Dr Caroline Brettell
CHICAGO: A study of Indian and Vietnamese communities in North America by Dr. Caroline Brettell and Dr Deborah Reed-danahay of Southern Methodist University in Dallas reveals many interesting aspects of their characteristics relating to their convergence into the new communities they embrace.
In North Texas, immigrants from India and Vietnam develop and embrace their American identity over time – without shedding their culture of origin, as some say they should, according to a new anthropological study.
“A key contribution of our research is its emphasis on the fact that the civic incorporation of newcomers does not necessarily mean abandoning who you are,” says Brettell, an anthropology professor at SMU in Dallas.
“Immigrant communities have spaces and places that are already operating as viable arenas for expressing civic and political presence and for becoming American,” she says.
Brettell and Reed-Danahay uncovered how North Texas Vietnamese and Indian immigrants develop their identity as Americans by engaging first within their own communities, where they practice and develop citizenship skills, which they then use in a broader American context.
“We view citizenship as the ways in which immigrants participate in the civic and political life of America,” Brettell says, “so they move over time from the periphery to the core of American civic and political life.”
Authors carried out three years of oral interviews and direct observation.
Brettell and Reed-Danahay report the study results in their book, “Civic Engagements: The Citizenship Practices of Indian & Vietnamese Immigrants” (Stanford University Press, 2012).
The authors interviewed 67 first-generation Indian and Vietnamese parents, many but not all of whom are naturalized U.S. citizens. They also interviewed college students in their early to mid-20s whose parents were immigrants from either India or Vietnam and who either were born in the United States or arrived as young children.
After Mexicans and Salvadorans, Indians and Vietnamese are the largest groups of immigrants in DFW. The 2000 Census counted 47,090 foreign-born Vietnamese and 49,669 foreign-born Indians in DFW.
Brettell and Reed-Danahay found that for the most part both Indian and Vietnamese immigrants to the region first arrived elsewhere in the United States, and then moved to DFW, often settling in suburbs.
Typically, Indian immigrants came voluntarily, seeking education, jobs and economic opportunity, although some came to join family members. Generally they have high levels of education and income, and typically already speak English, says Brettell, who conducted the Indian research.
The Vietnamese came as refugees, primarily to escape communism and in search of freedom and democracy. More recently they’ve also come to join family members, says Reed-Danahay, who conducted the Vietnamese research.
On the surface there are a great many differences between these two Asian immigrant populations, say the authors. But the anthropological research revealed significant similarities in the way immigrants from both India and Vietnam engage in civic and political activities.
Despite a desire to belong and overcome feelings of otherness, Indian and Vietnamese immigrants reported that fellow Americans sometimes exclude them on the basis of their accent, their skin color and their ethnic characteristics.
While there hasn’t been any sweeping anti-immigrant legislation in Texas such as in California, there have been a number of bills proposed at the state level aimed at illegal immigration, as well as some ordinances at the local level.
“Both Indian and Vietnamese immigrants have learned to ‘talk the talk’ of civic engagement,” Brettell says, “as they refer to their ‘teamwork,’ ‘good neighbor ship,’ ‘giving back’ and ‘entering the mainstream’ says Margaret Allen.
Historically, relationship between India and Vietnam is one of great antiquity for the interaction between these countries precedes the beginning of the Christian era, perhaps predates the connection of Indian culture, religions and civilization prior to all far eastern Hindu-Buddhist countries. It is believed that Indian mercantile class set up their earliest colony in Vietnam. It will not be an exaggeration to say that unlike many invasions to India especially since the Mohammedan era, the most unique feature of this interaction is that it has been entirely peaceful.
Americas happens to be the next most important place where these two cultures came into contact again after a thousand years. Immigrants in North Texas develop American identity by participating in ethnic community activities, then branching out to broader civic and political life.
Whether contributing money to Boy Scouts, donating a statue of Gandhi for a Dallas city plaza, or successfully lobbying against flying Vietnam’s communist flag in a citywide international celebration, a new study shows that immigrants in Texas are involved in their communities.
SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools.
Surendra Ullal
