From the nightly news on television to the C-suite offices on Wall Street, and from Hollywood’s studio lots to the laboratories of America’s leading universities, Indian Americans are leaving their mark on America’s economic,
scientific, social, cultural, and political life. Numbering more than 5.2 million, Indian Americans now comprise the second-largest immigrant group in the United States by country of origin. But beyond the politicians, celebrities, CEOs, writers, and technology entrepreneurs, the social realities of everyday Indian Americans have received scant attention.
Depicting these realities is no easy task. Indian Americans are an extremely heterogeneous community, embodying much of the diversity that India itself possesses. The diaspora includes representatives of myriad faiths, caste identities, and the full spectrum of India’s geographic regions and subregions. Among others, the community encompasses Indian nationals studying or working in the United States,
native-born citizens whose parents and grandparents were both born in the United States, and naturalized citizens who found their way to America and decided to make it their long-term home. The community is also growing at a rapid clip: 70 percent of all Indian immigrants residing in the United States arrived in the last quarter-century.
How does this diverse group engage with civic and political institutions in the United States? How do its members maintain connections with their Indian roots while establishing their identities in America? In what ways are they excluded from social life in the United States due to discrimination or rising nationalism? And to what extent do identity markers like religion and caste shape their daily lives and themselves become markers of discrimination and exclusion?
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