Stereotypes of South Asians
Stereotypes of South Asians consist of various generalized beliefs about individuals from South Asia which derive from the region's history and interaction with other cultures and peoples. These stereotypes are often rooted in orientalism, xenophobia and racism and date back to the history of European colonialism and imperialism in the Indian subcontinent during the 18th and 19th centuries along with the immigration of South Asians to the English-speaking world in the 20th century. According to academics Omar Rahman, David Pollock and John Berry, such stereotypes, which have been primarily propagated through popular culture, have influenced the process of acculturation for South Asian immigrants in Western nations.
From the 16th century onwards, European colonialists began to arrive in the subcontinent as part of the Age of Discovery. This contact soon led to the proliferation of stereotypes of the region's inhabitants by Europeans, which increased as the majority of South Asia came under colonial rule. European and North American commentators promulgated various stereotypes of South Asians, many of which served as implicit justification for colonial rule. During the 19th and 20th centuries, there were significant levels of immigration from South Asia to Africa, the Americas and Europe, which led to creation of further stereotypes. These stereotypes can have the effect of dehumanizing those of South Asian descent, making them more prone to abuse or being the victim of a crime and potentially leading to depression and ill-health.
Contemporary stereotypes
South Asians are stereotyped around the world in ways that are dehumanizing, and in some cases it can lead to depression and mental health issues.According to a study by Burr et al., cultural stereotypes among women from South Asian communities have been linked to patterns of suicide and depression. Medical research reveals that women from South Asian populations in the UK had high rates of suicide while low rates of untreated depression. In order to examine how cultural stereotypes are created within the discourse around mental health, a study used qualitative techniques such as focus groups and interviews with mental health care providers. General Practitioners and psychiatrists, among other mental health care providers, took part in the research. It examined at their backgrounds, expertise, and knowledge of the situation when it came to caring for women in South Asian communities. Due to professionals' tendency to view cultural differences as inflexible, and fixed categories, the South Asian communities in Britain have been marginalized. According to the study, the expertise of mental health care providers may be influenced by these biases, which may cause errors in diagnosis and treatment. If these misconceptions are accepted as "facts" they might alter diagnoses and mislead therapies for women.
Stereotypes included cultural prejudices related to the South Asian predilection for certain professions, such as medicine, engineering, and computing, or their presence in service industries as motel owners or cab drivers. As South Asians continue to assimilate, more positive perceptions prevail.
Dual socioeconomic profiling
South Asians are stereotyped as belonging to two socioeconomic groups. They are stereotyped either as convenience store or restaurant owners, cab drivers or motel operators who are uneducated, greedy, with large families and live in crowded homes. Alternatively, they are stereotyped as snobbish, upwardly-mobile software programmers and doctors, who lack English-speaking fluency and are willing to take a lower salary. These stereotypes are built, claim scholars, by media shows such as the Bangladeshi store owners represented as Sirajul and Mujibur in David Letterman's show, or by the character Apu in The Simpsons, or the Babu Bhatt character on Seinfeld, or the British TV show The Kumars at No. 42. This contrasts with the reality that South Asians are active, in various levels of prominence and service, in every profession.Model minority
Along with East Asian people, South Asians are stereotyped as model minorities with certain expected behavior. These stereotypes are encouraged by media stories such as an article by Forbes magazine entitled "Indian Americans: The New Model Minority". Richwine claims, "The success of Indian Americans is often ascribed to the culture they bring with them, which places strong – some would even say obsessive – emphasis on academic achievement". Similarly, while Asian Indians in the United States have among the highest percentage of college degrees as well as highest income among all ethnic and racial groups, for every South Asian who has a degree with high income, there is another South Asian who struggles to gain job skills and become trained to be gainfully employed.South Asian women
