Is Brown the New Black? South Asians and the Racial Ethnic Divide

• In Event: 392 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Interrogating Race

Abstract

Current sociological literature is debating the placement of the color line and racial classification as non-European immigrant groups grow in size. While some argue that future race relations will either fall along the white/non-white divide or black/non-black divide, others argue that the division will be more likely tri-racial (Tuan 1998, Lee and Bean 2004; Bonilla-Silva 2004, O'Brien 2008). Much of these theoretical formulations intimately tie in skin color as part of the process of classification and largely study Latino immigrants (Telles and Ortiz 2008; Bonilla-Silva 2009; Roth 2012). Missing from these discussions is the role of skin color in the racialization of Asians. Through 35 in-depth interviews, I study a group of second generation Asians, South Asians, who shed light on the role of skin color in the process of U.S. racial acculturation. I have found so far that racial identification is complex and contextually situated for many South Asians. How one identifies personally does not always align with how one is perceived. While some of my participants were perceived as part of model minority, others were viewed as terrorists and foreign. Moreover, South Asians experience of racial othering and discrimination is based on the intersection of religious identity, gender, and skin color. The broader impact of this study I anticipate will be highlighting how children of immigrants assumed to be doing well economically may still not be allowed to fully integrate into American society and be treated as foreign even though they are born in the U.S.

Author

• Radha Modi, University of Pennsylvania