South Asian Migration to the U.S. Syllabus The Center for Asian American Studies, The University of at Austin AAS325 (35865) /ANS372 (31540) /HIS365G (39545) Fall 2011 Instructor: Amber H. Abbas

Course Description: This course will introduce students to the major themes in Asian American Studies including Migration, Assimilation, Acculturation, Multiculturalism, Discrimination, Gender and Sexuality. The course begins with an examination of the push-pull factors of migration by looking at the broader world of South Asian migration worldwide. Our study quickly narrows in on the early Sikh migration to the American West Coast. The liberalization of American immigration law in the 1960s provides the platform for continuing the discussion of push-pull factors of migration and sets the stage for a thorough examination of the 1960s migration of South Asian Americans from various states in the subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal). These migrants and their offspring populate the remainder of our study as we examine the particulars of their experience. Our study will break these problems down into thematic units: family, youth, the elderly, labor and work, depictions in popular culture, gender and sexuality and faith. In several final sessions of the class, we will look beyond America’s effect on South Asian emigrants to the effect of South Asians on American culture. Ultimately, we will consider the implications and possibilities of the new trend of Return wherein South Asian Americans consider pursuing careers in the land of their parents’ or grandparents’ birth.

This course carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of the American cultural experience. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization.

Course Objectives: This course seeks to explore the one hundred year history of South Asian migrants in the United States by pushing historical understanding beyond the stereotypes of South Asian Americans: the convenience store operator, the engineer and the doctor. Students will be encouraged to engage with literature beyond the boundaries of their own experience of family and faith to recognize the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of South Asian migrants, to consider the challenges of acculturation and assimilation in academic terms. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to participate in extra-curricular events that expose them to the themes of the course. These may include films, dance performances, visits to religious sites and meetings, engagement with current events involving South Asian migrants and issues of importance to them. Finally, students will conduct an oral history interview with a South Asian migrant about their own experience and understanding of some of the themes covered in the class that the student will present as a final oral and written project. [Reading totals are between 70-

1 100 pages per week. Reading page totals decline towards the end of the semester because the Final Oral History Project will take extra time- especially transcription.]

Grading Policy: Attendance and Participation 20% Response Papers 20% Review Essay 15% Final Oral History Project Total 45% Questionnaire 5% Oral History Interview and Transcript 15% Peer Transcript Review 5% Analytical Essay 20%

Attendance and Class Participation: Students are expected to attend class and to be prepared to participate in discussions based on the assigned readings. Failure to attend or to participate in class discussions will result in a loss of points. Attendance and Class Participation are worth 20 points, which is a big chunk of your final grade.

Response Papers: Students will complete two Reading Response Papers. Students will be expected to engage with the both the theoretical and content issues present in the assigned readings. This is an opportunity for students to express how the readings fit in to their own experience, their general knowledge, and how the readings contribute to our understanding of the issues at stake in the class. Each paper should be approximately 500- 800 words (2-3 pages double spaced). Each Reading Response Paper is worth 10 points.

Review Essay: Students will read/view/experience some aspect of South Asian diasporic cultural production and write a review that engages with the issues of interest to the class. The cultural product might be a novel, a memoir, collection of short stories, an art exhibition, documentary, film, video project or other approved media. A preliminary bibliography is attached. All cultural products under review must be approved by the instructor. The Review Essay should be approximately 800-1200 words (3-5 pages double spaced). The Review Essay is worth 15 points.

Final Oral History Project: Students will locate and conduct an oral history interview of at least one hour with a South Asian Migrant—some one who migrated under their own power (i.e. was not brought by parents, or born in the United States)—and hand in a select transcript of relevant portions of the interview (15%). Students will design a questionnaire based on the issues of importance to the class (including but not limited to: reasons for migration, experience of arrival, concerns of assimilation, raising a family, challenges of belonging, work experience, and the question of Home/Return) as well as any prior knowledge about the experience of the interviewee (5%) Students will peer review/ audit a colleague’s interview transcript. The Reviewer will earn 5% of their own grade from this exercise. Finally, students will write an analytical research essay of approximately 1200-2500 words (5-10 pages double spaced) that engages with the

2 literature and issues we have studied in the class as well as the data collected in the oral history interview. Many of the articles we will read in the class are based on ethnographic research, and will serve as examples for formatting this final paper. Bibliography must be included. The Final Oral History Project is worth a total of 45 points (breakdown above).