In a 1993 study of stereotypes held by midwives in the British National Health Service, several stereotypes were found to be prevalent against women of South Asian descent. One, the South Asian mothers were stereotyped as abusing the social service and failing to take recommended treatment. Second, they were stereotyped as those who make a fuss about nothing. Third, they were stereotyped as lacking "normal maternal instinct". The study found communication difficulties to be part of the problem, particularly among women who were Muslim South Asians with Urdu as their first language; this problem vanished when hospital staff of South Asian descent were included in the team attending the expectant mother. Further, the study found experimenter's bias in a population wide study that included white British people, Britons of South Asian descent and British people from other parts of the world. Contrary to the stereotypes, comparative analysis revealed that the rate of health care service use, rate of diligent treatment and follow up, as well as "maternal instinct" behavior was no different among South Asian women than natives or other ethnic groups.Resistance to assimilation
Two conflicting but prevailing stereotypes in Europe and North America relate to alienation and assimilation by people of South Asian origins.Hernandez, for example, in her analysis of Richard Rodriguez – the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner – and V.S. Naipaul – the Nobel laureate in literature of Indo-Caribbean origin – quotes Albert Memmi's classic, illustrating the stereotype. Memmi claims they make every effort to look Western, in the hope that no one will recognise them; from this proceeds their efforts to forget their past, to change their collective customs, their enthusiastic adoption of the Western language, culture and values, alleges Memmi.
Simultaneously these people are also stereotyped as old fashioned, irrational, weird in their customs, servile to their ethnic habits, lacking all sense of individuality, not eager to learn and grow, not speaking or adopting local language, not wanting to assimilate and be a part of the melting pot. Some stereotype them as betraying a past, others as betraying the future. These stereotypes reflect innate discomfort, confusion and possibly a struggle with rejection by those who stereotype as well as those who are being stereotyped.
Hernandez notes, for Naipaul, after a start in a humble family background, personal and professional success could only be achieved through learning, understanding and assimilation. This conflicting stereotype is not unique to South Asians. As Hernandez outlines, the same stereotypes exist against people from different regions of the world, such as against Rodriguez of Mexico.
Historical
''Komagata Maru''
In 1914, a steamer named Komagata Maru arrived in the harbor of Vancouver, Canada. On board were 376 Indians, mostly Sikhs. Both Canada and India were part of the British Empire at the time, and the movement of people within the empire was permissible, with millions of Indians being sought by the British government for its war effort outside India. The passengers on Komagata Maru were not soldiers but workers. The provincial government stopped the steamer at sea, refused the tired passengers from disembarking for two months, argued that the South Asians didn't belong in Canada, then forced the steamer and passengers to go back to India. Political leaders and newspaper media parroted allegations, impressions, and cartoons for two months, mocking the immigrants waiting in the boat at sea. This action has been explained by scholars, as a result of four stereotypes. First, they were stereotyped as polluting the collective character of British Columbia as a land of White, European-based settlers. Second, South Asians were stereotyped to be from an insulated and unassimilable culture. Third, they were stereotyped as those who were willing to work for less than a fair wages. Fourth, South Asians were stereotyped as unclean, diseased and a threat to public health. Robert McDonald suggests that these stereotypes were false because it was the prevalent prejudice that contributed to their segregation and difficulty in their assimilation, they did not compete with Whites for employment but took the unskilled and rough jobs for which there were no White workers available, and they were neither diseased nor unclean as wealthier Europeans families eagerly sought them as cooks and errand houseboys inside their homes. The stereotypes, claims Robert McDonald, were irrational constructions.After being forced to go back, Komagata Maru returned to India with the passengers emotionally distraught and angry. They were arrested upon their arrival by the Indian Imperial Police; a few passengers who resisted arrest were killed by police gunfire while others jumped off the ship while it was in the harbour and escaped before going on to join the Indian independence movement. The Indian government in 1952, and the Canadian government in 1989, marked the Komagata Maru incident with memorials and a reminder of the dangers of discrimination and stereotypes. On 18 May 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tendered a formal "full apology" for the incident in the House of Commons.