The "New Jews" of Academia

Towards the end of the doctoral study, I applied for the World Bank's Young Professional Program.  (That was a a couple of decades ago; am not sure if the Bank has it even now.)  After four rounds of filtering of the applications from all over the world, it was down to eighty candidates for interviews at Washington, DC.  From this eighty, a half would be offered entry into a career with the Bank.

I was excited to be in this group of eighty. More than anything, it was an affirmation, an external validation of sorts.  My dissertation adviser, Harry Richardson, who was a veteran consultant to the Bank, was equally happy for me.  For one, he had cautioned me early in the process that I would not even get to the final round. Not because he doubted my abilities--at least openly with me--but because there was one negative in me: I was from India.

"The Bank already has too many people from India" Harry said.  He added that quite a few applicants too would be with Indian roots, which meant that I had to be exceptionally good to become one of the final forty hires.  "It will be easier if you were from, say, even neighboring Nepal."

Well, I am no Nepali.  And it turned out that exceptionally good I was not!

To have an accidental birth characteristic held against me was not entirely new to me, however.  India had made that clear to me even before I got to high school.  My sister's dreams of joining medical school were shattered, despite her academic achievements, because of quotas that limited the intake of Brahmin students in the state's colleges.  I suppose it was one of the many early lessons on how the world isn't fair.

Being an Indian applicant at the World Bank was perhaps like being a global Brahmin, and there were quotas restricting their numbers.

Expand that to one more level and now it is "Asian."

The notion of overachieving Asians apparently triggers similar restrictive quotas.  The only difference is in the nomenclature: instead of "Brahmins" it is "Jews":

The parallels between the Jewish and Asian experiences are striking. As with the Jews who applied to the nation’s top colleges with fake names, Asian-American students applying to many colleges are encouraged to stress “non-Asian” attributes like student government, not playing the violin. Those that are half-Asian, half-white are encouraged by college counselors to list themselves as white, while the Princeton Review Student Advantage Guide warns Asian-American not to check that race box at all or send a photo. “After 10 years of [college counseling] and 4 years in Dartmouth admissions, I don’t think it’s intentional, but I think there is discrimination,” admits former admissions officer Michele Hernandez.

Why this strange discrimination?  Because, you simply cannot have too many Asian students at the prestigious colleges, can you at ?

In every state where racial preferences in college admissions have been eliminated—California, Texas, Florida—Asian-American enrollment has increased. Caltech, which refuses to consider race, is one-third Asian, while the University of California-Berkeley, barred by law from considering race, is more than 40 percent Asian. There’s little doubt (and much worry) that if the informal quotas were dropped at the nation’s top private universities and colleges, Asian-American enrollment would swell there, too.

Back in India, the argument was that the Brahmins had to, in a way, pay for the centuries of caste system that kept pushing the lowest castes and the untouchables lower and lower into the utter darkness.  There is simply no denying that the caste system was atrocious (and it is depressing that it continues to be practiced even now.)  But, through reverse discrimination, do two wrongs make a right?

At least, there was that caste-abuse explanation in India.  Here, it is not even that Asian-Americans abused their power and privilege in order to gain at the expense of others.  Nor did the Jews back then.

Oh well.  Whoever said the world is far, eh!

Personally, I am thankful that I didn't get into the World Bank--I am sure I would have had a tough time marching to my own drumbeat that is almost always at rhythms very, very different from the Bank's.  Maybe it was a good thing I was from India, and not Nepal!

Map of the day: the wanderers

The Economist notes:

MORE Chinese people live outside mainland China than French people live in France, with some to be found in almost every country. Some 22m ethnic Indians are scattered across every continent.

As a wanderer myself, I am all the more excited with this discussion.  Plus, it is not the first time I have blogged about the wandering humans--like this one, for instance.

The unbearable whiteness of being ... an Indian?

If only we understood deep within ourselves that we are all variations of Africans!

But, of course, the world doesn't work that way, and the recent hate email itself is a strong piece of evidence from my own life.  While it is one thing to function in society with whatever personal preferences one might have, making political statements of any sort is an entirely different issue.

It is that kind of an issue, however minor that might be, which has landed South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley in a controversy.

The Associated Press reports that in 2001, Haley listed her race as "white" on her voter registration form. State Democrats accuse her of being a fake-race opportunist in a state that is, according to the US Census poll, about 66% white (and just a tick over 1% Asian).

 Like she didn't have enough on her plate already.  And this in a state where the previous governor took quite a hike!

Of course, the news has already echoed around the world, in India:

The 39-year-old Ms. Haley is also the first Indian-American woman Governor and, after Bobby Jindal from Louisiana, is only the second from the community to occupy this post.

The local Post and Courier newspapers reported that the State Democratic Party, which obtained the public record in this regard, is asking whether her inconsistency on the card made her ineligible to vote under a new law.

State Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian said whether Ms. Haley listed her race as white or not did not really matter to him but the issue was that the Governor had shown a pattern of such actions. “Haley has been appearing on television interviews where she calls herself a minority — when it suits her,” Mr. Harpootlian was quoted as saying. 

 Oh well ...

The Supreme Court made it clear, back in 1932, that a person like Nikki Haley cannot claim to be white:

Courts have classified Indians as white and non-white without any real pattern until the crucial 1923 Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which created the official stance to classify Indians as non-white."

Back in the days of racial segregation, this change in the classification meant, among other things:

As they became classified as non-whites, Indian Americans were banned by anti-miscegenation laws from marrying white Americans in the states of Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.^[3]

Back in 1933, a Nimrata Nikki Randhawa would not have been able to marry a Michael Haley!

I suppose as much as race and ethnic issues have largely died down, they really haven't gone away.