Texts: Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. (GSA) Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. : Oxford University Press, 1996. (LL)

Selected Articles in Course Packet (CP) Selected Articles in Online Journal (OJ)

Week 1 August 25, 2011 Course Introduction and Overview

Week 2 8.30.11/ 9.1.11 Topic: Themes in Migration and Diaspora Studies Lecture: What is Diaspora? Understanding Migration Reading: (GSA) “Traditions of Stability and Movement” and “Making a Modern Diaspora” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 9-28; 29-58. (CP) “Introduction: Themes in the Study of the South Asian Diaspora” in Clarke, Colin, Ceri Peach, and Steven Vertovec, eds. South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 1-29. (OJ) Pessar, Patricia R. "Engendering Migration Studies: The Case of New Immigrants in the United States." American Behavioral Scientist 42, no. 4 (January 1999): 577- 600.

Week 3 9.6.11/ 9.8.11 Topic: A Brief History of South Asian Migration Lecture: South Asian History and Geography Reading: (GSA) “Traditions of Stability and Movement” and “Making a Modern Diaspora” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 9-28; 29-58. (OJ) Bald, Vivek. "'Lost' in the City: Spaces and Stories of South Asian New York, 1917- 1965." South Asian Popular Culture 5, no. 1 (April 2007): 59-76.

3 (CP) Daniels, Roger. “The Indian Diaspora in the United States” in Brown, Judith M., and Rosemary Foot, eds. Migration: The Asian Experience. Oxford: St. Martin's Press, 1990, 83-103.

Week 4 9.13.11/ 9.15.11 DUE: Reading Response Paper #1 Topic: Sikh Emigrants Lecture: Punjabi-Mexican Americans Screening: “The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City” or “Roots in the Sand” Reading: (CP) McLeod, W.H. “The First Forty Years of Sikh Migration” in Barrier, N.G., and Verne A. Dusenberry, eds. The Sikh Diaspora: Migration and the Experience Beyond Punjab. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1989, 29-48. (CP) Leonard, Karen. "Pioneer Voices from : Reflections on Race, Religion & Ethnicity," in Barrier, N.G., and Verne A. Dusenberry, eds. The Sikh Diaspora: Migration and the Experience Beyond Punjab. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1989, 120-140. (OJ) Leonard, Karen. "Punjabi Farmers and California's Alien Land Law." Agricultural History 59, no. 4 (Oct., 1985): 549-62.

Week 5 9.20.11/ 9.22.11 Topic: The Geography of Arrival Lecture: Expanding Landscape: Finding Home Away from Home Reading: (GSA) “Creating New Homes and Communities (Pt. 1 and 2)” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 59-93. (LL) “Public Life” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 15- 75. (CP) Bhardwaj, Surinder M. and Rao, N. Madhusudana. “Asian Indians in the United States: a Geographic Appraisal” in Clarke, Colin, Ceri Peach, and Steven Vertovec, eds. South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 197- 217. (CP) Khandelwal, Madhulika S. “Indian Immigrants in Queens, : Patterns of Spatial Concentration and Distribution 1965-1990” in Van der Veer, Peter, ed. Nation and Migration: The Politics of Space in the South Asian Diaspora. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1995, 178- 196. (CP) Hinnells, John R. “The Modern Zoroastrian Diaspora” in Brown, Judith M., and Rosemary Foot, eds. Migration: The Asian Experience. Oxford: St. Martin's Press, 1990, 56- 82.

Week 6 9.27.11/ 9.29.11

4 Topic: Life Lines: Youth and Aging in the Diaspora Lecture: Generations: Youth, Memory and Aging Screening: Miss India Screening: Acting Our Age Reading: (OJ) Mani, Bakirathi. "Beauty Queens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Transnational Modernities at the Miss India USA Pageant." Positions 14, no. 3 (Winter 2006): 717- 47. (LL) “The Nagars: Duty and Heart” and “Families: A Model of Intergenerational Change” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 85-117; 225-244. (CP) Narayan, Kirin. “Haunting Stories: Narrative Transmissions of South Asian Identities in Diaspora” in Jacobsen, Knut A., and P. Pratap Kumar, eds. South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 415-434.

Week 7 10.4.11/ 10.6.11 DUE Reading Response Paper #2 Topic: Gender and Sexuality Lecture: Multiple Realities: Faith, Nation and the Body Reading: (CP) Yip, Andrew K.T. “Embracing Allah and Sexuality? South Asian Non-Heterosexual Muslims in Britain” in Jacobsen, Knut A., and P. Pratap Kumar, eds. South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 294- 310. (CP) Roy, Sandip. “Coming Out of the Almirah: South Asian Americans Struggle with Coming Out in a Gay America that Looks Nothing Like Them” in Koshy, Susan, and R. Radhakrishnan, eds. Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo- Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, 244- 267. (OJ) Kurien, Prema Ann. "Gendered Ethnicity: Creating a Hindu Indian Identity in the United States." American Behavioral Scientist 42, no. 4 (January 1999): 648-70. (CP) Mukhi, Sunita Sunder. "'Underneath My Blouse Beats My Indian Heart': Sexuality, Nationalism, and Indian Womanhood in the United States." In A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America, edited by Shamita Das Dasgupta, 186- 205. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989.

