Transnational Immigrants

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Chai, Samosa, and H1B Visa: Indian IT Workers in the United States

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 1-4

3. Land of Opportunity: Life Beyond Hollywood Movies

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 5-13

4. American Dreams and Identity Conflict

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 15-29

5. Transnationalism as Cultural Hybridity and Flexible Citizenship

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 31-42

6. Being Transnational Citizen

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 43-57

7. Conclusion: Creation of Temporary Enclaves

   • Uma Sarmistha

   Pages 59-65

8. Back Matter

   Pages 67-127

   PDF

This book provides a detailed account of transnational practices undertaken by Indian ‘high-tech’ workers living in the United States. It describes the complexities and challenges of adapting to a new culture while clinging to tradition. Asian-Indians represent a significant part of the professional and ‘high-tech’ workforce in the United States, and the majority are temporary workers, working on contractual jobs (H1-B and L1 work visa category). Further, it is not unusual for Indian immigrant workers to marry and have children while working in the U.S. Gradually, they learn to negotiate the U.S. cultural terrain in both their place of work and at home in the U.S. As such there is the potential that they will become transnational, developing new identities and engaging in cultural and social practices from two different nations: India and the U.S. Against this background, the book describes the nature and extent of transnational practices adopted by high-tech Indian workers employed in the United States on temporary work visas.

The study reveals that the temporary stay of these professionals and their families in the U.S. necessitates day-to-day balancing of two cultures in terms of food, clothing, recreation, and daily activities, creating a transnational lifestyle for these young professionals. Transnational activities at the workplace, which are forced by the work culture of the MNCs that employ them, can be considered as ‘transnationalism from above.’ Simultaneously, being bi-lingual at home, cooking and eating Indian and Western food, socializing with Indian and American friends outside work, and all the cultural activities they perform on a day-to-day basis, indicates ‘transnationalism from below’. The book is of interest to researchers and academics working on issues relating to culture, social change, migration and development.

• Transnationalism
• International Migration
• Economic Sociology
• Asian Immigrants and USA
• Research Method

• Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

  Uma Sarmistha

Uma Sarmistha is an adjunct faculty at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida, and a Visiting Scholar at the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna, India. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Kansas State University (KSU), USA and holds a Master’s in Sociology from KSU and a Master’s in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of development studies; migration and transnationalism; urban and regional development; economic sociology and gender issues. She was the country representative for IDRC project on UICT4D and has been a resource person for the University of East London project on the impact of ICT on rural poverty. Her publications include: “ICTs in Rural India: User Perspective Study of Two Different Models in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar” (co-authored) (Science Technology & Society) and, “A Rural Handloom Textile Industry in Bihar: A Case Study of Rural Informal Sector” (Social Change). Currently she is Co-Principal Researcher in the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) funded research project on violence against women in rural India.

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