Asian American Experience: Muncie, India(na) (ePub)

Muncie, Indiana, remains the epitome of an American town. Yet scholars built the image of so-called typical communities across the United States on an illusion. Their decades of studies ignored the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity and tensions woven into the American communities that Muncie supposedly embodied. Himanee Gupta-Carlson puts forth an essential question: what do nonwhites, non-Christians, and/or non-natives mean when they call themselves American? A daughter in one of Muncie's first Indian American families, Gupta-Carlson merges personal experience, the life histories of others, and critical analysis to explore the answers. Her stories of members of Muncie's South Asian communities unearth the silences imposed by past studies while challenging the body of scholarship in fundamental ways. At the same time, Gupta-Carlson shares personal memories and experiences that illuminate her place within the historical, political, and socio-cultural currents she engages in her work. It also reveals how that work informs and transforms her as a scholar and a person. As meditative as it is insightful, Muncie, India(na) invites readers to feel the truth of the fascinating stories behind one woman's revised portrait of an American community.|
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Creating a Typical America: The Middletown Studies and Muncie
2. Marring Typicality: South Asian Immigrants in Muncie
3. Fitting In: Muncie South Asians and Childhood
4. Navigating Rebellion and Respect: South Asian Teenagers and High School Life
5. Cowpath Crossings: Postindustrial Work and Indian Doctors
6. Knowing Your Place: Religious Identities and Differences
Conclusion: Race, Religion, and the Limits of Tolerance
Epilogue: An Unraveled America?
Appendix
Notes
Index|Himanee Gupta-Carlson is an associate professor at SUNY Empire State College.