Stereotypes of South Asians
Encyclopedia
Stereotypes of South Asians are oversimplified ethnic stereotype
s of South Asia
n people, and are found in many Western societies
. Stereotype
s of South Asians have been collectively internalized by societies, and are manifested by a society's media
, literature
, theatre
and other creative expressions. However, these stereotypes have very real repercussions for South Asians in daily interactions, current events, and governmental legislation
.
, thoughts
and poems
, and that "everything" came from India. In the 18th century, Voltaire
wrote that "I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis
, etc...
Mark Twain
put it eloquently, describing India as:
to describe negative attitudes expressed by some British Indologists against Indian history, society, religions and culture. Historians have noted that during the British Empire
, "evangelical influence drove British policy down a path that tended to minimize and denigrate the accomplishments of Indian civilization and to position itself as the negation of the earlier British Indomania
that was nourished by belief in Indian wisdom."
In Charles Grant
highly influential "Observations on the ...Asiatic subjects of Great Britain" (1796), Grant criticized the Orientalists
for being too respectful to Indian culture and religion. His work tried to determine the Hindu
's "true place in the moral scale", and he alleged that the Hindus are "a people exceedingly depraved".
Indian philosophers like Swami Vivekananda
criticised some British of trying to spread propaganda about Hinduism being a caste-ridden, animal-worshipping society.
One of the most influential historians of India during the British Empire, James Mill
was criticised for being prejudiced against Hindus. The Indologist H.H. Wilson wrote that the tendency of Mill's work is "evil". Mill claimed that both Indians and Chinese people are cowardly, unfeeling, and mendacious. Both Mill and Grant attacked Orientalist scholarship that was too respectful of Indian culture: "It was unfortunate that a mind so pure, so warm in the pursuit of truth, and so devoted to oriental learning, as that of Sir William Jones
, should have adopted the hypothesis of a high state of civilization in the principal countries of Asia."
, known as "India's First War of Independence
" to the Indians and as the "Indian Mutiny" to the British
, when Indian sepoy
s rebelled against the British East India Company
's rule in India
. Allegations of war rape
were used as propaganda
by British colonialists
in order to justify the colonization of India. While incidents of rape committed by Indian rebels against English
women and girls were generally uncommon during the rebellion, this was exaggerated to great effect by the British media
in order to justify British colonialism in the Indian subcontinent
and to violently suppress opposition.
At the time, British newspapers
had printed various apparently eyewitness accounts of English women and girls being raped by Indian rebels, with little collaboration to support these accounts. It was later found that some of these accounts were false stories and a few created in order to paint the native people of India as savages who need to be civilized by British colonialists, a mission sometimes known as "The White Man's Burden
". One such account published by The Times
, regarding an incident where 48 English girls as young as 10-14 had been raped by Indian rebels in Delhi
, was criticized as false propaganda
by Karl Marx
, who pointed out that the story was written by a clergyman in Bangalore
, far from the events of the rebellion.
Despite the questionable authenticity of many colonial accounts regarding the rebellion, the stereotype of the Indian "dark-skinned rapist" occurred frequently in English literature
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea of protecting English "female chastity" from the "lustful Indian male" had a significant influence on the policies of the British Raj
in order to prevent racial miscegenation
between the British elite and the native Indian population. While most of these discriminatory policies were directed against native Indians, some restrictive policies were also imposed on British females in order to "protect" them from miscegenation, similar to the purdah
in Indian society.
In 1883, the Ilbert Bill
, which would have granted Indian judges in Bengal
the right to judge British offenders, was opposed by many British colonialists on the grounds that Indian judges cannot be trusted in dealing with cases involving English female memsahib
. The British press in India even spread wild rumours about how Indian judges would abuse their power to fill their harem
s with white
English females. The propaganda that Indian judges cannot be trusted in dealing with cases involving English females helped raise considerable support against the bill.
The long-held stereotype of Indian males as dark-skinned rapists lusting after white English females was challenged by several novel
s such as E. M. Forster
's A Passage to India
(1924) and Paul Scott's The Jewel in the Crown
(1966), both of which involve an Indian male being wrongly accused of raping an English female.
controversy in 1883, English women who opposed the bill argued that Bengali
women, who they stereotyped as "ignorant", are neglected by their men and that Bengali babu
should therefore not be given the right to judge cases involving English women. Bengali women who supported the bill responded by claiming that they were more educated than the English women opposed to the bill, and pointed out that more Indian
women had academic degree
s than British women did at the time, alluding to the fact that the University of Calcutta
became one of the first universities
to admit female graduates
to its degree programmes in 1878, before any of the British
universities.
