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Title Conflict and Compatibility in Punjabi-Mexican Immigrant Families in Rural California: 1915- 1965

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Journal Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46(3)

ISSN 0022-2445

Authors Leonard, KB LaBrack, B

Publication Date 1984-08-01

License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 4.0

Peer reviewed

eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Conflict and Compatibility in Punjabi-Mexican Immigrant Families in Rural California, 1915-1965

BRUCE LaBRACK University of the Pacific

KAREN LEONARD* University of California, Irvine

Combining historical and interview data from northern and southern California, the authors examine the interethnic families formed after 1915 in rural California by immi­ grant men f rom India and their spouses of Hispanic background. The authors describe the patterns of childrearing and family life and analyze the male and female networks linking these families to each other and to the wider society. By 1965 the transitory nature of this unique "Mexican-Hindu" community and the regional divergences within it have become clear. To explain these developments, the analysis focuses on compatibility and conflict in family life over the life cycle, as well as changing conditions external to the family.

The authors have both researched a most unusual families and to analyze the networks linking these population, the Mexican-Hindus of California. 1 families to each other and to the wider society. This population is composed of immigrant men We discuss compatibility and conflict in family from India, their spouses of Hispanic back­ life, looking at developments over the life cycle ground, and their children. In this article we com­ and at changing conditions outside the family to bine our materials to describe these interethnic explain the transitory nature of this unique com­ munity. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMILIES LaBrack's research, primarily on the social and eco­ The history of the Mexican-Hindu families is nomic adjustment of the many new Sikh immigrants to .tied to the development of both Punjabi and California's Yuba City /Marysville area following the California agriculture. Under British rule from 1965 relaxation of U.S. immigration laws, was aided by grants from the National Science Foundation; a Max­ the mid-19th century, the Punjab province in well Fellowship and South Asia Program funds from northwestern India prospered as irrigation Syracuse University; and Faculty Grants from the systems improved agricultural yields and, with im­ University of the Pacific and the Asian-American Pro­ proved health conditions, produced a decline in gram at the University of California, Davis. Leonard's mortality. Employment of some family members historical project on Indian immigrants and ethnicity in overseas was a strategy that helped Punjabi rural California was funded by Faculty Grants and farmers adapt to the rising population density and Ethnic Studies Funds from the University of California, prevent detrimental subdivision of land among Irvine. This article has benefited from John G. the greater numbers of surviving sons. One son Leonard's critical evaluation. was sent out to earn money, as a policeman in Sociology and International Studies, University of the Shanghai or Hong Kong or as a farm worker in Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 the Philippines, Australia, Africa, Canada, or California. The money sent home helped support *School of Social Sciences, University of California, Ir­ his patrilineage, the landholding and work unit vine, Irvine, CA 92717. among farming castes in the Punjab.

August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 527 As California's economic base shifted from gold mining to intensive agriculture, immigrant farm workers from China, Japan, Korea, and In­ dia found successive employment in California's fields. Lumber mills, railroads, and agriculture r­ provided jobs for the first Punjabi sojourners in t') America's Pacific Northwest. Whatever the origi­ nal catalyst may have been, once a few enthusias­ tic reports went back to India, relatives and fellow villagers also traveled from the Punjab to Califor­ 0 0 nia. The men from India shared certain characteris­ tics. They were almost all members of farming 0 0 castes from the Punjab province; by religion they were Sikh, Muslim and Hindu. 2 They came with­ out their wives, although half of the men who came probably were married (U.S. Senate, 1911: 338); they intended to return to India after earn­ 0 ing and saving money abroad. United States im­ migration and citizenship laws tightened after their arrival, however, making it impossible to 00 0 bring over family members and preventing the men from visiting India and returning to Califor­ nia (Jacoby, 1958; Melendy, 1981:192-201). Some men went back to India; others remained abroad r­ .,.., throughout their lives, sending money back to N 0 N relatives in the Punjab. In certain parts of rural California, these "Hindus," as they were called, constituted a sizable and distinctive group in the 0 0 farming population. Many remained bachelors in the United States, but some of the men eventually married and had families. Previous research work has treated these men '°N from India as members of a bachelor society, N underestimating the number who married (Brad­ field, 1971; Chakravorti, 1968; Miller, 1950; E N 0 Wenzel, 1966). However, Yusuf Dadabhay (1954) N ~ ~ c noted that of the 26 marriages he found the ma­ .2 jority were with Mexican women, and he pro­ :; posed a theory of "circuitous assimiliation" into .,.., ·="'c Anglo culture via the Mexican subculture. Harold V"\ N 0 0 Jacoby, also working in the 1950s, noted the r- °' 00 ....~ higher proportion of Mexican spouses in southern California (ca. 1978, cited in LaBrack, 1980:160). Family reconstitution from county records shows many more marriages than previously thought. The Table shows that most of these Mexican-Hindu families originated and settled in the Imperial Valley, in southern California. Quantitatively, this may seem a small community. However, if we consider that only 1,873 men from India resided in California in 1930 and 1,476 in 1940 (Melendy, 1981 :255), the Mexican-Hindu families. were clearly a significant part of the Asian Indian community. In any case we are in­ terested in the qualitative aspects of these mar­ riages. Most marriages were with Hispanic

