Claiming Citizenship

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. What are the factors that motivate the political mobilization of immigrants, and what strategies do they use to achieve political power? Is unified mobilization the only way to achieve political influence, and, if so, what happens to groups that are internally diverse?

This book looks at Indian ethnics, 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. Ethnic groups are generally seen as homogenous units that derive political power through unified citizenship claims. Yet, Indian Americans are the most disperse ethnic group in the United States, and they organize through multiple types of advocacy organizations. 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 argues that race, religion and caste are crucial in shaping the social location of Indian American groups, and the diversity of advocacy organizations. In turn, Kurien shows that while these are all salient factors of identity in India, they take on new layers of meaning through the Indian experience of racialization in the United States, and across generations of Indian Americans. By examining the dialectical process through which immigrants conform to the structures and cultures of the society to which they have immigrated, she demonstrates how they work to transform their adopted homelands to accommodate their unique needs.