Genealogy of a State-Engineered 'Model Minority': 'Not Quite/Not White' South Asian Americans

Abstract

This is review essay based on Vijay Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2000). It engages the saga of immigration of South Asian to the United States. A primary focus is on the matrix of identity formation within the grammar of imperialism. It explores how modern regimes of power/knowledge constitute racialized subjects. The deployment of the "model minority" discourse is examined as it relates to South Asian Americans. Structures of power and strategies of resistance among South Asian Americans are highlighted and it is argued that building solidarities among all subordinated is the only viable path to achieving justice.

Keywords: Immigration, model minority, Indians, South Asian, colonialism, imperialism

JEL Classification: K10, K33, K19, K30, K40, K49