethnic groups abroad. Thus, it underscores the transnational dimension of precariousness, and how its reach can extend beyond one's immediate social networks, and even physical borders and societal boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]