528 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY August 1984 women, and this pattern is the one we focus on in ican labor entering California's agricultural in­ our description of male and female networks and dustry in the second decade of this century. family life. Early data comes from the Imperial Others came from families displaced by the Mexi­ Valley; but several Mexican-Hindu families had can Revolution and the chaos along the border settled near Fresno by the late 1920s, and many from Texas to California, (Mc Williams. 1968: 111, moved north in the 1930s as a result of economic 163; Taylor, 1928). Often the sets of sisters, or pressures. 3 mother and daughters, who married Asian In­ The men who worked and settled together, al­ dians lacked male relatives (Leonard, interviews). though seldom related by blood, were frequently The women were young. sometimes 20 years from the same village in the Punjab, had served younger than their husbands; and if they were together in the British army or police, or had been past their teens, they usually had been married shipmates on the way to America. They formed before and brought young children into the mar­ partnerships to pool their capital and labor. leas­ riage. ing land in groups of two to five men. These men did not marry until years after arriving in Ameri­ HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION AND ca, until the immigration laws made it impossible PHYSICAL CULTURE to bring their families from India. Thus, they were The first Hispanic brides in the Imperial Valley in their 30s and 40s when they married (or. in moved into wholly male households consisting of some cases, remarried), and their wives were their husbands and their partners. The houses usually much younger. In the Imperial Valley, were usually flimsy shacks, erected on the acreage partners lived together on the land they were the partners were farming that year. Very few farming and, when one married, bis wife moved farms had running water or indoor toilets in the into that joint household. 1920s, and the household belongings were The Punjabis tended to marry sisters or sets of meager. Stories of the men •s singleminded con­ related women, and the men were often linked as centration upon putting all resources into farming partners, too. Three of the first four Punjabi/ stress the privations and hard work of the wives in Hispanic marriages in the Imperial Valley illus­ those early years. trate this: three Alvarez sisters married Sikhs in The difficult physical conditions often were 1916 and 1917, and two of the three husbands matched by emotional ones, as the Punjabi men's were partners. Kinship and economic ties rein­ expectations included cooking and cleaning for all forced each other here and in many other in­ in the household. One wife complained that her stances in the Imperial Valley and Fresno. husband had married her to be the group's house­ For the Indian men. marriages with these keeper. not his wife (LaBrack, interview). While Hispanic women offered little in the way of eco­ Mexican and Indian food have certain similarities. nomic resources. Very few Mexicans leased or most men insisted upon their wives learning how owned land in the Imperial Valley then (or now). to prepare roti (a bread similar to tortillas), The decision to marry in the U.S. probably rested chicken curry. and curried vegetables for their on a realistic assessment of the anti-Asian immi­ daily fare; the men had cooked these foods them­ gration laws. the cost of voyages to and from In­ selves and taught their wives. dia coupled with the dangers of illegal re-entry. Because of the tendency for sisters to marry and the relative success achieved by many Indian partners, households frequently included related farmers in the second decade of the centu'ry. women. There are a very few instances where the Many were settling down; leasing, buying land; wife's mother or·parents also lived in the house­ and entering into stable relationships with hold for some years. As children were born. bankers. shippers and processors, and local mer­ couples tended to establish their own households. chants. In southern California Spanish-speaking away from partners and sisters. Breakup of the women were available (Loosley. 1927). Frequent­ joint households also was caused by economic ly. eligible women were picking cotton in the changes, as families moved with the crops from fields farmed by the men and legal barriers to labor camp to labor camp in California's San Joa­ marriage were not raised.• The women offered quin and Sacramento Valleys or as the men took domesticity. a housekeeper and cook for the hus­ on-site jobs as irrigators or foremen for bigger band and his partners. farmers. Some bachelor "uncles," however, re­ Most of the women marrying Punjabis came mained in married partners• households for years. from female-centered, lower class Mexican fami­ helping with the cooking and telling the children lies. Many of these women from Mexico and the stories about the Punjab.' American Southwest were migrant laborers, mov­ The physical settings and household function­ ing with their families as part of the flood of Mex- ing showed interethnic accommodations by the

