Ethnic Routes to Becoming American : Indian Immigrants and the Cultures of Citizenship

Annotation How does an immigrant become an ethnic American? And does American society fundamentally alter because of these newcomers? In Ethnic Routes to Becoming American, Sharmila Rudrappa examines the paths South Asian immigrants in Chicago take toward assimilation in the late twentieth-century United States, where deliberations on citizenship rights are replete with the politics of recognition. She takes us inside two ethnic institutions, a battered women's shelter, Apna Ghar, and a cultural organization, the Indo American Center, to show how immigrant activism, which brings cultural difference into public sphere debates, ironically abets these immigrants' assimilation. She interlaces ethnographic details with political-philosophical debates on the politics of recognition and redistribution. In this study on the under-researched topic of the incorporation of South Asian immigrants into the American polity, Sharmila Rudrappa compels us to rethink ethnic activism, participatory democracy, and nation-building processes Rutgers University Press Acknowledgments 8 Chapter 1: Introduction: Locating South Asian Americans 12 Chapter 2: Finding Our Home in This World: Abuse Survivors in Apna Ghar 42 Chapter 3: Workers at Apna Ghar 86 Chapter 4: The Indo American Center: “Integrating the Best of Both Cultures” 111 Chapter 5: The Politics of Cultural Authenticity 143 Chapter 6: Becoming American: The Racialized Content of American Citizenship 158 Chapter 7: Not White in Public, Not Ethnic at Home 182 Chapter 8: The Cultural Turn in Politics and Community Organizing 190 Notes 206 Bibliography 232 Index 244 About the Author 252 ISBN-13:,9780813533704 Introduction -- Finding Our Home In This World -- Workers At Apna Ghar -- The Indo American Center -- The Politics Of Cultural Authenticity -- Becoming American -- Not White In Public, Not Ethnic At Home -- The Cultural Turn In Politics And Community Organizing. Sharmila Rudrappa. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 195-231) And Index. The author examines the paths South Asian immigrants in Chicago take toward assimilation in the late 20th-century United States. She examines two ethnic institutions to show how immigrant activism ironically abets these immigrants' assimilation.