Gujarati Americans

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Gujarati Americans
ગુજરાતી અમેરિકનો
Gujarathi USC2000 PHS.svg
The language spread of Gujarati in the United States according to U. S. Census 2000
Total population
1,330,000(2015) [1]
350,000 (2015) [1] - 434,264 (2017) [2] [3] people speak the language in the USA
Regions with significant populations
New Jersey, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia [4]
Languages
English, Gujarati, [5] Hindi, [5]
Religion
Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Jainism [6] [7]
Related ethnic groups
Indian Americans, Asian Americans

Gujarati Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to Gujarat, India. They are a subgroup of Indian Americans.

Contents

Gujaratis have achieved a high demographic profile in many urban districts worldwide, notably in India Square, or Little Gujarat, in Bombay, Jersey City, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, United States, as large-scale immigration from India continues into New York, with the largest metropolitan Gujarati population outside of India. India Square JC jeh.JPG
Gujaratis have achieved a high demographic profile in many urban districts worldwide, notably in India Square, or Little Gujarat, in Bombay, Jersey City, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, United States, as large-scale immigration from India continues into New York, with the largest metropolitan Gujarati population outside of India.

The highest concentration of the Gujarati American population by a significant margin, with over 100,000 Gujarati individuals, is in the New York City Metropolitan Area, notably in the growing Gujarati diasporic center of India Square, or Little Gujarat, in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Edison in Middlesex County in Central New Jersey. Significant immigration from India to the United States started after the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, [12] [13] Early immigrants after 1965 were highly educated professionals. Since US immigration laws allow sponsoring immigration of parents, children and particularly siblings on the basis of family reunion, the numbers rapidly swelled in a phenomenon known as "chain migration". Faith plays a big role in the rapidly growing Gujarati community in North Texas, which has three large Hindu temples. Census numbers showed that from 2000 to 2010, the population more than doubled, going from 49,181 to 106,964 for Collin, Dallas, Denton, Rockwall and Tarrant counties. Richardson has a long-established Gujarati population, and it was there that a group of businessmen founded the India Association of North Texas (1962). Changes in recent years have been more drastic.

Given the Gujarati propensity for entrepreneurship and business enterprise, a number of them opened shops and motels. Now in the 21st century over 40% of the hospitality industry in the United States is controlled by Gujaratis. [14] [15] [16] Gujaratis, especially the Patidar samaj, also dominate as franchisees of fast food restaurant chains such as Subway and Dunkin' Donuts. [17] The descendants of the Gujarati immigrant generation have also made high levels of advancement into professional fields, including as physicians, engineers [18] and politicians. In August 2016, Air India commenced direct, one-seat flight service between Ahmedabad and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, via London Heathrow International Airport. [19]

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gujarat</span> State in western India

Gujarat is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about 1,600 km (990 mi) is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some 196,024 km2 (75,685 sq mi); and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million in 2011. It is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Gujarat's capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujaratis are indigenous to the state and their language, Gujarati, is the state's official language.

Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. The city is managed by the Nadiad Municipal Corporation. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, the historic Swaminarayan temple built in 1824, and the Anand and Hari Om Ashram. Nadiad is the place where Shrimad Rajchandra composed Shri Atmasiddhi Shatra, a 142 verse spiritual treatise in 1895. Nadiad is located 90 kilometres (56 mi) away from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. It has a major railway junction and is a main station on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. It is the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. Nadiad Municipality was Founded in 1866.

Patel is an Indian surname or title, predominantly found in the state of Gujarat, representing the community of land-owning farmers and later businessmen, agriculturalists and merchants. Traditionally the title is a status name referring to the village chieftains during medieval times, and was later retained as successive generations stemmed out into communities of landowners. There are roughly 500,000 Patels outside India, including about 150,000 in the United Kingdom and about 150,000 in the United States. Nearly 1 in 10 people of Indian origin in the US is a Patel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patidar</span> Indian agriculturist caste

Patidar, formerly known as Kanbi, is an Indian land-owning and peasant caste and community native to Gujarat. The community comprises at multiple subcastes, most prominently the Levas and Kadvas. They form one of the dominant castes in Gujarat. The title of Patidar originally conferred to the land owning aristocratic class of Gujarati Kanbis; however, it was later applied en masse to the entirety of the Kanbi population who lay claim to a land owning identity, partly as a result of land reforms during the British Raj.

The Gujarati people, or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to a region of the Indian subcontinent primarily centered in the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. While Gujaratis mainly inhabit Gujarat, they have a diaspora worldwide. Many notable independence activists were Gujarati, including Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Vallabhbhai Patel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noureen DeWulf</span> American actress

Noureen DeWulf is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in West Bank Story (2005), Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), and The Back-up Plan (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitcom Anger Management (2012–2014).

