Americans in India
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 15,000[1][failed verification] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Bangalore · Chennai · Kolkata · Mumbai · New Delhi | |
| Languages | |
| American English · Indian languages | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity · Hinduism · Islam · Sikhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| American diaspora |
Americans in India comprise expatriates and immigrants from the United States living in India, along with Indian citizens of American descent. They have a history stretching back to the late 18th century.[2]
History
During World War II, more than 400,000 American soldiers were sent to India.[3]
After the end of British colonial rule in India in 1947, the "colonial third culture" surrounding employment, which featured expatriates in superior roles, natives in subordinate roles, and little informal socialisation between the two, began to be replaced with a "co-ordinate third culture", based around the common social life of Americans working in multinational corporations and their Indian colleagues. Americans who came to India for work slowly assimilated into this culture.[4] Many companies in those days found they had difficulty retaining American employees with children; they found educational facilities at the high school level to be inadequate.[5]
In a break from the long tradition of older American expatriates coming to India to manage local subsidiaries of American companies, a trend began in the 2000s of younger Americans taking jobs at Indian companies, especially in the information technology sector, often at lower wages than they had previously earned in the U.S. In 2006 there were estimated to be roughly 800 American immigrants working in high-tech companies in India.[6][7]
Numbers
In 2002, one widely cited estimate stated that 60,000 Americans lived in India. However, exact numbers were difficult to come by because many did not register with the embassy.[8] Some media reports around the time of the 2008 U.S. presidential election stated that 10,000 Americans lived in India at the time.[9] However this conflicted with another figure given by the head of the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, who estimated that there were 9,000 living in Mumbai and its surroundings alone.[10]
In fiction
Fictional portrayals include Paul Theroux's The Elephanta Suite, which invokes the "Ugly American" stereotype in each of the three novellas therein.[11] Outsourced aired on NBC during the 2010 television season, depicting an American manager at a call center in Mumbai.[12]
Education
American schools in India include:
Notable individuals
This is a list of current and former U.S. citizens whose notability is related to their residence in India.
- Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras Presidency (1684–85, 1687–92), founder of Yale University
- Nathaniel Higginson, Governor of Madras (1692–98)
- Tom Alter, actor in the Indian cinema industry, former U.S. citizen[13]
- Justin McCarthy, American-born noted Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, instructor and choreographer
- Nandini Nimbkar, current president of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
- Joseph Allen Stein, American architect
- Samuel Evans Stokes, later Satyananda Stokes, came to India in 1904 to work at a leper colony in the Simla Hills
- Romulus Whitaker, herpetologist and wildlife conservationist, born in New York City, became an Indian citizen in 1975
- Imran Khan, American actor of Indian origin, active in the Indian film Industry
- Jiah Khan
- Monica Dogra, American singer and actor of Indian origin based in Mumbai
- Ellis R. Dungan
- Goa Gil
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Somini Sengupta (October 17, 2006), Americans head to India for high-tech jobs, The International Herald Tribune, archived from the original on March 20, 2007
{{citation}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Bhagat 1970
- ^ Vest 1948, p. 223
- ^ J. Useem 1966, p. 146
- ^ R. Useem 1966, p. 132
- ^ Rai, Saritha (2005-08-10), "M.B.A. Students Bypassing Wall Street for a Summer in India", The New York Times, retrieved 2009-03-06
- ^ Chea, Terence (2006-04-03), "Americans seek opportunity in booming Bangalore", Associated Press, retrieved 2009-03-06
- ^ Bearak, Barry; Mydans, Seth (2002-06-08), "Many Americans, Unfazed, Go On Doing Business in India", The New York Times, retrieved 2009-03-06
- ^ Guha, Seema (2008-11-04), "Obama fans have already called a party in Delhi", DNA India, retrieved 2009-03-06
- ^ "How Americans in India vote for US polls?", The Times of India, 2008-10-29, retrieved 2009-03-06
- ^ Harding, John (2007-09-28), "Ugly Americans in India who want a piece of paradise", The Daily Mail
- ^ "NBC Cancels 'Outsourced': First TV Show Set in India". Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. May 21, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
- ^ Hazarika, Sanjoy (1989-07-06), "An American Star of the Hindi Screen", The New York Times, retrieved 2009-03-06
Sources
- Bhagat, G. (1970), Americans in India, 1784–1860, New York University Press, OCLC 119335
- Reviewed by Huttenback, Robert A.; Bhagat, G. (April 1972), "Review: Americans in India, 1784–1860, G. Bhagat", The American Historical Review, 77 (2), American Historical Association: 567, doi:10.2307/1868817, JSTOR 1868817
- Useem, John (1966), "Work Patterns of Americans in India", The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 368 (1): 146–156, doi:10.1177/000271626636800114
- Useem, Ruth Hill (1966), "The American Family in India", The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 368 (1): 132–145, doi:10.1177/000271626636800113
- Vest, Eugene B. (October–December 1948), "Native Words Learned by American Soldiers in India and Burma in World War II", American Speech, 23 (3/4), Duke University Press: 223–231, doi:10.2307/486923, JSTOR 486923
Further reading
- Heideman, Eugene P. (2001), From Mission to Church: The Reformed Church in America Mission to India, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8028-4900-7
- Lambert, Richard D. (1966), "Some Minor Pathologies in the American Presence in India", The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 368 (1): 157–170, doi:10.1177/000271626636800115
- Useem, John; Useem, Ruth Hill (1968), "American-Educated Indians and Americans in India: A Comparison of Two Modernizing Roles", Journal of Social Issues, 24 (4), doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1968.tb02319.x
- Hudson, Dana Andrew (2010-07-18), "What I Did When I Couldn't Find a Job", Chronicle of Higher Education, retrieved 2010-07-27; a personal account from an unemployed American who moved to Sikkim to work as a newspaper editor
External links
- Young Americans in India, a video report from CBS News
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