August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 529 Mexican-Hindu families. Because of the so­ The decor of the homes depended on a family's journer nature of the initial immigrations and the economic status and degree of mobility. When the fact that fewer than five Indian families migrated family was relatively settled, the furnit-ure and as a unit to California (Leonard, family reconsti­ home furnishings tended towards heavy, substan­ tution data), the physical objects in a Mexican­ tial sofas and drapes, bedroom "suites," and Hindu home reflected their immediate economic dinette sets. There was an eclectic blending of status and the tastes of both husband and wife. decorations, with the Virgin Mary, Christ, and There were few items from India, although some various saints displayed alongside paper poster or brass tumblers, religious texts, and clothing were calendar art of the Gurus (Guru Nanak and Guru found in these early homes. Few Muslims had Gobind Singh were the most popular) (LaBrack, brought Qurans and prayer rugs, nor had many interview observations). The religious syncretism Sikhs brought a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib or that this suggests was not realized, and the pic­ pictures of the Sikh gurus. (Successful Punjabi tures remained iconic for both groups, signifying farmers acquired some of these items later.) the two separate religious traditions. The language of the home was English or The living-room /reception area was an impor­ Spanish but never the father's language, Punjabi. tant indicator of status for both the Mexican The mother spoke to the children in Spanish. wives and their husbands. Some of the women Spanish was also the dominant language of complained that the men did not seem to care as church and school activities (Mexican-Hindu chil­ much as they did about their surroundings, but dren customarily were assigned to segregated the same women usually added that the home was "Mexican" schools), of the agricultural laborers, better than they had had before (LaBrack, inter­ and often of the surrounding community. The views). High value was not placed on home own­ names given to children were almost invariably ing as much as on land owning, and some of the Hispanic, save for a few sons with Indian names. rural homes appeared relatively neglected. Most Even these boys were better known by a Hispanic households had a garden to provide fresh pro­ name or nickname: "Gurbachen? Oh, you mean duce, but landscaping was a very low priority. Bacho" and "Kishen? That's Domingo," were One Sikh man commented that a "pretty lawn is typical responses (Leonard, interviews). worth nothing" (i.e., not productive of income or Some fathers made a conscious decision not to food) (LaBrack, interview). Anglo and Mexican teach their children Punjabi. Often this was a neighbors sometimes commented that "Hindu" result of their own near-illiteracy in the language, farms were unkempt, with abandoned items left but for many it was both a positive and practical by the house or a refuse heap behind the main decision. Because they \\;'.~re in the United States buildings. For security and ease of maintenance, and their children born here were automatically farm equipment was often kept close to the house, U.S. citizens, they felt that there was no use for adding to the general impression of disorder. Punjabi. One daughter remembers vividly her There were retentions of Punjabi practices by shock and disappointment when her father an­ the men. Some kept a cot or charpoi-like string nounced he was stopping their daily evening bed in the home and moved it outside to sleep on "school" sessions, that special time when he told at night, a common practice in the hot Punjabi his children about his village and tutored them in summers. They brushed their teeth, descendants Punjabi (Leonard, interview). Few children of the recall, with twigs. Moreover, Indian toilet prac­ Punjabis ever learned Punjabi. The small number tices persisted, as many men-even those who had who did were the boys who worked in field crews running water and indoor facilities-preferred to with their fathers, learning only enough Punjabi use an outside site. Mexican women remarked on to talk to other Punjabis about farm work. the use of water to wash oneself after defecation, The wives tried to "Americanize" or "modern­ and many homes had a small bowl or even a coke ize" their husbands by making sure they had ac­ bottle to be taken along for this purpose (La­ ceptable clothing, cleaning and changing it often Brack, interviews). The men often rigged up out­ enough. They talked among themselves about the side showers, and neighbors sometimes saw them evident differences among Punjabi villages: oiling their hair after bathing (Leonard, inter­ husbands from "X" village were cleaner in their views). habits, ones from "Y" were better cooks, and so on. They also tried to keep their children supplied FAMILY AND SOCIETAL NETWORKS with clothes, shoes, and books for school, asking Children were born to these Punjabi-Mexican for money from "stingy" husbands who wanted couples usually after the first year of marriage and to put all their resources into farming equipment almost annually thereafter. If a mother or di­ or the purchase of land. vorced older sister was persuaded to marry

