1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821461603321

Autore

Bhatia Sunil

Titolo

American karma : race, culture, and identity in the Indian diaspora / / Sunil Bhatia

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New York University Press, c2007

ISBN

1-4356-0744-9

0-8147-2311-X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (284 p.)

Collana

Qualitative studies in psychology

Disciplina

305.800973

Soggetti

East Indian Americans - Social conditions

East Indian Americans - Ethnic identity

Immigrants - United States - Social conditions

United States Ethnic relations

United States Emigration and immigration

India Emigration and immigration

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-256) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 American Karma -- 2 Qualitative Inquiry and Psychology -- 3 Des-Pardes in the American Suburbia -- 4 Saris, Chutney Sandwiches, and “Thick Accents” -- 5 Racism and Glass Ceilings -- 6 Analyzing Assignations and Assertions -- 7 Imagining Homes -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

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. Bhatia forcefully contends that to fully understand migrant identity and cultural formation it is



essential that psychologists and others think of selfhood as firmly intertwined with sociocultural factors such as colonialism, gender, language, immigration, and race-based immigration laws. American Karma offers a new framework for thinking about the construction of selfhood and identity in the context of immigration. This innovative approach advances the field of psychology by incorporating critical issues related to the concept of culture, including race, power, and conflict, and will also provide key insights to those in anthropology, sociology, human development, and migrant studies.