Description: Large-scale international immigration has transformed the political contours of Western societies over the last few decades. The political mobilization of ethnic groups has prompted questions about nationhood, citizenship, and secularism, as well as what it means to institutionalize pluralism.
Claiming Citizenship looks at Indian Americans, currently the second-largest group of immigrants in the United States, and a group that has seen significant representation in the three most recent presidential administrations. Prema Kurien asks how Indian Americans have become a rising political force given that they have not followed the traditional, recommended model of political influence. She examines the dialectical process through which immigrants conform to the structures and cultures of the society to which they have immigrated, but also work to transform their adopted homelands to accommodate their unique needs.Review Quotes: "Prema Kurien has written an enlightening book full of rich material on how Indian and South Asian activists become politically engaged in the United States. Providing careful, insightful, and in-depth analysis, Claiming Citizenship sheds new light on the role of religious, caste, and racial differences as well as transnational connections in immigrant and second-generation political mobilization." -- Nancy Foner, author of One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America
"At a time when Indian Americans are making an increasing impact in American politics, Prema Kurien has written an impressive book about how the South Asian and Indian US population has developed and expanded its civic participation. As a sociologist of religion, I found the book especially helpful in providing a strong argument about the distinctive ways in which race and religion have shaped this important development in our nation's public life." -- Robert Wuthnow, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University"Claiming Citizenship is required reading for those studying South Asian Americans or Asian American politics. Kurien (sociology, Syracuse Univ.) draws on years of scholarship to disaggregate an increasingly important population, examining politically relevant cross-cutting cleavages among Indian Americans." -- A. L. Aoki, Choice