530 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY August 1984 another partner, she brought children from her of funds to their parental homes (Imperial County previous marriage into the household as well. Civil Case records). · With the coming of children, the cultural balance Nonetheless, the Mexican family system was within the households shifted decisively. The men useful to the Punjabi men, particularly when kept the ultimate economic power, but their there was a need related to the children. If a wife young wives bore chief responsibility for the died or deserted, her young children or infants socialization of the children. If the "assimilation could be left with a Mexican grandmother or into the Mexican subculture'' prophesized by aunt. Usually girl children were so placed, since a Yusuf Dadabhay was beginning, its chief agents man could use his sons to help him in various assuredly were the women, through their relatives capacities in the fields or orchards (Leonard, in­ and ritual kin (the compadrazgo system). terviews). Relationships with Hispanic relatives varied ac­ The Mexican-Hindu families were linked in cording to the proximity and sex of the relatives. several other ways. Undoubtedly, the com­ Many of the women who married Punjabis were padrazgo system was the most important net­ without male supporters; they were young girls work. In its Spanish and Spanish-American dependent on one parent, orphaned girls depen­ forms, the compadrazgo (coparents) system was dent on an uncle, or older widows and deserted closely linked to the Roman Catholic Church and women with dependent children. Sometimes a was meant to ensure the welfare and religious young girl's father opposed her marriage to a education of the children. After the birth of a Punjabi-in one case instigating the bride's ab­ child, the parents would approach a man and a duction to Mexico by Mexican men, in another woman (usually husband and wife) and ask them case seeking court annulment of a marriage. How­ to participate in the baptism ceremony as official ever, there are also cases in which Hispanic godparents. The negotiations usually were some­ parents found the Punjabi suitor acceptable for what formal, and the selection of a set of godpar­ their daughter or in which they may have received ents was important because henceforth it would money for the bride. For example, one uncle, bur­ link the families through the child. Although close dened with an orphaned niece, allegedly sold her friends could be (and were) asked to act in this to a Punjabi bridegroom (Leonard, interview). guardian role, judicious selection could raise the When the bride's parents lived nearby, relation­ status of the family if the godparents were ships were usually friendly, although somewhat wealthier or more prominent. In Latin America, limited in the case of the men. We found two in­ most studies have shown emphasis placed on the stances in which a wife's parents Jived with and horizontal tie between coparents (compadre and were supported by her husband. Neither of us comadre), rather than on the vertical tie between found instances of close friendships between a child and godparents (padrino and madrina) Punjabi and his Hispanic brother-in-law. The lan­ (Nutini, 1976:223; Foster, 1953:7-8). guage barrier was one problem; also, back in the Among the Mexican-Hindus, the system oper­ Punjab, the brother-in-law relationship was the ated on a modified basis. In a minority of the most unequal of affinal relationships, with the cases, both godparents were Hispanic friends of wife-taking men ranked above the wife-giving the Mexican-Hindu couple; but the godparents ones (Hershman, 1981: 197). We found only one were usually a Punjabi man and a Spanish-speak­ case in which a wife's brother was called upon to ing woman. Religious distinctions important in be godparent to the child of another Mexican­ India were ignored. There were instances of Hindu couple. Only one farming partnership be­ Muslim men acting as godfathers to the children tween a Mexican and a Punjabi was noted, and it of Sikh men (Leonard, interviews). Such a rela­ (like many partnerships) ended in a protracted tionship has no direct parallel in Punjabi culture, lawsuit. Again, we found only one instance in where it would be inappropriate to draw upon which a Hispanic brother-in-law held property for "outsiders" or non-kin to play an important his sister's Punjabi husband during the years of socioreligious role with respect to childrearing. legal barriers to alien property-owning in Califor­ The functions the compadrazgo system served nia. However, there are many instances of wives, varied, depending on whose perspective one uses or other men's wives, or even mothers-in-law, to examine it. The Hispanic wives of Punjabi men holding property for Punjabis. A woman's ties to may have seen the system as a way of ensuring her family were usually close, especially if she had their children's religious education, since the god­ family nearby. According to divorce petitions, her parents were supposed to instruct their godchild parents' or mother's home often served as a ref­ with regard to faith and morality. However, it was uge for the Hispanic wife, and husbands charged above all a social tie-women who lived nearby their wives with too-frequent visits and diversion and were friends served as godmothers to each

August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 531 others' children. These maternal bonds almost took a more conservative view of his monitoring always joined families of similar Punjabi-His­ role and found himself in conflict with the god­ panic make-up. The men went willingly to the mother over the propriety of dating, dancing, and Catholic churches for their own children's bap­ general conduct. The comadres tended to side to­ tisms and to serve as godfathers for other gether against the "Hindu" interpretation of cor­ children. Although they were accepted by the rect behavior for young people in general and fe­ Catholic priests, their names often Hispanicized males in particular. For example, it was not un­ on the baptismal certificates, we found no in­ usual for a godmother and mother to lie to a girl's stance of unequivocal conversion to Catholicism father about where she was going (LaBrack, inter­ among the Punjabi men. views). Such friction sometimes led to a break be­ For the men the compadrazgo system served to tween the godparents, each trying to advise and extend or strengthen Punjabi kin networks and to persuade according to different perceptions. In exert some influence on the new generation of any case the role of godparents seemed to become mixed offspring. Many of the men from India attenuated after childhood; the system did not took their godfather role rather seriously and did serve the lifelong function that, at least theoreti­ provide advice and material items to their god­ cally, it did in the Hispanic cultural context. children. Several daughters mentioned that the The men's partnerships were the other impor­ first bicycles they owned were gifts from their tant basis of networks among these Mexican­ padrinos, and in one case a confirmation dress Hindu families; and as we have seen, they often was provided by the Sikh godfather (LaBrack, coincided, at least initially, with the Hispanic kin­ interviews). Such relationships forged or rein­ ship networks. However, these partnerships could forced artificial kinship links, as can be seen in the be in competition with the female-based kin ties terms of address that godchildren used for their and were probably the weaker of the two links. godparents. Along with the Spanish padrino and Partnership agreements could be made annually madrina, the English term "uncle" was used, or for two or more years. A man could have two which was understood in California Mexican­ agreements at the same time-for example, one Hindu circles to mean "any man from my father's with two men on 120 acres for cotton and another village" (LaBrack, interviews). This is a with three different men on another 120 acres to reciprocal extension of the Punjabi idea of raise alfalfa. Formed to pool capital and labor, "daughters of the village," in which all females disagreements and disputes characterized many of from a natal village were somehow nieces of the the partnerships ~ The partnerships that had older men of the village. Whether the godfather characterized the early years tended to break up in was actually from the same village as the child's the 1930s, as children grew up and worked with father, or was from a wider area (pindi or their fathers and as those who could afford it "related village"), or was simply another Pun­ secured their own homes and land. There are jabi, was immaterial (LaBrack, interviews). The some cases, too, in which a wife ended the part­ idea clearly was to set up a classificatory kin status nership by running away with her husband's part­ for all Punjabi men and their offspring by His­ ner or by fighting with his partner's wife panic wives. (Leonard, interviews). All over California married Punjabis and their Another possible basis for networks among the wives and children went to the Punjabi-owned men was common village or regional origin. While stores in towns like Marysville on Saturdays or there is no doubt that the men considered village Sundays and mingled with unmarried Punjabis. brotherhood a primary bond, it seems to have in­ The Mexican-Hindu children remember with fluenced family residential and marriage patterns fondness the treatment they received, not only ·very little. In the three cases where all the men from their godparents but from Punjabi men in who came from particular villages were traced, general. The men gave them money for movies, they had highly divergent careers in the U.S., ice cream, or some other treat they might not without any tendencies for the men to marry re­ otherwise obtain (LaBrack, interviews). The over­ lated women or settle near each other (Leonard, all role of the men in the system seems to have interviews). The regional divisions significant in been one of generous benefactor and special the Punjab-Malwa, Doaba, Mazhabi-played friend of the family. roles in the composition of work groups and in Thus, the godparent system linked represen­ political activities; but they did not shape family tatives of two very different cultures for the life strongly. Stories of daughters marrying a man ultimate benefit of the children. Later, these god­ from the "wrong" region abound; here, as in at­ parental relationships became strained as the tempt,s to arrange marriages more generally, the children reached puberty. The Punjabi godfather father's wishes could not prevail.