Week 8 10.11.11/ NO CLASS 10.13.11 *Oral History Workshop-Preparing for the Final Project Topic: Assimilation and Difference Lecture: Diverse Diaspora and Creating Community Reading: (GSA) “Relating to the New Homeland” (Pt. 1) in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 111-124.

5 (LL) “The Iyengars: Historical Indians” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 118-147. (CP) “Saris, Chutney Sandwiches and ‘Thick Accents’: Constructing Difference” in Bhatia, Sunil, ed. American Karma: Race, Culture and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora. New York: New York University Press, 2007, 112-154. (CP) “Identity, Kinship and Community: Bangladeshis in the United States” in Petievich, Carla, ed. The Expanding Landscape: South Asians and the Diaspora. New Delhi: Manohar, 1999, 175- 192.

Week 9 10.18.11/ 10.20.11 DUE Questionnaire for Oral History Interview Topic: Work Lecture: Labor Markets, Women’s Work and Multiculti Work-Places Reading: (LL) “The Shenoys: Alternative Identities” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 167-200. (CP) “Multiculturalism on the Job: The Work Domain” in Dhingra, Pawan. Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007, 124- 156. (CP) Rudrappa, Sharmila. “Braceros and Techno-Braceros: Guest Workers in the United States, and the Commodification of Low-Wage and High-Wage Labour” in Koshy, Susan, and R. Radhakrishnan, eds. Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, 291-324.

Week 10 10.25.11/ 10.27.11 Topic: Keeping the Faith Lecture: Traditions, Practice and Expansion Reading: (GSA) “Creating New Homes and Communities (Pt. 3)” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 93-111. (LL) “The Kumars: Compromise” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 148-166. (CP) Mohammad, Aminah T., “Relationships between Muslims and Hindus in the United States: Mlecchas vs. Kafirs?” in Bates, Crispin, ed. Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001, 286-308. (CP) Vallely, Anne. “The Jain Plate: The Semiotics of the Diaspora Diet” in Jacobsen, Knut A., and P. Pratap Kumar, eds. South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 3-22.

6 Week 11 11.1.11/ 11.3.11 DUE Review Essay Topic: South Asians in American Politics Lecture: Evolution of South Asians in American Politics: From Ghadar to Hindutva to Bobby Jindal Reading: (GSA) “Relating to the New Homeland (Pt. 2 ” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 124-137. (CP) Gottschlich, Pierre. “The Indian Diaspora in the United States of America: An Emerging Political Force?” in Raghuram, Parvati, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Brij Maharaj, and Dave Sangha, eds. Tracing an Indian Diaspora: Contexts, Memories, Representations. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008, 156- 170. (OJ) Srikanth, Rajini. "Identity and Admission into the Political Game: The Indian American Community Signs Up." Amerasia Journal 25, no. 3 (1999/2000): 59- 80.

Week 12 11.8.11/ 11.10.11 Topic: South Asians and 9/11 Lecture: Terror, Trauma, and Confusion: Why My Mom Hung an American Flag in Front of our House on 9/12/2001 Screening: Film “A Dream in Doubt” Reading: (CP) Maira, Sunaina. “Citizenship and Dissent in Diaspora: Indian Immigrant Youth in the United States after 9/11” in Raghuram, Parvati, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Brij Maharaj, and Dave Sangha, eds. Tracing an Indian Diaspora: Contexts, Memories, Representations. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008, 131- 155.

Week 13 11.15.11/11.17.11 DUE Oral Interview Transcript Topic: South Asia in American Pop Culture Lecture: Jai Ho!: Bhangra, Bindi and Henna Tattoos Reading: (GSA) “Relating to the New Homeland” (Pt. 4) in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 144-148. (CP) Sandhu, Sabeen. “Instant Karma: The Commercialization of Asian Indian Culture” in Lee, Jennifer, and Min Zhou, eds. Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity. New York: Routledge, 2004, 131-141. (OJ) Maira, Sunaina. "Henna and Hip Hop: The Politics of Cultural Production and the Work of Cultural Studies." Journal of Asian American Studies 3, no. 3 (October 2000): 329-69.