and the Turban Tide and Hindoo Invasion
. American newspaper headlines illustrating stereotypes of exclusion towards South Asians include: "The Tide of Turbans" (Forum, 1910) and "The Perils of Immigration Impose on Congress a New Issue: the Hindoo Invasion - a new peril" (Current Opinion, 1914).
has said that the prevailing stereotype being cultivated against Indians in the United States
is that "all U.S. jobs are being outsourced to India," and the stereotype is adversely affecting India-United States relations. He also commented that such stereotypes have "outlived their usefulness" and "ignore today’s reality.” Obama said, "Trade between our countries is not just a one-way street of American jobs and companies moving to India. It is a dynamic two-way relationship that is creating jobs, growth and higher standards in both our countries."
s, engineer
s or mathematician
s, and believed to have extremely high IQ especially in the USA.
-eaters," many Westerners surprised that they eat anything else.They are also stereotyped for eating spicy foods. However, although mostly only Indians are stereotyped, curries are eaten all around the world, and are very popular in modern contemporary cuisine.
due to the fact that the majority of them are Muslims. In Britain, the word "Paki
" is a derogatory ethnic slur for British Pakistanis, and the slur is sometimes used against British Asian
s in general. For example, the "Paki shop" stereotype is due to South Asians being stereotyped as being a majority of newsagent
and convenience store
shopkeepers.
, one of the few Asian American
professional ballet dancers nowadays, was quoted as saying:
Examples:
Ethnic stereotype
An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group.Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes.-Ethnic stereotypes:*African Americans...
s of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n people, and are found in many Western societies
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
. Stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s of South Asians have been collectively internalized by societies, and are manifested by a society's media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and other creative expressions. However, these stereotypes have very real repercussions for South Asians in daily interactions, current events, and governmental legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
.
Indomania
Friedrich Schlegel wrote in a letter to Tieck that India was the source of all languagesIndo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
, thoughts
Indian philosophy
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...
and poems
Indian poetry
Indian poetry, and Indian literature in general, has a long history dating back to Vedic times. They were written in various Indian languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and Urdu. Poetry in foreign languages such as Persian and English also have a...
, and that "everything" came from India. In the 18th century, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
wrote that "I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis
Metempsychosis
Metempsychosis is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. It is a doctrine popular among a number of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Druzism wherein an individual incarnates from one...
, etc...
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
put it eloquently, describing India as:
Indophobia
The term "Indophobia" was first coined in western academia by American Indologist Thomas TrautmannThomas Trautmann
Thomas R. Trautmann is an American historian and Professor in the Department of History at the University of Michigan. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of London...
to describe negative attitudes expressed by some British Indologists against Indian history, society, religions and culture. Historians have noted that during the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, "evangelical influence drove British policy down a path that tended to minimize and denigrate the accomplishments of Indian civilization and to position itself as the negation of the earlier British Indomania
Indomania
Indomania and Indophilia refer to the special interest India has generated in the Western world, and more specifically, the culture and civilisation of the Indian subcontinent. During the initial period of colonialism everything about India had an aspect of novelty, especially in Britain...
that was nourished by belief in Indian wisdom."
In Charles Grant
Charles Grant (British East India Company)
Charles Grant was a British politician influential in Indian and domestic affairs who, motivated by his evangelical Christianity, championed the causes of social reform and Christian mission, particularly in India...
highly influential "Observations on the ...Asiatic subjects of Great Britain" (1796), Grant criticized the Orientalists
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
for being too respectful to Indian culture and religion. His work tried to determine the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
's "true place in the moral scale", and he alleged that the Hindus are "a people exceedingly depraved".
Indian philosophers like Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
criticised some British of trying to spread propaganda about Hinduism being a caste-ridden, animal-worshipping society.
One of the most influential historians of India during the British Empire, James Mill
James Mill
James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:Mill was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of...
was criticised for being prejudiced against Hindus. The Indologist H.H. Wilson wrote that the tendency of Mill's work is "evil". Mill claimed that both Indians and Chinese people are cowardly, unfeeling, and mendacious. Both Mill and Grant attacked Orientalist scholarship that was too respectful of Indian culture: "It was unfortunate that a mind so pure, so warm in the pursuit of truth, and so devoted to oriental learning, as that of Sir William Jones
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones was an English philologist and scholar of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages...
, should have adopted the hypothesis of a high state of civilization in the principal countries of Asia."
Pre-Independence Indian male
Stereotypes of Indians intensified during and after the Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
, known as "India's First War of Independence
India's First War of Independence (term)
The First War of Indian Independence is a term that is sometimes used, predominantly in India, to describe the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which has been described variously outside of India as "uprising", "revolt" and "mutiny".- History :...