532 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY August 1984 CONFLICT AND COMPATIBILITY other during sickness, preparing foods that were "healing" or "curative" (according to the LaBrack, whose information focuses on the in­ Ayurvedic hot/ cold theory of disease causation). itial marriages and households established by the The heavy reliance on dairy products (except immigrants, tends to emphasize the reasons for cheese) was common in such households. The Asian Indian-Hispanic compatibility. He notes greater use of corn products in family meals was the following commonalities: physical character­ the major change for the Punjabis. Some men­ istics, diet, initial economic level in the U.S., and tioned controversy over the cooking and serving similar patriarchal cultures. of pork in Muslim homes and beef products in Physically, both Mexicans and Asian Indians Sikh homes, since the former was prohibited by are Caucasian; yet both characteristically have religious injunction (Islamic law) and the latter by black hair, dark eyes, and skin coloring darker tradition (few Punjabis ate beef in any form at than that of Caucasians of European origin. this time). These characteristics led to the 1923 Thind Deci­ LaBrack points to the similar economic status sion, which denied Asian Indians access to U.S. of Asian Indian and Mexican men, both entering citizenship; in that case the judge declared that, the agricultural arena primarily as laborers in the although undeniably Caucasian, Indians were not early 20th century, and to the patriarchal cultures "white" in the popular notion of that term that produced strong sex-role differentiation (Jacoby, 1958). Similar perceptions of persons of within Asian Indian and Hispanic families. Be­ Mexican ancestry caused the U.S. Census to cause of these shared structural positions in the classify Mexicans as whites in 1920, a separate economy and in the cultural assumptions about race in 1930, and whites again from 1940 on. sex roles and male superiority, the Punjabi men Thus, members of these two groups looked some­ and Hispanic women in these marriages were in what alike, and they were perceived as similar-as theory compatible. "brown" or "colored" people-by other Cauca­ Leonard gathered historical information relat­ sians in American society. Punjabis were fre­ ing to the family life cycle; her data and inter­ quently mistaken for Mexicans. This happened pretation more strongly emphasize conflict. The even to the Sikh men, distinguished in India by Hispanic wives introduced problems: a female­ their full beards and uncut hair tucked under their centered kinship network; Spanish, not Punjabi turbans. These Sikh practices aroused prejudice in or English, as a home language; a significant age the U.S., however, and most Sikhs abandoned difference between husbands and wives; and an them. 1 orientation towards a subculture in California In addition to the physiognomic similarities, the that was identified with the migrant laborer class, most striking compatibility in Mexican-Hindu not the farmer class. households was culinary. The traditional Mexican In contrast to the common stereotype of the food was heavy, spicy; relied upon breads, patriarchal Mexican family, these Hispanic fe­ vegetables, and meats (chicken, goat, lamb); and male-centered kinship groups presented chal­ was often fried or broiled. All this was similar to lenges to the Punjabi men. These marriages were Punjabi cuisine. Women learned to cook conflict-ridden, and divorces were frequent. The "Hindu" food; the Punjabi men found Mexican­ number of divorces-some 40 petitions in the Im­ style cooking acceptable as an alternative. perial County alone from 1919 to 1946, or at least Punjabi men were not averse to cooking, since a fifth of all Mexican-Hindu couples residing they had cooked regularly before marriage, some there-seems high for the time, particularly since for work groups. Sikh men also cooked cere­ general trends show a lower ratio of divorces for monial meals at the Stockton gurdwara and on rural, foreign-born, and Catholic persons (Jacob­ certain birthdays or martyrdom days of the son, 1959: 101-103). Potentially most unsettling, Gurus. They sometimes prepared a Punjabi meal the women could threaten income and property for their family or friends, although in the by divorce. It must have shocked the Punjabi Mexican-Hindu households the woman bore the farmers when their wives successfully petitioned larger burden of food preparation. The use of for division of community property, child sup­ freshly purchased foodstuffs and of freshly port, and alimony. 8 ground spices was common in both Punjabi and The men and women filed in almost equal pro­ Mexican cultures. Some of the men made lemon portions for divorce, the men usually charging pickles and other special foods like kheer, a sweet desertion and the women cruelty. The petitions dessert; and lassi, a buttermilk drink. Their were overstated to meet the requirements of the children recall these treats and the men's readiness day, no doubt; but they clearly indicate areas of to make them. Punjabi men would cook for each conflict. According to the men's petitions, the