Week 14 11.22.11/ THANKSGIVING 11.24.11 DUE Peer Audit of Transcript Topic: Home/ Return

7 Lecture: The Meaning of Home, The Challenges of Return Reading: (GSA) “Relating to the Old Homeland” in Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 149-170. (LL) “The Shankars: Searching for a Close Family” in Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 201-222. (CP) “Imagining Homes: Identity in Transnational Diaspora” in Bhatia, Sunil, ed. American Karma: Race, Culture and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora. New York: New York University Press, 2007, 220- 233. (OJ) Shukla, Sandya. “New Immigrants, New Forms of Transnational Community: Post- 1965 Indian Migrations.” Amerasia Journal 25, no. 3 (1999/2000): 19-36.

Week 15 11.29.11/ 12.1.11 Topic: Our Findings

FINAL PAPER DUE DURING EXAM PERIOD

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South Asian Migration to the US Selected Bibliography

Compiled by Amber Abbas

Bacon, Jean. Life Lines: Community, Family and Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Barrier, N.G., and Verne A. Dusenberry, eds. The Sikh Diaspora: Migration and the Experience Beyond Punjab. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1989. Bates, Crispin, ed. Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001. Bhatia, Sunil, ed. American Karma: Race, Culture and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora. New York: New York University Press, 2007. Brown, Judith M. Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Brown, Judith M., and Rosemary Foot, eds. Migration: The Asian Experience. Oxford: St. Martin's Press, 1990. Clarke, Colin, Ceri Peach, and Steven Vertovec, eds. South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Dasgupta, Shamita Das, ed. A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1998. Dhingra, Pawan. Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. Koshy, Susan, and R. Radhakrishnan, eds. Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Lee, Jennifer, and Min Zhou, eds. Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity. New York: Routledge, 2004. ———. "Punjabi Farmers and California's Alien Land Law." Agricultural History 59, no. 4 (Oct., 1985): 549-62. Maira, Sunaina. "Henna and Hip Hop: The Politics of Cultural Production and the Work of Cultural Studies." Journal of Asian American Studies 3, no. 3 (October 2000): 329-69. Pessar, Patricia R. "Engendering Migration Studies: The Case of New Immigrants in the United States." American Behavioral Scientist 42, no. 4 (January 1999): 577-600. Petievich, Carla, ed. The Expanding Landscape: South Asians and the Diaspora. New Delhi: Manohar, 1999. Raghuram, Parvati, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Brij Maharaj, and Dave Sangha, eds. Tracing an Indian Diaspora: Contexts, Memories, Representations. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008.

9 South Asian Migration to the US Preliminary Bibliography- South Asian Cultural Production- Books, Short Stories, Films, Documentaries, Art Exhibits, etc.

Ali, Monica. Brick Lane. New York: Scribner, 2003. Banerjee, Anjali. Invisible Lives. New York: Downtown Press, 2006. Chadha, Gurinder. "Acting Our Age." 30 min. New York: Third World Newsreel, 1992. Cherian, Anne. A Good Indian Wife: A Novel. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. Film: Clothey, Fred. "Consecration of a Temple." 25 min. United States: South Asian Area Center, University of Wisconsin, 1979. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Arranged Marriage: Stories. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. ———. The Vine of Desire: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2002. Freudenberger, Nell. "An Arranged Marriage." The New Yorker 2010, 69- 75. Godbole, Meera Krishnamurthy. Balancing Act. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2009. Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. London and New York: Hamish Hamilton, 2007. James, Tania. Atlas of Unknowns. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2009. Kapur, Manju. The Immigrant. London: Faber and Faber, 2009. Kureishi, Hanif. The Buddha of Suburbia. London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1990. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Interpreter of Maladies: Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. ———. The Namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ———. Unaccustomed Earth. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2008. Malladi, Amulya. The Mango Season. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003. Mehta, Gita. Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. Nair, Mira. " Masala." United States, 1992. Naqvi, H.M. Home Boy. New York: Shaye Areheart Books, 2009. Ondaatje, Michael. Anil's Ghost. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. Pradhan, Monica. The Hindi-Bindi Club. New York: Bantam Books, 2007. Selvadurai, Shyam, ed. Story-Wallah. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Shamsie, Muneeza, ed. And the World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women. New York: Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 2008. Sidhwa, Bapsi. An American Brat. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1993. Snell, Cheryl. Shiva's Arms. Nottingham, MD: Writer's Lair Books, 2010. Umrigar, Thrity N. If Today Be Sweet. New York: William Morrow, 2007.

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