“We are similar, but different”

Contextualizing the Religious Identities of Indian and Pakistani Immigrant Groups

Bibliographic Data

ID21245228
AuthorsRavi Sadhu (0000-0002-1147-2789, Claremont McKenna College, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume11
Issue1
Pages38-55
Publication date2021-03-19
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for Undergraduate Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2369-8721 • E-ISSN: 2369-8721
PublisherDalhousie Libraries (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15273/jue.v11i1.10866
OpenAlexW3135953302
LanguageEN
References cited14

This article explores how Indian and Pakistani immigrant groups from the Bay Area in North California relate to and interact with one another. There is limited research on the role of religion in shaping sentiments of distinctiveness or “groupness” among diasporic Indians and Pakistanis in the UK and North America. Through conducting qualitative interviews with 18 Indian and Pakistani immigrants in the Bay Area, I recognized three factors pertaining to religion that were salient in influencing notions of groupness—notions of modernity, sociopolitical factors, and rituals. With respect to these three variables, I flesh out the spectrum of associated groupness; while some factors were linked with high levels of groupness, others enabled the immigrant groups to find commonality with one another. This research is integral to a better understanding of the interactions between South Asians in the diaspora, as well as to gain insight into how these immigrant groups—whose countries of origin share a history of religious conflict—perceive and interact with one another

Diaspora · Geography · Immigration · Modernity · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Qualitative research · Salient · Sociology · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access