August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 533 women refused to carry out the duties of mar­ the Punjab and working long hours seven days a riage. They argued with their husbands and re­ week, the men accepted their inability to transmit fused to clean and cook for their husbands' Punjabi culture to their children. Many spoke friends. They insisted upon visiting their mothers Spanish themselves and approved of Catholicism and sisters at will; went to town to shop; used for their families. However, the secular socializa­ make-up; and enjoyed dancing with male, usually tion with respect to coeducational activities and Mexican, friends. They also demanded medical dating proved less acceptable. Furthermore, the care, particularly for confinements. According to women and children did not understand or accept the women's petitions, their Punjabi husbands Punjabi marriage regulations and prohibitions, drank, beat them, committed adultery, and despite admonitions from the fathers. The first demanded domestic services beyond reason. Ver­ daughters to grow up were married to older Pun­ bal abuse, including racial slurs, and physical jabi men, undoubtedly with their father's aid or violence, drinking and adultery were reported by encouragement; but most of those marriages many petitioners of both sexes. soon ended in divorce. 9 Often a father successful­ Significant differences betwen Punjabi society ly influenced the eldest child's marriage along in India and that of the Punjabis in California Indian-derived caste or regional lines but then help explain these marital conflicts. The structures failed to influence his younger children's marriage of resource control and of marriage networks choices. The great majority of the Mexican-Hindu were quite different. Punjabi society was patriar­ children married Anglo or Mexican-American chal, and the patrilineal joint family was the spouses. 10 agricultural landholding and work unit. Arranged There were other conflicts as the men aged. marriages were characterized by village exogamy Their younger wives not only sided with the and patrilocal residence, so that daughters left children; they sometimes wanted a more active their homes and relatives at marriage while sons social life themselves. Also, the sons grew up ex­ stayed in the parental home and continued to pecting to share in the profits from the family work the family land. In contrast, the marriage farming enterprise, but most fathers stubbornly networks of Punjabis in California linked men retained total control of all resources and decision through a Hispanic, lower class, female-centered making (Leonard, interviews). system, where a wife's mother and/or sisters were The final blow to many intergenerational fam­ nearby (if not part of the household). This situa­ ily relationships came when the 1946 Luce-Cellar tion was coupled to a legal system barring Asians bill enabled Asian Indians to become U.S. citizens from direct control of land and providing for (Hess, 1982:33). The men now could own land, community property. The men's partnerships not secure passports, travel to India, and bring over only were based on ties more fragile than blood relatives from India, itself newly independent in (village, regiment, ship to America, wives); they 1947. This access to citizenship rights and a could not be based on secure leasing or landhold­ resurgence of pride in India coincided with the ing. In addition, the wives were typically many difficult transition to adulthood of most Mexican­ years younger than their husbands, and the hus­ Hindu children. In effect, the fathers could bands regularly sent a good portion of their earn­ choose relatives in India over their Mexican­ ings back to relatives in India. Given all these fac­ Hindu families in the U.S., and some did. For .tors, the fact that many of these marriages did both internal and external reasons, then, the survive and flourish becomes remarkable. potential for conflict increased as these families As the Mexican-Hindu children were born and moved through the life cycle. grew up, other areas of conflict developed. The naming of children sometimes was an issue. In REGIONAL DIVERGENCE AFTER 1946 one divorce case, the mother requested custody of Existing regional differences in the extent to a set of children with Hispanic names, while the which the men from India married, and married father insisted that the same children, of whom he Hispanic spouses, increased after 1946. Under the wanted custody, had Indian names. Moreover, provisions of the Luce-Cellar bill, an annual some fathers filed affidavits to correct birth cer­ quota of 100 Indian immigrants came to the U.S., tificates (for example, from Jesus to Baldev), some of them distant relatives of the old-timers. while mothers or grown-up children in later years Close relatives came as nonquota immigrants corrected them the other way (from Harbhajan to (wives and children of newly naturalized Asian In­ Harry). dians). Only a few relatives were brought to Im­ Religion and language were not issues of paren­ perial County, where the Mexican-Hindu families tal disagreement. Few of the men were well were strongly established; but in the north the new educated and none were trained priests. Far from immigrants began to outnumber the old-timers

