The Complete Desi Step-By-Step Guide to Filling Out Your Census Form

Dear r3po:

Sorry. A typo. I do indeed think of you as r3po. Would appreciate the genesis of the term (any relation to C3PO from the Starwars trilogy, or is it a drug in product development ?).

Shan, the point that BG makes about ``South Asian`` being nothing more than a PC term that applies mostly to Indians is quite accurate. South Asian cannot be an identity that forces us to mobilize politically, since from a political standpoint, Indians and Pakistanis have agendas that are poles apart. From a cultural standpoint, we of course have many similarities - so we can have South Asian art,music,cuisine, haute couture etc. but herein lies the problem - India is huge, Indians are here in much bigger numbers - they don`t need us to be part of them, they can make it without our help. Why would they care about representing our interests?

Don`t get me wrong - it hurts me too that we are subsumed within this much larger beast, after having tried so hard to break away from it; that South Asia is merely a synonym for a Greater India, isn`t that what it is? It bothers me too that the word `Pakistan` does not conjure up the magical romantic sentimentality of the word `India`. As rp03 points out, what we think is largely Pakistani, the world refers to as Indian. I hate having to tell people that Pakistani food is the same as Indian food. We were irked enough to make a fuss at the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit of Mughal carpets which referred to the carpets being made in Lahore, India, without pointing out anywhere that Lahore is now in Pakistan.

So, one ends up asking the question - will we always remain the little orphan child of history, struggling to get away from the lap of Mother India - if so, why did we bother with independence anyway?

Anita

Shan,

You have brought up a very important issue in your article -- something that has been bothering me for quite some time. Even though the PC label for us is `South Asian`, the term is quite problematic when actually applied in organizations call themselves South Asian but end up being mostly Indian with a few token Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and without anyone representing nepal, sri lanka, bhutan, maldives, etc. While in my own experience it has been hard to get Pakistani`s involved in `progressive` or `political` activities, the (predominantly) Indian leadership in many progressive south asian groups has done little to address the situation beyond the cosmetic tokenization of the `others`.

Shan, an afterthought about your ``still being an undergrad``. That explains your ``wanting to roar``:).

Anyway, you seem to be one hell of an undergrad. I enjoy your writing immensely. Would love to see something from you on the life of a desi undergrad, having never had the privelege of such an experience myself.

Anita

Syed Ahmed says:

``...analogy about the American Judaism and their ``religious`` identification is flawed. The American Jew is as pleuralistic as they come, - they are
neither racially alike nor are they monolithic in their adherence to religious or any another cultural factor. Their bond is inherently historical and sentimental, perhaps therein lies the success of the Jewish American, - their co-operation is inherently voluntary and is based on collective self interest. The American Jew is free to join or break away from the informal relationship that defines American Judaism, - He neither has to adhere to racial guidleines, or religious dogma. All he has to do is to prove lineage, and that is good enough to be accepted into the fold.``

``Perhaps Ms Zaidi and so many of us are hoping that our religious identification somehow remains preserved during our assimilation into Americana.
That Ms Zaidi is doubtful, Perhaps a small segment of American Islam will survive much like the Orthodox Jewish community in New York and other major centers, but the vast majority of our progeny will be as much Muslim as Madonna is Catholic.``

The Muslims of America are also pretty pluralistic and racially diverse. And I envisage an informal, voluntary participation by the majority, based on collective self-interest. I agree with you that the Islam they practice will be entirely a different beast from the dogmatic version we currently follow, but I can see the need for people to have religion and spirituality in their lives (witness the massive following of the charlatan, Deepak Chopra) and I can see an identity forged on the basis on religion as much more relevent to the melting pot of America than an identity based on nationalistic origins (regions). Also, I used the analogy of Jews rather than Catholics because they have done a far better job of retaining their faith than Catholics have. I live in a community of Jews of all kinds living in harmony with us gentiles- some are orthodox, most are reform. Most reforms gravitate to this area because of the cultural ties they want to cultivate in this modern enclave of synagogues and kosher groceries, although for the most part they do not practice ritualistic Judaism. I love knocking on my neighbour`s door to borrow some something I`ve run out off and being asked do you want the kosher kind or the regular kind - there`s pluralistic for you!

Re: Shan Anwar

Shan, correct me if I am wrong, but I don`t think the NYC cabdrivers are basing their unity and strike on ethnolinguistic/nationalistic origins - they are not saying these are South Asian demands, Haitian cabbies should develop their own agenda - they represent the demands of all taxi drivers of New York City.


I live for the day when the majority of the people in this country will tick of the ``Other`` box. It will happen. I don`t think one needs to add a label to the census form to become recognized as an important community in the United States. I defy simple external categorizations and labeling - because my heritage is too complex - South Asian doesn`t quite capture it. Our organization has to come from within - not dependent on external forces and agencies, if we want the community (both Muslim and South Asian)to continue to grow both through reproduction, but more importantly through continued immigration. And recognition of the community as a vital, thriving force within the landscape of America is inevitable. In fact, it will be threatening.

