Indian Americans face racial discrimination as early as pre-school in the US: Study

Often, these students are found 'code-switching' with regards to their behaviour and speech when in the company of their friends and schoolmates and their families
Pic: Edexlive
Pic: Edexlive

Young Indian Americans, who are among more than 3.5 million South Asians living in the US, regularly face racial and ethnic discrimination as early as preschool, which influences the development of their identities, says a new study.

IANS reported that second-generation Indian-American adolescents are "especially vulnerable to discrimination as they explore and form their identities," according to the study by Texas A&M University School of Public Health. These adolescents were classified as second-generation, that is, they were born in the US and had parents who emigrated from India after the age of 18.

The study surveyed nine Indian Americans between the ages of 12-17 years who talked about their experiences with peers at school, and said they made discriminatory comments about Indian culture, language or religion.

"This one kid found a rock and said 'look it's your God'," and "in math class, we had like little dots and we would have to... put them into groups... And a white kid was saying 'is this your God?' and put it on his forehead," an Indian-American student said as per the study. "Then sometimes they would say stuff about the food or they would mock an Indian accent like, 'I don't like Indian food' some people have said things like 'it's gross' or 'it's weird' or 'it smells really bad'," he added.

Difficulties in balancing identities 

Apart from reporting hate crimes, the adolescents also discussed the difficulties they faced balancing their Indian identity with their desire to be seen as American. In fact, a few of them reported feeling angry that they did not have white skin like their friends, and their desire to be more "American" instead as early as preschool. The study showed that Indian-American youth begin facing discrimination as early as preschool or elementary school. 

This balancing act often relies on "code-switching", where the interviewees spoke and acted differently when with family and at school, the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, said. In some cases, these adolescents felt they were seen as fitting into neither group. "The word Indian-American, means you live between two worlds, in my experience. I come home, I'm Indian. I live an Indian life, I eat Indian food. I step over my threshold, I become American. Go to school, I'm an American... Your parents don't kind of understand the western world and the western world doesn't really understand the Indian world. You live between two worlds and you've got to be knowledgeable to know how to balance them," another student said, reported IANS. 

The research team was led by Jamilia Blake, PhD, School of Public Health professor, Indian-American doctoral graduate Asha K Unni, and colleagues from Texas A&M University and Davidson College. Asian Indians were the first South Asians to immigrate to the US in the late 1800s, reported IANS, and are currently the largest ethnic group in America.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
EdexLive
www.edexlive.com