534 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY August 1984 and their American families. The Yuba City I was a transitory one. Marriages between Punjabi Marysville area, in particular, became a center for men and Hispanic women produced Mexican­ Asian Indian immigrants. Hindu children, several hundred of them. The The real surge in immigration came after 1965, households in which these children grew up were when the Immigration and Nationality Act interethnic, but the female-centered networks ex­ abolished the quota system and raised the limit ercised the stronger influence in child socializa­ from any one country to 20,000 per year. LaBrack tion. Areas of compatibility and conflict varied has discussed elsewhere (1982) the dramatic over the family life cycle, with increased potential growth and revitalization of the Punjabi Sikh for conflict as the children grew up and the men population in the northern Sacramento Valley. aged. Despite attempts by many fathers to arrange According to LaBrack's estimates, the population "proper" marriages for them, the descendants of there of some 400 aging old-timers in 1950 in­ these couples did not constitute a continuing com­ creased to over 6,200 Punjabis by 1981 (1982:64). munity, a new endogamous group termed ''Mexi­ Marriage arrangements between residents of that can-Hindu." The Mexican-Hindu descendants of area and the Punjab in India led to the immigra­ Punjabi-Mexican couples constituted not a new tion of entirely new families from India; the one ethnic group but a transitional community, a wife from India surviving into the 1950s suddenly cohort of peers whose shared experiences link found Indian women her age arriving, as the them even today throughout the state. Their posi­ parents of immigrant brides and grooms were tion differs, however, according to their regional brought to northern California. context. By 1965 the trend in the north was quite clear, Differences within California in the demo­ and the relatively small number of Mexican­ graphic concentration of the Mexican-Hindu Hindu families there was put on the defensive. By families combined with external events-changes and large they were not well accepted by the new in U.S. citizenship and immigration law, the in­ immigrants, who were able to continue endoga­ dependence of India-to produce strong regional mous marriages and were critical of those who divergences between northern California and the married non-Punjabis. The Mexican-Hindus Imperial Valley communities. Mexican-Hindu generally did not accept the newcomers well either descendants in the Imperial Valley claim the title and, thus, began to differentiate themselves "Hindu" proudly, although they may not be sharply from the large numbers of non-English­ quite sure whether their father was Sikh, Muslim, speaking Sikh villagers settling in the area. These or Hindu. Emphasis of their Hispanic heritage new immigrants, sponsored by very successful would not be advantageous to them, given the Sikh farmers, found an economic base in certain Mexican concentration in agricultural labor posi­ crops, particularly peaches. The prejudice stimu­ tions there. Furthermore, they lack a sizable new lated locally by the rapid growth of this rural reference group from India to cause ambivalence Asian Indian group led some Mexican-Hindus to or to challenge their claim to be "Hindus." In the identify more strongly as Mexicans, to change north there is real bitterness about the refusal of their names, or at least to talk about the superiori­ new immigrants to acknowledge the descendants ty of the "old Hindus" to the new immigrants. of the Asian Indian pioneers, and the Mexican­ In the Imperial Valley, however, fewer new­ Hindus there are ambivalent about their Indian comers were sponsored, and those who came were ancestry. not so easily established in the large-scale agricul­ The family patterns characteristic of the first ture practiced there. In the south only a few aging generation of Mexican-Hindus, in which all the men returned to India in the 1950s for their first women were Hispanic and all the men Punjabi, wife or for a young Indian wife, while others con­ were unique and transitory phenomena: The chil­ tinued to marry Hispanic women. Several unfor­ dren brought up in those interethnic households tunate experiences emphasized the threats to did not marry preferentially among themselves, property and reputation that immigrant relatives with other Mexican-Hindu descendants; their from India could present. Chakravorti's research spouses came from the Mexican-American or in the mid-1960s depicts an uncomfortable gulf Anglo-American communities. Regional diver­ between most Mexican-Hindus and the new­ gences have increased, and there are now fourth­ comers. When the 1965 change in the immigration and fifth-generation descendants of the pioneer laws occurred, no great surge of Indian immi­ couples. The Mexican-Hindus of California, once grants went to the south. Indeed, some new­ a distinctive and cohesive community, provide a comers left there for the northern centers of re­ colorful chapter in America's family and ethnic vitalized Indian culture. history. The Mexican-Hindu community in California

