Explorations in Ethnic Studies
Orginal Publication Date
1993
Journal Title
Explorations in Ethnic Studies
Volume
16
Issue
ees/vol16/iss2
First Page
[147]
Last Page
163
Abstract
The problem is intermarriage, specifically intermarriages patterned by gender (all the men are from one ethnic background and almost all of the women from another) which produce significant biethnic communities. The author's original research on Punjabi Mexican Americans, people whose fathers came from India's Punjab province and whose mothers were of predominantly Mexican or Mexican American heritage, combined field work and interviews with California county records and local historical materials to show the flexibility of ethnic identity. She compares the Punjabi Mexican Americans to Filipino European Americans and Mexican japanese, using studies done by Barbara Posadas and Chizuko Watanabe. She finds that in all three cases members of the second biethnic generation evidence considerable flexibility with respect to their ethnic identity; they also insist upon cultural pluralism and claim the dominant national identity, particularly when confronted by new immigrants from the fathers' countries.
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1993