Pattterns and paths: Ethnic identity development in second generation Indian Americans

This study examines the ethnic identity development process of second-generation Indian Americans, the first sizeable cohort of Indian Americans to come of age in the United States, and identifies major factors involved, exploring the salience of each across the lifespan. The inquiry included a detailed look at the role of religion and the impact of racial and religious discrimination in ethnic identity development. This study is predominantly qualitative in methodology, employing a semi-structured interview protocol with 41 research participants. Research participants were also asked to rank the salience of eleven predetermined factors using a modified Likert Scale. Research participants were young professionals and graduate students, aged 22–32, residing in Atlanta and Boston. The research findings reveal the most salient factors affecting second-generation Indian American ethnic identity development to be the presence or absence of an ethnoreligious community and the individual's sense of (dis)connection with such a community; “dimensions of culture,” including food, ethnoreligious celebrations, clothing and Hindi popular films; trips to India; knowledge of the family language and participation in the family religion, or the lack of such knowledge or participation; and experiences of racial and religious discrimination. While the salience of each factor alone and in relation to others changes over the lifespan, the experiences of most research participants mapped four specific trajectories of ethnic identity development. This study pays particularly close attention to the role of religion. Research participants self-identified as Atheist, Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Ismaili, Jain, Methodist, Muslim and Sikh. Religion—experienced as community, culture, family, belief and ritual, and knowledge—has a multidimensional role in second-generation Indian American ethnic identity development. The context, content and intensity of “religious” experience varied across the lifespan. Whether social, spiritual or “symbolic,” religion is omnipresent in the lives of research participants, even those who do not consider themselves “religious.” Experiences of racial and religious discrimination also affected ethnic identity development. Research participants reported covert and overt experiences of racial and religious discrimination at all life stages. They experienced religious discrimination in the form of direct insults, Christian proselytization, and inaccurate depictions of their religion in the media and popular culture.