Model Minority and Marital Violence: South Asian Immigrants in the United States

The United States is a country built on immigration. Much of the new immigration is the outcome of immigration laws closely connected to concepts of citizenship, family unity, and the economic value of labor. In the United States, people of color have historically experienced institutionalized cultural and economic racism. Often due to issues such as noncitizen status, gender, ethnicity, and race, immigrant women of color experience some of the worst hardship. Drawing from my research in the 1990s on marital violence among South Asian Immigrants in the United States and my ongoing involvement in addressing domestic violence in South Asian communities, I discuss: (a) the importance of ethnicity gender, class, and citizenship status in understanding self and community, (b) the profile of South Asian immigrants in the United States from the 1960s through the 1990s, (c) the construction of the model minority image and its impact on the self and community, (d) immigrant women’s experiences of marital violence, and (e) the role of South Asian women’s organizations redefining notions of self and community by addressing marital violence. ¹ I conclude with a brief discussion of my entrée into research on marital violence among South Asian immigrants, the challenges and value of engaging in action research, and one potential for future research.