" to the Indians and as the "Indian Mutiny" to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, when Indian sepoy
Sepoy
A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...
s rebelled against the British East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
's rule in India
Company rule in India
Company rule in India refers to the rule or dominion of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent...
. Allegations of war rape
War rape
War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
were used as propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
by British colonialists
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
in order to justify the colonization of India. While incidents of rape committed by Indian rebels against English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
women and girls were generally uncommon during the rebellion, this was exaggerated to great effect by the British media
Media of the United Kingdom
Media of the United Kingdom consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. The UK also has a strong music industry. The UK has a diverse range of providers, the most prominent being principle public service...
in order to justify British colonialism in the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and to violently suppress opposition.
At the time, British newspapers
History of British newspapers
During the 17th century, there were many kinds of publications, that told both news and rumours. Among these were pamphlets, posters, ballads etc. Even when the news periodicals emerged, many of these co-existed with them. A news periodical differs from these mainly because of its periodicity...
had printed various apparently eyewitness accounts of English women and girls being raped by Indian rebels, with little collaboration to support these accounts. It was later found that some of these accounts were false stories and a few created in order to paint the native people of India as savages who need to be civilized by British colonialists, a mission sometimes known as "The White Man's Burden
The White Man's Burden
"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands...
". One such account published by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, regarding an incident where 48 English girls as young as 10-14 had been raped by Indian rebels in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, was criticized as false propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
by Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, who pointed out that the story was written by a clergyman in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, far from the events of the rebellion.
Despite the questionable authenticity of many colonial accounts regarding the rebellion, the stereotype of the Indian "dark-skinned rapist" occurred frequently in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea of protecting English "female chastity" from the "lustful Indian male" had a significant influence on the policies of the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in order to prevent racial miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
between the British elite and the native Indian population. While most of these discriminatory policies were directed against native Indians, some restrictive policies were also imposed on British females in order to "protect" them from miscegenation, similar to the purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
in Indian society.
In 1883, the Ilbert Bill
Ilbert Bill
The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was...
, which would have granted Indian judges in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
the right to judge British offenders, was opposed by many British colonialists on the grounds that Indian judges cannot be trusted in dealing with cases involving English female memsahib
Sahib
Sahib is an Urdu term which literally translates to "Owner" or "Proprietor". The primary Arabic meaning of Sahib is "associate, companion, comrade, friend" though it also includes "Sahib is an Urdu term which literally translates to "Owner" or "Proprietor". The primary Arabic meaning of Sahib...
. The British press in India even spread wild rumours about how Indian judges would abuse their power to fill their harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
s with white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
English females. The propaganda that Indian judges cannot be trusted in dealing with cases involving English females helped raise considerable support against the bill.
The long-held stereotype of Indian males as dark-skinned rapists lusting after white English females was challenged by several novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s such as E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
's A Passage to India
A Passage to India
A Passage to India is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time...
(1924) and Paul Scott's The Jewel in the Crown
The Jewel in the Crown (novel)
The Jewel in the Crown is the 1966 novel by Paul Scott that starts his Raj Quartet.-Plot introduction:Much of the novel is written in the form of interviews and reports of conversations and research from the point of view of a narrator. Other portions are in the form of letters from one character...
(1966), both of which involve an Indian male being wrongly accused of raping an English female.
Ignorant Bengali women
During the Ilbert BillIlbert Bill
The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was...
controversy in 1883, English women who opposed the bill argued that Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
women, who they stereotyped as "ignorant", are neglected by their men and that Bengali babu
Babu (title)
The term babu, also spelled baboo, is used in modern-day South Asia as a sign of respect towards men. It is a derivation of bapu which means father. The honorific "ji" is sometimes added as a suffix to create the double honorific "babuji" which, in northern and eastern parts of India, is a term of...
should therefore not be given the right to judge cases involving English women. Bengali women who supported the bill responded by claiming that they were more educated than the English women opposed to the bill, and pointed out that more Indian
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
women had academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s than British women did at the time, alluding to the fact that the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
became one of the first universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
to admit female graduates
Female education
Female education is a catch-all term for a complex of issues and debates surrounding education for females. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education, and its connection to the alleviation of poverty...
to its degree programmes in 1878, before any of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
universities.
Turban Tide and Hindoo Invasion
In the United States, both South Asians and East Asians were subject to stereotypes of exclusion, especially during the late 19th century and early 20th century with the advent of what Americans called the Yellow PerilYellow Peril
Yellow Peril was a colour metaphor for race that originated in the late nineteenth century with immigration of Chinese laborers to various Western countries, notably the United States, and later associated with the Japanese during the mid 20th century, due to Japanese military expansion.The term...
and the Turban Tide and Hindoo Invasion
Turban Tide and Hindoo Invasion
The Turban Tide was a xenophobic perception of a mass immigration from the Indian subcontinent to the United States during the late 19th century....
