American-Born Confused Desi

Last updated

"American-Born Confused Desi" ("ABCD") is an informal term used to refer to South Asian Americans particularly of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, born or raised in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled in the US. [1]

Contents

Neologism

"ABCD" or "American-Born Confused Desi" has become a polarizing factor in the South Asian diaspora in the United States, with first-generation immigrant parents and young South Asians of second or later generations. [2] Though the term was originally coined in reference to Indian Americans, it has been adopted by the South Asian diaspora at large. The term "desi" comes from the Hindi word देश (deś, lit.'homeland'). The word has its origin in Sanskrit, deśa, and is pronounced desh in the Bengali language. "Desi" means "of the homeland" and is generally used by diasporas of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although it is not used much in South Asia and not as a set identity like the diasporas do. The term has been commonly known among diasporas since at least the 1980s. The term "confused" is used to describe the psychological state of many second-generation South Asian Americans who struggle to balance values and traditions taught at home with attitudes and practices that are more conducive to the culture of The United States.

The longer and lesser known form "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House In Jersey" is also occasionally seen; playing on the alphabet theme, it has been expanded for K-Z variously as "Kids Learning Medicine, Now Owning Property, Quite Reasonable Salary, Two Uncles Visiting, White Xenophobia, Yet Zestful" or "Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reaching Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways, Xenophobic Yet Zestful". [3] The former version of the A—Z expansion was proposed by South Asian immigrants as a reaction to the latter version that derogated them. [4]

Cultural implications

Among South Asian Americans, the term may be considered divisive, as first generation South Asian Americans use it to criticize the Americanization and lack of belonging to Indian Asian culture they perceive in their second-generation peers or children. At times, it could also be used to mock their outdated perception of their country of origin. [5] Writer Vijay Prashad describes the term as "ponderous and overused" and notes it as one of the mechanisms by which new immigrants attempt to make second-generation youth feel "culturally inadequate and unfinished". [6]

Movies

The term American-Born Confused Desi first appeared in the movie American Desi (2001).[ citation needed ] ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi is a 2013 Malayalam language movie released in India. The film narrates the journey of two young American Malayalis to their motherland, Kerala, with the title based on the term "American-Born Confused Desi".

See also

Related Research Articles

ABCD is a list of the first four letters in the English alphabet. It may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African diaspora</span> People descending from indigenous Africans living outside Africa

The globalAfrican diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from Native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West and Central Africans who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries, with their largest populations in the United States, Brazil, and Haiti. However, the term can also be used to refer to non native African descendants from North Africa who immigrated to other parts of the world. Some scholars identify "four circulatory phases" of this migration out of Africa. The phrase African diaspora gradually entered common usage at the turn of the 21st century. The term diaspora originates from the Greek διασπορά which gained popularity in English in reference to the Jewish diaspora before being more broadly applied to other populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desi</span> People, cultures, and products of South Asia and their diaspora

Desi is a loose term used to describe the Northern Indic people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora, derived from Sanskrit देश (deśá), meaning "land, country". Desi traces its origin to the Northern Indic people of the South Asian republics of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and may also sometimes include people from Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan.

American-born Chinese is a term widely used to refer to Chinese people who were born in the United States and received U.S. citizenship due to birthright citizenship in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siddi</span> Ethnic group in India and Pakistan

The Siddi, also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, are an ethnic minority group inhabiting Pakistan and India. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most of whom came to the Indian subcontinent through the Arab Slave Trade. Others arrived as merchants, sailors, indentured servants, and mercenaries. The Siddi population is currently estimated at around 1,300,000 individuals, with Karachi and Makran in Pakistan and Karnataka and Gujarat in India serving as the main population centres.

Sepia Mutiny was a blog and discussion forum, initially conceived by a group of mostly second generation Indian American students and young professionals in August 2004. The site had had an exponential growth rate and according to its FAQ, as of May 2007 had amassed over five million readers since inception. The majority of the posts on the site were authored by its founding bloggers, though many posts were also authored by "regular contributors." The site also functioned as a public forum on South Asian issues and boasted a wide range of commenters hailing from diverse geographic locations, although predominantly the United States and England. On March 15, 2012, the site announced its closure starting April 1, 2012, citing diversified evolution of blogosphere and personal engagements of its writers as reasons for shutting down.

Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people.

South Asian Americans or Desi Americans are Americans of South Asian ancestry. The term generally excludes Afghanistan, referring specifically to those who can trace back their heritage to the Indian subcontinent, which includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The South Asian American diaspora also includes generations of South Asians from other areas in the world who then moved to the United States, areas such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, Suriname, other parts of the Caribbean, etc. In the United States census they are a subcategory of Asian Americans, although individual racial classification is based on self-identification and the categorization is "not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Prashad</span> Indian historian and journalist (born 1967)

Vijay Prashad is an American-based Indian historian, author, journalist, political commentator, and Marxist intellectual. He is the executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. For Tricontinental, he writes a weekly newsletter. Ideologically a Marxist, Prashad is well known for his criticisms of capitalism, neocolonialism, American exceptionalism, and Western imperialism, while expressing support for communism and the global south.

