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What are the factors that motivate the political mobilization of immigrants, and what strategies do they use to achieve political power?
Claiming Citizenship looks at the civic and political activism of Indian Americans, currently the second-largest group of immigrants in the United States, and a group that has seen significant representation in the three most recent presidential administrations. Yet they do not follow the unified model of mobilization of other powerful American ethnic groups. Prema Kurien argues that race, religion and caste take on new layers of meaning through the Indian experience of racialization in the United States, and across generations of Indian Americans. This book is a template for understanding how religion, national identity, race, and pan-ethnicity interact in ethnic politics and the role that generational status plays in determining these patterns.
List of contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Race, Religion, and the Political Formation of Indian Americans
- Chapter 1: Race, Transnationalism, and Mobilization: Early Indian Americans
- Chapter 2: Religion and Transnationalism: The Rise of Intra-Ethnic Divisions
- Chapter 3: Ethnic versus Pan-Ethnic Activism: Indian versus South Asian Groups
- Chapter 4: Enacting Cultural Citizenship: Majority versus Minority Religious Status and Contemporary Mobilization around Domestic Issues
- Chapter 5: Enacting Transnational Citizenship: Majority versus Minority Religious Status and Contemporary Mobilization around India-Centered Issues
- Chapter 6: Race, Religion, Generation, and Activism around U.S. Partisan Politics
- Conclusion: Claiming Citizenship: Race, Religion and Political Mobilization
- Appendix A: Indian American Organizations Studied
- References
- Endnotes
About the author
Dr. Prema Kurien is Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University. She is a scholar of international migration, race, ethnicity, and religion. She adopts a transnational approach in her work and has also done research in India, to show how a variety of global factors, including developments in the country of origin, play a profound role in shaping community structures, cultures, and activism profiles of immigrants and even the second generation. Her work has been recognized with two career awards, three book awards, and three article awards, and she has received postdoctoral fellowships and grants from a wide variety of sources.
Summary
Large-scale international immigration has transformed the political contours of Western societies over the last few decades. The political mobilization of ethnic groups has prompted questions about nationhood, citizenship, and secularism, as well as what it means to institutionalize pluralism.
Claiming Citizenship looks at Indian Americans, currently the second-largest group of immigrants in the United States, and a group that has seen significant representation in the three most recent presidential administrations. Prema Kurien asks how Indian Americans have become a rising political force given that they have not followed the traditional, recommended model of political influence. She examines the dialectical process through which immigrants conform to the structures and cultures of the society to which they have immigrated, but also work to transform their adopted homelands to accommodate their unique needs.
Additional text
At a time when Indian Americans are making an increasing impact in American politics, Prema Kurien has written an impressive book about how the South Asian and Indian US population has developed and expanded its civic participation. As a sociologist of religion, I found the book especially helpful in providing a strong argument about the distinctive ways in which race and religion have shaped this important development in our nation's public life.