<i>Sandesh</i> (Indian newspaper) Gujarati daily newspaper

Sandesh is a leading Gujarati daily newspaper that started publications in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 1923. It has the second largest readership in Gujarat as of 2019 according to the Indian Readership Survey. The paper focuses coverage on local and regional stories consequential to the various city editions in print, published from Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, and Bhuj. The newspaper was purchased from the founder in 1958 by Chimanbhai S. Patel and has since been a core business division of 'The Sandesh Limited'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gujarati cinema</span>

Gujarati cinema, also known as Dhollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Gujarati language widely spoken in the state of Gujarat. It is based in Ahmedabad. It is one of the major regional and vernacular film industries of the cinema of India, having produced more than one thousand films since its inception.

<i>Kevi Rite Jaish</i> 2012 Gujarati language film directed by Abhishek Jain

Kevi Rite Jaish is a 2012 Indian Gujarati-language drama film directed by Abhishek Jain and produced by Nayan Jain. The film is a satire on the fascination and obsession of the Patels' – a Gujarati farmer community – migration to the U.S. Over the last half century, thousands of Patels have migrated to the US and have come to dominate its motel industry. The film stars Divyang Thakkar, Veronica Kalpana-Gautam, Tejal Panchasara, Kenneth Desai, and Anang Desai. The success of the film started a "new wave" in Gujarati cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gujarat College</span> College in Ahmedabad, India

Gujarat Arts & Science College, popularly and previously known as Gujarat College, is one of the oldest educational institutions of India and the second arts and science college of Gujarat, near Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad. It was founded in 1845 as a government-run educational institute, was established as a regular college in 1850, and is now under the direct management of the Education Department of the Government of Gujarat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos G. Vallés</span> Spanish-Indian Jesuit priest and author (1925–2020)

Carlos González Vallés S.J., popularly known as Father Vallés, was a Spanish-Indian Jesuit priest and author. He lived in India for five decades and wrote extensively in Gujarati and on mathematics. He also wrote in English and Spanish. He was a recipient of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, the highest award in Gujarati literature, in 1978. He was awarded the Padma Shri posthumously in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bholabhai Patel</span> Indian Gujarati author

Bholabhai Patel was an Indian Gujarati author. He taught numerous languages at Gujarat University and did comparative studies of literature in different languages. He translated extensively and wrote essays and travelogues. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media in Gujarati language</span>

The Media in Gujarati language started with publication of Bombay Samachar in 1822. Initially the newspapers published business news and they were owned by Parsi people based in Bombay. Later Gujarati newspapers started published from other parts of Gujarat. Several periodicals devoted to social reforms were published in the second half of the 19th century. After arrival of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence movement peaked and it resulted in proliferation of Gujarati media. Following independence, the media was chiefly focused on political news. After bifurcation of Bombay state, the area of service changed. Later there was an increase in readership due to growth of literacy and the media houses expanded its readership by publishing more editions. Later these media houses ventured into digital media also. The radio and television media expanded after 1990.

<i>Premji: Rise of a Warrior</i> 2015 Indian film

Premji: Rise of a Warrior is a new era Gujarati film directed by Vijaygiri Bava & produced by Twinkle Vijaygiri. It also stars the Hindi cinema actor, Abhimanyu Singh.

Indumati Chimanlal Sheth was an Indian independence activist, politician, social worker and educationist from Gujarat. Born in Ahmedabad and influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, she participated in the independence movement and later served as a deputy education minister of the Bombay State and education minister of Gujarat. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1970 for her social work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashokpuri Goswami</span>

Ashokpuri Goswami is a Gujarati poet and writer from Gujarat, India. He won Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati language in 1997 for his novel Koovo (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhupendrabhai Patel</span> 17th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat

Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel is an Indian politician and civil engineer who is serving as the 17th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat since 2021. He represents the Ghatlodia Assembly constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly since 2017. He is a member of the BJP. He started his political career in municipal bodies of Ahmedabad.

Pitambar Narsinhbhai Patel, also known by his pen name Pinakpani, was an Indian novelist, short story writer and journalist from Gujarat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gujarat Literature Festival</span> Literary festival in Gujarat, India

The Gujarat Literature Festival, also known as Gujarati Sahitya Mahotsav, is a literary festival which takes place annually in the Indian city Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The festival is held generally in December–January.

The Gujarati diaspora refers to the descendants of the Indian ethnolinguistic group known as Gujaratis who emigrated out of Gujarat and adjacent areas in the Indian Subcontinent to the rest of the world.