August 1984 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 535 FOOTNOTES 10. Leonard's data for marriages made by the children of these interethnic couples show that others of the 1. This was the term used for the children of the men same background were the least preferred spouses. from India and their Hispanic wives, a term also An analysis of the 220 California marriage certifi­ used as an adjective for the marriages, the families, cates found for them {from 1935 to 1969) docu­ and the group. The authors recognize two problems mented only 11 marriages between Mexican­ with retaining this usage. First, it obscures the reli­ Hindus, with Hispanic and then Anglo partners gious differences between Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu predominating for the 100 sons and 131 daughters. men. Second, it suggests that the women all came from Mexico, while many were Mexican-American and a few were Spanish, Puerto-Rican, or Califor­ nio. But since descendants of these couples continue REFERENCES to use the term, we have retained it. Bradfield, H. H. 2. Sikhism, developed by a series of gurus beginning in 1971 The East Indians of Yuba City: A Study of Ac­ the 15th century in the Punjab, combined elements culturation. Unpublished master's thesis, of Hinduism and Islam to create the powerful Sikh Sacramento State College. community in that province. Chakravorti, R. 1968 The Sikhs of El Centro: A Study in Social In­ 3. Agricultural technology and the scale of operations tegration. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, and capital in the Imperial Valley forced marginal University of Minnesota. farmers out in the 1930s; families who needed in­ Dadabhay, Y. come from their children's labor, in particular, 1954 "Circuitous assimilation among rural Hin­ moved to the orchard crop areas (Leonard, inter­ dustanis in California." Social Forces 33 views, 1982). (December): 138-141. Das, R. K. 4. Miscegenation laws (on California's books until 1923 Hindustani Workers on the Pacific Coast. 1951) were invoked occasionally to prevent mar­ Berlin:Walter de Gruyter. riages to Anglo women, although country clerks Das, T. habitually described the Indian men and the women 1925 "Stateless persons in U.S.A." The Calcutta they were marrying in the same way, either Review, 3rd series, 16: l (July):40-46. "brown," " white," or "colored." Foster, G. 1953 "Cofradia and compadrazgo in Spain and 5. Other aging bachelors went back to India in their Spanish America." Southwestern Journal of declining years, roomed together in California's Anthropology 9: l-28. rural towns, or retired to the Stockton Sikh gurd­ Hershman, P. wara (temple, built in 1915) where a dormitory was 1981 Punjabi Kinship and Marriage. Delhi:Hin­ built to house them. Particularly in northern Cali­ dustan Publishing Corporation. fornia, some of the male partnerships persisted Hess, G. throughout the men's lives and even took prece­ 1982 "The Asian Indian immigrants in the U.S.­ dence over their families back in India. the early phase, 1900-65." Population Review 25:29- 34. 6. Litigation between Punjabi men was frequent. Imperial County Analysis of Imperial County Civil Cases shows that 1905- Civil and Criminal Case Indexes. El Centro, most often they were filing against each other 1946 CA:Office of the County Clerk, Imperial (Leonard). County Courthouse. 1905- Vital Statistical Records. El Centro, CA:Of- 7. In 1949-1950, when Allen Miller did field work in 1980 fice of the Recorder, Imperial County Court­ Yuba and Sutter Counties, a turbaned Sikh was rare house. and taken to be religiously orthodox (Miller, 1950: Jacobson, P. H. 153-154). 1959 American Marriage and Divorce. New York: Rinehart. 8. At that time in India (1919 was the first case filed in Jacoby, H. S. the Imperial County), legal provisions for divorce 1958 "More Thind against than sinning." The and compensation were not available to women. Pacific Historian II {November):l-2, 8. Even today few avail themselves of the laws provid­ 1978 "East Indians in the United States: the first ing for divorce. half-century." Unpublished manuscript. LaBrack, B. 9. These girls were married at 14 to 18 years of age, 1980 The Sikhs of Northern California: a Socio­ and their husbands were older, repeating the pat­ Historical Study. Doctoral dissertation in tern of the first generation couples. Of the first ten Social Sciences, Syracuse University. or so to marry {from 1935 on), the majority di­ 1982 "Immigration law and the revitalization proc­ vorced {Leonard, family reconstitution and inter­ ess: the case of the California Sikhs. " Popula­ views). tion Review 25:59-66.

536 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY August 1984 Leonard, K. Taylor, P. S. 1982 "Marriage and family life among early Asian 1928 "Mexican labor in the United States: Imperial Indian immigrants." Population Review Valley.'' University of California Publications 25:67-75. in Economics (Vol. 6, no. 1). Berkeley, CA: Loosley, A. C. University of California Press. 1927 Foreign Born Population of California, 1849- U.S. Senate, Immigration Commission. 1920. Master's thesis in Economics, University 1911 Reports of the Immigration Commission: Im­ of California. migrants in Industries, Part 25: Japanese and McWilliams, C. Other Immigrant Races in the Pacific Coast 1968 North from Mexico. New York:Greenwood and Rocky Mountain States. Washington, Press. DC:Government Printing Office. Melendy, H .B. Wenzel, L. A. 1981 Asians in America. New York:Hippocrene 1966 The Identification and Analysis of Certain Books. Value Orientations of Two Generations of Miller, A. P. East Indians in California. Doctoral disserta­ 1950 "An ethnographic report on the Sikh (East) tion, University of the Pacific. Indians of the Sacramento Valley." Unpub­ 1968 "The rural Punjabis of California: a religio­ lished manuscript, South and Southeast Asia ethnic group." Phylon 29:245-256. Library, University of California, Berkeley. Nutini, H. G., Carrasco, P. and Taggart, J. M. 1976 Essays on Mexican Kinship. Pittsburgh:Uni­ versity of· Pittsburgh Press.

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