Incidentally, I don`t know why you think South Asians are invisible. Perhaps I am at the wrong place, but it just so happens that this place has produced and will produce many leaders of America. And it is crawling with South Asians! A very noticeable presence here. The guy who gets a cover story devoted to his work in last week`s Newsweek (The birth of new planets) is a mere graduate student here, and he`s from Sri Lanka. I take a Molecular Biology of Parasites Class in which we invite the world`s renowned experts to come talk about their life`s work followed by a session in which the students have to suggest original experiments to the speaker based on his/her work - invariably, the speaker is floored by the suggestions that come from the Asians among the students. That`s the way to make yourself noticed - just do something important, and you will be!

The freedom and wealth of America, combined with the brilliance and industry of our people - boy, can we look forward to being dazzled!

Anita

I do agree with Ms Zaidi that the US culture is a strong aphrodisiac, for future generations
to assimilate in the American quilt. However her
analogy about the American Judaism and their ``religious`` identification is flawed. The American Jew is as pleuralistic as they come, - they are neither racially alike nor are they monolithic in their adherence to religious or any another cultural factor. Their bond is inherently historical and sentimental, perhaps therein lies the success of the Jewish American, - their co-operation is inherently voluntary and is based on collective self interest. The American Jew is free to join or break away from the informal relationship that defines American Judaism, - He neither has to adhere to racial guidleines, or religious dogma. All he has to do is to prove lineage, and that is good enough to be accepted into the fold.

Perhaps Ms Zaidi and so many of us are hoping that our religious identification somehow remains preserved during our assimilation into Americana.
That Ms Zaidi is doubtful, Perhaps a small segment of American Islam will survive much like the Orthodox Jewish community in New York and other major centers, but the vast majority of our progeny will be as much Muslim as Madonna is Catholic.

The reason lies in the monolithic nature of Islamic religious dogma. The entry of an individual in the Islamic fold is contigent on his
personal and religious beliefs in strict conformity along religious lines. That is on a
collision course with the flexibile and evolutionary value system of the American pschye.
A good example would be The Lebanese & Greek Muslim immigration to the US in the early part of the 20th century - a community is that curently non existent. Even the Armenian and the Greek orthodox faith in the US has fundamental differences with the church dogma in the mother country. Comparable schisms in religous dogma would be considered heresy in Islam.

Shan, as we have discussed elsewhere, the problem in the US is that minorities are defined in so many different ways - racial, ethnolinguistic, geographic. So, we have black, white, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, and so on. Being the melting pot that the US is, these terms are getting increasingly hard to define. What identifying group, for example, should the children of mixed heritage choose for themselves - the offspring of a Chinese and a white individual, a desi and a Hispanic, black and Native American)? What about all the other people in the ``other`` category? What criteria should we use to have a separate group designated for them? What about the other ``others`` that are significant in number, such as the Lebanese and the Iranians (who since the revolution no longer identify themselves with the geographic Iranian - they go with the ethnic Persian, hoping that the average American is too dumb to realize the connection - and they are probably right about that!).The criteria for categorizing all the others will necessarily have to be arbitrary - let`s say we choose a 1% figure, that a minority should be 1% of the US populatioin - that`s 2.6 million folks. There aren`t enough South Asians yet to qualify - but there may be if immigration isn`t restricted further, than it already is. That`s the downside of standing up and being counted right now. As long as the immigrants were white, it didn`t matter - now that the majority of immigrants are non-white, there is a backlash, an anti-immigrant sentiment. People are seeing more brown and Asian faces in places they don`t want to see them. Much is being made of the Berkeley admissions this year - without racially-based admissions, more Asians got admitted than whites. I predict that we will see this repeated all over America, ``Asian types`` taking over from whites,and it will create a further anti-immigrant backlash against new immigrants. As it is, it is projected that by the year 2025, whites will no longer be a majority in this country.

At the same time, as America moves forward, I think, with the exception of African-Americans (who have a unique history in this country), it will be very hard for people, already here for many generations to hang on to their separate racial, ethno-linguistic identities. The American culture is just too enticing. Do you really think your grandchildren will be speaking in Urdu, wearing pristine white kurtas, marrying only South Asians? I say that they won`t be. They`ll be as ``American`` as they come, a blended variety of whatever the dominant culture will represent at that time. On the other hand, if anything can be ``preserved``, it will be religious identities. So, one may be identified as a Muslim American. An obvious analogy are the Jews. They have been here for several generations. They don`t get identified as a separate group on any census form, yet they are very much a recognized, and highly-organized minority. We have much to learn from the Jewish community in how to go about making a niche for ourselves in the US. This is why I think going with a South Asian identity is a short-sighted and reactionary approach to the simplistic categorization that we see so rampant in the America of today.

Anita

When I first saw the title, my mind immediately went to the Census done recently in Pakistan. And as such I was looking forward to some humourous comments about it.

However, I was not too disappointed by the picture that was drawn here. Having filled out certain forms in American, I can relate to this issue of Asian and South Asian.

Great article.