Iranians in the United Kingdom or British Iranians consist of people of Iranian nationality who have settled in the United Kingdom, as well as British residents and citizens of Iranian heritage. Iranians in the United Kingdom are referred to by hyphenated terms such as British-Iranians, British-Persians, Iranian-Britons, or Persian-Britons. At the time of the 2011 census, 84,735 Iranian-born people resided in the UK. In 2017, the Office for National Statistics estimated the Iranian-born population to be 70,000.

Yonsei is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants (Issei). The children of Issei are Nisei. Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei. For the majority of Yonsei in the Western hemisphere, their Issei ancestors emigrated from Japan between the 1880s and 1924.

The Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL), or the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists, is a group of left-wing activists of Indian background. The organization describes itself as "a clearinghouse for radical Indian activists in the United States, Canada and England." Its purpose is described by its founders as "some place for us to share information, offer support, and encourage each other to write in the open media on issues pertaining to Indians overseas and India itself, and help build projects that make our radical politics more material."

The Punjabi diaspora refers to the descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the Punjab region in the northern part of the South Asia to the rest of the world. Punjabis are one of the largest ethnic groups in both the Pakistani and Indian diasporas. The Punjabi diaspora numbers around the world has been given between 2.5 and 10 million, mainly concentrated in Britain, Canada, United States, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamil Canadians</span> Ethnic group in Canada

Tamil Canadians, or Canadian Tamils, are Canadians of Tamil ethno-linguistic origin. Much of Canada's Tamil diaspora from India and Sri Lanka then majority consist of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who sought to flee the ethnic tensions during the Sri Lankan Civil War between the 1970s and 2000s, while economic Tamil migrants also originate from India, Singapore and other parts of South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian diaspora</span> Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin living abroad

Overseas Indians, officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are Indians who reside or originate outside of India. According to the Government of India, Non-Resident Indians are citizens of India who currently are not living in India, while the term People of Indian Origin refers to people of Indian birth or ancestry who are citizens of countries other than India. Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) is given to People of Indian Origin and to persons who are not People of Indian Origin but married to People of Indian Origin. Persons with OCI status are known as Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs). The OCI status is a permanent visa for visiting India with a foreign passport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Asian diaspora</span> Group of people

The South Asian diaspora, also known as the Desi diaspora, is the group of people whose ancestral origins lie in South Asia, but who live outside the region. There are about 40 million members of the diaspora.

<i>ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi</i> (2013 film) 2013 Indian film

ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language Black comedy film directed by Martin Prakkat, produced by Shibu Thameens under the banner of Thameens Films. It stars Dulquer Salmaan, Jacob Gregory, Tovino Thomas and Aparna Gopinath. The film features music composed by Gopi Sunder, cinematography is handled by Jomon T. John. The film deals about the journey of two young American Malayalees to Kerala. The title is based on the term American-Born Confused Desi. Released on 14 June 2013, the film received positive reviews and was commercially successful. It marked the first collaboration between Dulquer Salmaan and Martin Prakkat. The film was remade into Telugu in 2019 with the same name.

Banana, Coconut, and Twinkie are pejorative terms, primarily used for Asian Americans who are perceived to have been assimilated and acculturated into mainstream American culture and who do not conform to typical South Asian or East Asian cultures.

References

  1. Radhakrishnan, Rajagopalan, "Diaspora, Hybridity, Pedagogy", Peripheral Centres, Central Peripheries (ed. Ghosh-Schellhorn, Martina & Alexander, Vera), page 116, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2006, ISBN   3-8258-9210-7
  2. Airriess, Christopher A., Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America, page 287, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, ISBN   0-7425-3772-2
  3. Das, Diya (2007), The Evolution of an Identity: Indian American Immigrants from the Early 20th Century to the Present, Tribute Books, p. 60, ISBN   978-0-9795045-6-3
  4. Mitra Kalita, S., Suburban Sahibs, page 13, Rutgers University Press, 2005, ISBN   0-8135-3665-0
  5. Skop, Emily (2007). "Asian Indians and the Construction of Community and Identity". In Ines Miyares; Christopher A. Airriess (eds.). Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America. Rowman and Littlefield. p. 287. ISBN   978-0-7425-3772-9.
  6. Prashad, Vijay (2000), The Karma of Brown Folk, University of Minnesota Press, p. 131, ISBN   0-8166-3439-4

Further reading