References

  1. 1 2 Parth Shastri (January 4, 2015). "Gujaratis 6% of Indians, but 20% of US Indians". TNN.
  2. ↑ "Most widely-spoken Indian languages in the US, 2017". Atlas. September 24, 2018.
  3. ↑ Bhattacharya, Ananya. "America's fastest growing foreign language is from south India". Quartz India.
  4. ↑ "Gujaratis 6% of Indians, but 20% of US Indians". Times of India . Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Migration Information Source — Indian Immigrants in the United States". Migrationinformation.org. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
  6. ↑ "Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths". Pew Forum. 2012-07-19. Archived from the original on 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
  7. ↑ "Pew Forum — Indian Americans' Religions". Projects.pewforum.org. 2012-07-18. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
  8. ↑ "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Supplemental Table 2". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  9. ↑ "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 Supplemental Table 2". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  10. ↑ "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  11. ↑ "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  12. ↑ Keely, Charles B. (May 1971). "Effects of the immigration act of 1965 on selected population characteristics of immigrants to the United States". Demography. 8 (2): 157–169. doi: 10.2307/2060606 . JSTOR   2060606. PMID   5163987. S2CID   36538373.
  13. ↑ Khandelwal, MS (1995). The politics of space in South asian Diaspora , Chapter 7 Indian immigrants in Queens, New York City: patterns of spatial concentration and distribution, 1965–1990 - Nation and migration: - books.google.com. Philadelphia, USA: University of Pennsylvania. p. 179. ISBN   0-8122-3259-3 . Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  14. ↑ Kalnins, Arthur; Chung, Wilbur (2001). Greve, Henrich R.; Baum, Joel A.C. (eds.). Multiunit organization and multimarket strategy (1 ed.). New York: JAI. pp. 33–48. ISBN   0-7623-0721-8.
  15. ↑ Staff, W. S. J. (11 June 2012). "Why Indian Americans Dominate the U.S. Motel Industry". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  16. ↑ HIRAL DHOLAKIA-DAVE (Oct 18, 2006). "42% of US hotel business is Gujarati". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 February 2015. Gujaratis, mainly Patels, now own 21,000 of the 53,000 hotels and motels in the US. It makes for a staggering 42% of the US hospitality market, with a combined worth of $40 billion.
  17. ↑ Rangaswami, Padma (2000). Namaste America: Indian Immigrants in an American Metropolis. University park, PA, USA: Pennsylvania State University press. p. 285. ISBN   0271--01980-8.
  18. ↑ Dave, Shaily (2021-02-20). "My Experience as a Gujarati Student in the States". TheBossMonk. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  19. ↑ Ashish Chauhan (August 15, 2016). "Air India launches Ahmedabad to Newark flight". The Times of India. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  20. ↑ "2 Gujarati-origin among America's super-rich". dna india. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  21. ↑ Raheel Dhattiwala. "The million dollar man from Gujarat". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015. AT was lucky to meet the Ahmedabad-born, 50-year-old business honcho in person.
  22. ↑ Drew Joseph (2010-08-14). "Bera Hopes to Wipe Out Lungren Despite GOP Wave". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
  23. ↑ "Gujarati Woman Aims for House", The Times of India, January 1, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Gujarati NRI Sonal Shah appointed Obama's adviser". DeshGujarat. Retrieved 6 February 2015. NRI Gujarati Sonal Shah, an eminent economist who heads Google's philanthropic arm, has been appointed an advisory board member by US President-elect Barack Obama to assist his team in smooth transition of power.
  25. ↑ "Movers and shakers". india today. Retrieved 6 February 2015. "We are close to our extended families in Ahmedabad and Mumbai and grew up with Gujarati culture as a predominant influence in our lives.... The Gujarati community has done it all in the US — from doctors to entrepreneurs, from retail to the hospitality industry.
  26. ↑ "IG Online Interview: Raj Bhavsar (USA)". intlgymnast. Retrieved 6 February 2015. Born in Houston, Bhavsar is 100 percent Gujarati; his father hails from Vadadora (Baroda), a city in the small Indian state of Gujarat, near Mumbai. His mother was born in Kampala, Uganda, but was educated in Gujarat. Most of Bhavsar's relatives are Gujarati.
  27. ↑ "Stereotypes are very hard to escape: Noureen DeWulf". Zee News India. Retrieved 6 February 2015. DeWulf, a Gujarati Muslim by origin, has carved out a successful career for herself in Hollywood and her repertoire includes Hollywood films like `West Bank Story` and `Ghosts of Girlfriends Past` besides TV shows `Maneater`, `90210` and `Girlfriends`.
  28. ↑ "Savan Kotecha, Songwriter". ofindianorigin.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2015. I come from a pretty traditional Gujarati family and that made getting into the music business pretty tricky. My parents like most Indian parents, wanted me to go to Uni and be a Doctor or Lawyer. That meant I was on my own for the most part as far as figuring out how to 'make it'. It also gave me something to prove which made me work extra hard.
  29. ↑ "SPICING UP AMERICA THE PATEL BROTHERS' SUCCESS STORY" . Retrieved May 5, 2018.
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