From the Ganges to the Hudson

From the Ganges to the Hudson: Indian Immigrant Families in New York City by Johanna Lessinger is a part of the New Immigrants Series, and one of the books I had to read this past Spring for my Anthropology of Migration class. As with the other from the series that I've read, Changes and Conflicts, this book is rather short (only 159 pages), but also both interesting and informative. Through Lessinger, we can get an insight into the experience of immigrants to the U.S. (specifically, of course, to New York City) from India - both the first generation immigrants (those who were born in India and immigrated as adults) and the 1.5 and second generation immigrants as well (respectively, those who were born in India but immigrated as children, and children who were born in the US to first generation immigrants). The communities they create here are rich with their native culture, and there is not so much a loss of native language as was widely the case with immigrants from Europe in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

Lessinger covers a range of topics in From the Ganges to the Hudson, such as how Indians fit into the New Immigration, creating an ethnic identity and infrastructure (maintaining their traditional cultural and religious identities in their new environment), and how our very different U.S. culture affects the relationship between the younger generations and their more traditional older relatives. She also discusses the relationship between immigrants from India and immigrants from other Southeast Asian countries.

Again, this series is really pretty perfect for people who maybe have a passing interest in these topics - they're short and not written with tons of jargon, so anyone should be able to understand the points being expressed. I personally enjoy reading ethnographies, and the individual cases throughout the book help bring the subject to life.

ISBN:

0205167012

Publisher:
Pearson

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