Emerging Voices: South Asian American Women Redefine Self, Family and Community

For centuries, South Asian women have lived within an image framework that limits the boundaries of their identity formation. In this volume, South Asian women living in the United States speak out as they redefine themselves, their families, and their communities in their search for a bicultural identity. Caught between two realities, these women are struggling to find a way of life that merges the world outside the home with the world within the home. The various voices, spanning different generational, religious, and regional points of view, emerge in this collection to reflect their struggle. The stage is set by the editor’s introduction which traces the history of South Asian immigration to the United States. This is followed by insightful articles on the 1.5 and second generation South Asian adolescent girls growing up in a Western country; the concept of gender roles among graduate students from India at an American University; the relevance of the cultural environment as they redefine issues of interpersonal relationships: dating, sexuality, marriage, and divorce; the problems confronting working South Asian wives and mothers; and the question of ex-nomination in the South Asian community in America. Suffused with personal, intimate and moving accounts of and by women, this timely book provides the essential human touch which is so often missing in academic research. Emerging Voices will interest those in the fields of Asian-American studies, ethnic studies, immigrant studies, women’s studies, history, anthropology, and sociology. This book will further open the dialogue within the diverse South Asian communities who may hear the echoes of their own voices within these pages. It will also provide a bridge for a Western audience who wishes to better understand the history and experiences of these immigrant populations.