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Information Sought For Indian American Immigration Study

By A P Kamath in Berkeley, California

Although there are more than 1.2 million Indian Americans in the United States, they remain one of the least studied immigrant groups.

"In order to understand their experiences and to be able to compare and contrast them to other immigrant groups, it is extremely important that research be conducted on this population," notes Sangeeta R Gupta, a PhD candidate at the Department of South and Southeast Asian History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"The main purpose of my study is to collect data on immigrants from northern India in order to see if the immigration process affects family dynamics."

The project will also study issues facing the second generation. Approximately 60 families who meet the following criteria will be selected to participate in this study: Immigrated from the northern states of India after 1965, who have adult children (18+ years old) with, preferably one adult daughter.

The names of the families selected for this study will not be released. It is estimated that the interviews will take approximately one hour for each member of the family.

The questions will ask for information on the following topics: your reasons for coming to the US, your experiences after immigration, job-related experiences, family life after immigration; festivals celebrated etc.

Contact Gupta at (562) 936-0175, by email at sgupta@ucla.edu or through the UCLA Dept. of History, 6265 Bunche Hall, Box 951473, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1473.

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