. American newspaper headlines illustrating stereotypes of exclusion towards South Asians include: "The Tide of Turbans" (Forum, 1910) and "The Perils of Immigration Impose on Congress a New Issue: the Hindoo Invasion - a new peril" (Current Opinion, 1914).
Violent fighting over securing an Indian wife
"The shortage of Indian women resulted in violence committed by jealous lovers and husbands, creating a stereotype of East Indian men, which gained in infamy... coolies reputation with the police was bad and significantly while the Negroes use their tongue in argument, the Indian commit murder, and given the scarcity of Indian women, without hesitation. Thus the stereotype is reinforced ascribing to the Indian husband a frantically jealous disposition."
Irrationality
"[I]n the Western popular consciousness the Indian subcontinent... is denounced for its irrationality... Hindu beliefs and traditions are often represented as a superstitious localized collection of archaic cults... During the impressionable teenage years, these negative portrayals [of Hinduism] can cause shame and embarrassment among Indian-American students regarding their ancestry and can engender a dislike for India... Negativities may persist amongst the chattering masses in classes at the University level [in the United States] and amongst the working classes, in which Hinduism is represented as myth." (This refers to those stereotyping without prior knowledge of the high philosophy of the dharmic Hindu faith.)
Monkey brain eaters
"The wholly fictional depiction of India in the Steven Spielberg film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of DoomIndiana Jones and the Temple of DoomIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
, seems to have been taken as a valid portrayal of India by many teachers, since a large number of students surveyed complained that teachers referred to the eating of monkey brains."
Outsourcing/offshoring/call centers
Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
has said that the prevailing stereotype being cultivated against Indians in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is that "all U.S. jobs are being outsourced to India," and the stereotype is adversely affecting India-United States relations. He also commented that such stereotypes have "outlived their usefulness" and "ignore today’s reality.” Obama said, "Trade between our countries is not just a one-way street of American jobs and companies moving to India. It is a dynamic two-way relationship that is creating jobs, growth and higher standards in both our countries."
High-functioning group
In Britain, Indians are depicted to be either corner shop owners or doctors. Indians are often represented as extremely smart people. In many cases, they are depicted as doctorPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s, engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
s or mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
s, and believed to have extremely high IQ especially in the USA.
Food
Indians are often stereotyped as "curryCurry
Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...
-eaters," many Westerners surprised that they eat anything else.They are also stereotyped for eating spicy foods. However, although mostly only Indians are stereotyped, curries are eaten all around the world, and are very popular in modern contemporary cuisine.
Pakistanis
Pakistanis are often stereotyped as taxi drivers in America. Their stereotypes are mostly similar to Indian stereotypes but also tend to overlap with the stereotypes of West and Central Asians and the stereotypes of Arabs and MuslimsStereotypes of Arabs and Muslims
Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims have been presented in various forms by the mass media in Western culture and American culture. Stereotypical representations of Arabs are often manifested in a society's media, literature, theater and other creative expressions...
due to the fact that the majority of them are Muslims. In Britain, the word "Paki
Paki
Paki may refer to:*Paki, California, former settlement in Butte County*Paki, a derogatory term for a person from Pakistan*Pākī , Hawaiian high chief during the reign of King Kamehameha III...
" is a derogatory ethnic slur for British Pakistanis, and the slur is sometimes used against British Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
s in general. For example, the "Paki shop" stereotype is due to South Asians being stereotyped as being a majority of newsagent
Newsagent
A newsagent's shop , newsagency or newsstand is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. In Britain and Australia, these businesses are termed newsagents...
and convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
shopkeepers.
Overcoming stereotypes
Amar RamasarAmar Ramasar
Amar Ramasar is a principal dancer of the New York City Ballet. In 2010, Dance Magazine reported that Ramasar was one of the few Asian American professional ballet dancers...
, one of the few Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
professional ballet dancers nowadays, was quoted as saying:
See also
- British AsianBritish AsianBritish Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
- South Asian American
- Indo-Canadian
Examples:
- Apu NahasapeemapetilonApu NahasapeemapetilonApu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...
('Apu' from The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
.) - DhalsimDhalsim, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games.Dhalsim made his debut in the original Street Fighter II as one of the games original eight main characters. In his backstory, Dhalsim is characterized as a pacifist who goes against his beliefs by entering the World...
- Goodness Gracious Me (BBC)