How Foreign Doctors Become Ordinary Americans – The Whitening Power of Expertise in American Society

• In Event: 598 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Work, Labor, and Professions

Abstract

Popular culture has seized upon a stereotype of the hard working South Asian physician. Dr. Lawrence Kutner (House), Dr. Neela Rasgotra (ER), and Dr. Mindy Lahiri (The Mindy Project) exemplify this common association between South Asians and medicine. This cultural trope can be traced to an important historical-demographic reality: as part of the 1965 immigration reform effort, nearly 75,000 Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) were granted a special visa and entered the US to practice medicine between 1965-1975. During this time, FMGs comprised nearly a third of the physician workforce, working mostly in urban and rural hospitals, with South Asian physicians being one of the largest groups represented. In his paper, I aim to understand the cultural attitudes towards South Asian FMGs during the 1965 moment. Using oral histories, Congressional hearings, court cases, and published medical literature, I trace the negotiation and translation necessary in the clinical encounter between doctors, patients, and the larger medical establishment. Although FMGs held a privileged position due to their professional skills, there still remained strong discriminatory attitudes towards these “snake charming” physicians, which affected their daily interactions and professional prospects. Nevertheless, FMGs acquired clinical skills and knowledge, which allowed them to leverage their training into economic, spatial, and symbolic mobility. I argue that the possibilities afforded FMGs are related to the whitening power of expertise, and it is this process that has allowed the South Asian physician to lose their foreignness and become part of a positive cultural trope in contemporary American society.

Author

• Eram Alam, University of Pennsylvania