For the record, whenever I am asked to bubble in my race/ethnicity, I go with whatever pleases me. Sometimes I am a White, sometimes an Asian, sometimes it is simply Other.  I simply don't care about that identity.

Columbus discovered America. Confusing all of us Indians.

Almost six years ago, I spent a couple of days at Sengottai with my uncle and aunt, whose home is across from grandma's home, which was sold a few years after grandma died.

My cousin, who lived a couple of hours away, had also come over with her two children.  Her son, who might have been about eight or nine years old, hesitantly walked up to me and asked, in English, "you live in America?"

"Yes. I have been there for a long, long time now."

The kid was now feeling a tad more confident.  "We learnt in school that Columbus discovered America."

I could not let go off the teacher within me.  "Oh, really!  Terrific!"  And then I added, "so, Columbus discovered America?"

"Yes. That is what the teacher told us."

"So, before Columbus discovered America, there were no people there?  He was the first person to go to America?"

"No.  Our teacher said there were people there."

"So, if there were people there already, then it means that somebody discovered America before Columbus did, right?"

The kid was stunned.  He hadn't thought about it.  His teacher hadn't told him that somebody else had known about America before Columbus.

Thanks to Columbus, who originally set sail to India, we have ended up referring to as Indians a whole bunch of different peoples with different cultures and traditions in an entirely different part of the world!  I joke with students that "I am an Indian from India, and not an Indian from here" whenever I want to highlight this insane historical accident.

In a matter of a few years after Columbus, the lives of the original peoples of the Americas changed. Forever. Dramatically. For the worse.

Observing the Andeans, even the mestizos, I was always left to wonder how chaotic the disruptions would have been when the Spaniards came into their lives.

It seemed as if this older woman at Plaza Grande carried in her, and in her face, all those old stories.  One wrinkle was about Columbus. Another was about Pizarro. A lot of lines, recalling a whole lot of people who messed them all up.

Even what she was selling at the plaza made it easy for me to relate to her and her culture: plantain chips, along with a spiced up mix of onions, tomatoes, chilies and lime and beans.  Reminded me of a similar concoction that is a hot favorite in India, especially at beaches and carnivals.

As I sat watching her, I wondered about the stories that might have been handed to her down the generations.  Or, was she, too, taught at school that Columbus discovered America?

My final day in Quito, I went to Museo Guayasamin.  I admit to being clueless about art. It is always a humbling and educational experience whenever I go to an art museum, especially in foreign lands.  A wonderful reminder about how little I know and how much I don't even know that I don't know!

I walked slowly by the exhibits. I was the only one in the museum, and was in no hurry. Some of the pieces reminded me of the village gods back in Pattamadai and Sengottai--the "maadans" who are not in the spectrum of the Hindu deities.  Perhaps the Indians, on either side of the planet, were praying to the same gods.

 I sat outside in the courtyard for a little while.  It was yet another lovely day in Quito, with a blue sky, and scattered white clouds. Ample Sun and a light breeze.

It was in such a paradise that the peoples lived until "Columbus discovered America."

Why is US economy in a mess? Built On Ancient Indian Burial Grounds!

As always, the best analysis and insight is from America's Finest News Source:


Report: Economy Failing Because U.S. Built On Ancient Indian Burial Grounds

Thanks for ... ?

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The future population thanks to globalization :-)

America: emigration, not immigration?

Over to Michael Arceneaux:

Many African immigrants are returning back to their respective home countries.

While we are accustomed to viewing dreary depictions of Africa, those there are becoming quite comfortable with their living situations.

Recent studies by the Pew Research Center show people’s level of satisfaction with their quality of life has risen all across the continent of Africa.

By contrast, attitudes for Americans have remained stagnant if not decreased.

Between that and a sense of optimism about the future of individual African countries’ economies, and it’s clear why some Nigerians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, and others have decided they’d rather deal with an unstable internet connection than an unstable nation.

Joining them are Chinese and Indian natives who no longer feel they have to leave their respective home countries to get ahead.

Even many Mexican immigrants have started to flee the country due to our sour economy.

America has long been known as the country where anything as possible.

The entire world has looked to us as a beacon of hope of what could be. One of American’s greatest strengths is that it’s become a melting pot of the world.

What does it say about the future of this country if those who came here with a sense of optimism are now leaving with a newfound distrust in the American promise?

Indians :-)

Who else but Stephen Colbert can do this? His guest was way awesome too.

Indians top US spelling contests

BBC NEWS South Asia Indians top US spelling contests: "Over the years many children of South Asian origin have left their mark at the spelling event, but why do they dominate it?"

The Spelling Bee is a curiously American phenom. I have always suspected that the modern popularity of the event is because of immigrants who place a high value on learning, as opposed to, say, arts and sports. So, while some kids might show off their ballet moves, here are a few competing with words. Spellbound followed one such case, remember?

This is what Tunku Varadarajan suggested, back in 2005: "Success at letters is the sweetest sort of success, the achievement nonpareil.
For millennia, India was a land where the poorest scholar was held in higher esteem than the richest businessman. This approach to life proved disastrous for modern India. Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first prime minister and a Brahmin to his manicured fingertips, had such contempt for business (and for profits) that his economic policies condemned his people to two generations of stagnation.
But Nehru would have approved of spelling bees. Indian pedagogy relies heavily on rote memorization--the result of a fusion of Victorian teaching methods imposed by the British and ancient Hindu practice, in which the guru (or teacher) imparted his learning to pupils via an oral tradition. (The Victorians, for their part, regarded correct spelling almost as a moral virtue, and certainly as a caste "signifier," to use a clumsy anthropological term.)