Model Minority

India is unique in the magnitude of diversity from languages to food and style of dress, which is also reflected in her diaspora communities.

India is unique in the magnitude of diversity in terms of languages and regions, religions and sects, castes and sub-castes, rural and urban, food and style of dress, which are also reflected by her diaspora communities.

Today, the Indian diaspora in the United States is quite large and diverse in terms of education, occupation, income, regions of origin, religion etc. One of the most important factors affecting the size, growth, composition, and distribution of the Indian American population in the United States is immigration. While many other ethnic minorities are mostly subject to purely negative clichés, Indian Americans have largely been seen as a model minority. Indians are said to embrace certain values like self-discipline, diligence and persistency that enable immigrants from India to achieve their goals.

In Columbia, Missouri, a Midwestern college town with a population of around 100,000, roughly 1% of the population is of Indian origin. Education plays an important role in these Indian households as most of the adults in these families migrated to the United States in pursuit of higher education, they have now passed their penchant for education onto their children. This body of work highlights some of the aforementioned characteristics and also attempts to shed light on some of the cultural and familial aspects of the Indian American community.