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Brown in America

Study says Indians slow to assimiliate culturally

By: Santosh :+: Under: Brown in America
On: ⋅ May 30, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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SAJA Forum points us to a Washington Post article on a study performed by the conservative institute, The Manhattan Institute, that studies immigrants from different countries which send large number of immigrants to the US and measures economic, cultural and civil “assimilation”. [SAJA] [WaPo] [Manhattan Institute]

Indians scored high on economic assimilation and among the lowest on cultural and civil assimilation. This is how the study defines each:
From the MI link:

The economic index compares the labor force, educational attainment, and home ownership patterns of the foreign- and native-born.
The cultural index focuses on English-speaking ability, marriage, and childbearing patterns.
The civic index examines naturalization rates and compares the military service patterns of the foreign- and native-born.

The high points on the economic index is understandable considering India sends a large number of graduates and/or business people. Similarly, the low points on the civic index can be explained by the reluctance of Indian immigrants to naturalize and serve in the armed forces.

The cultural assimilation part seems to be a little more vague. For instance (from the MI link):

Cultural assimilation is the extent to which immigrants, or groups of immigrants, adopt customs and practices indistinguishable in aggregate from those of the native-born.

seems to contradict this claim:

It is important to note that cultural assimilation is not a measure of a group’s conformity with any preconceived ideal.

On one hand, the study seems to think that adopting the customs and practices of the native born makes you more culturally assimilated. But then it goes on to claim that there are no preconceived ideals. Would it be incorrect to point out that there is a preconceived ideal in this case - the customs and practices of the native born? Not that conventional wisdom doesn’t tell you the same - When in Rome …. (or in the case of Delhi police, When in rooms do as Roman does).

But all this speak of cultural assimilation makes me queasy. America for some reason seems to be more fascinated than any other nation with this notion of one-way cultural assimilation. Is it really a great idea to have a nation where everyone is culturally homogeneous? If cultural assimilation was a one-way street, with the immigrants and their offsprings discarding their culture in favor for the local one, besides making life extremely boring (Über Desi starts blogging on Grey’s Anatomy instead of Mallika’s anatomy, for instance), it would also lead to essentially what can be termed, cultural poverty.

And I’m not just speaking of rap v/s ragaa, break v/s bhangra or Hollywood v/s Bollywood. Just take a recent survey of worldwide consumers, where Indians were found to be most eco-friendly and Americans least. This is directly or indirectly an impact of the individual cultures - Indian culture encourages reuse and conservation and American discourages the same. Conversely, Indian culture places a taboo on certain mental and health issues, while Americans openly discuss theirs and find cures. Highly anecdotal but the point being that cultural exchanges should always be a two-way street. Sweeping foreign cultures under the rug in the name of “assimilation”, just for the sake of convenience is an unwise and in some cases, a dangerous practice.

On a concluding and lighter note, don’t laugh at the FOB who washes that disposable plastic cup and reuses it or walks 15 minutes to work to save some money. And FOBs, pleej not be assuming that Amrikans eat vonly hamburgers.

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