The Karma of Brown Folk [Paperback]

Vijay Prashad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2001

What does it mean to be a model minority?

"How does it feel to be a problem?" asked W. E. B. Du Bois of black Americans in his classic The Souls of Black Folk. A hundred years later, Vijay Prashad asks South Asians "How does it feel to be a solution?" In this kaleidoscopic critique, Prashad looks into the complexities faced by the members of a "model minority"-one, he claims, that is consistently deployed as "a weapon in the war against black America."

On a vast canvas, The Karma of Brown Folk attacks the two pillars of the "model minority" image, that South Asians are both inherently successful and pliant, and analyzes the ways in which U.S. immigration policy and American Orientalism have perpetuated these stereotypes. Prashad uses irony, humor, razor-sharp criticism, personal reflections, and historical research to challenge the arguments made by Dinesh D'Souza, who heralds South Asian success in the U.S., and to question the quiet accommodation to racism made by many South Asians. A look at Deepak Chopra and others whom Prashad terms "Godmen" shows us how some South Asians exploit the stereotype of inherent spirituality, much to the chagrin of other South Asians. Following the long engagement of American culture with South Asia, Prashad traces India's effect on thinkers like Cotton Mather and Henry David Thoreau, Ravi Shankar's influence on John Coltrane, and such essential issues as race versus caste and the connection between antiracism activism and anticolonial resistance.

The Karma of Brown Folk locates the birth of the "model minority" myth, placing it firmly in the context of reaction to the struggle for Black Liberation. Prashad reclaims the long history of black and South Asian solidarity, discussing joint struggles in the U.S., the Caribbean, South Africa, and elsewhere, and exposes how these powerful moments of alliance faded from historical memory and were replaced by Indian support for antiblack racism. Ultimately, Prashad writes not just about South Asians in America but about America itself, in the tradition of Tocqueville, Du Bois, Richard Wright, and others. He explores the place of collective struggle and multiracial alliances in the transformation of self and community-in short, how Americans define themselves.

Vijay Prashad is assistant professor of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Taking a cue from W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black FolkAwhich poses the question, "How does it feel to be a problem?"APrashad's book on race relations asks Asians, "How does it feel to be a solution?" An assistant professor of international relations, he shows how neoconservatives have used the success of South Asian immigrants (though most of the book deals with Indians) to argue that America now offers a level playing field and that if other minorities, particularly African-Americans, have not achieved as much success, it is due to their own lack of initiative. Yet Prashad demonstrates how the U.S.'s extremely selective immigration policy (from 1966 to 1977, for example, 83% of Indian immigrants to the U.S. were professionals) has led to the myth of the "successful race." In the same vein, Prashad also argues that "sly Babas" (or "Godmen"), like Deepak Chopra, perpetuate the idea that Asians are a pliant, spiritual group and do a disservice by peddling "opiates that comfort" rather than challenging people to alter the causes of their distress. Throughout his book, Prashad repeatedly reproaches society for forgetting the poorAchastising Bobby McFerrin, for example, for releasing his song Don't Worry Be Happy at a time of great economic insecurity, and castigating the medical community for not doing enough to control preventable diseases common among the poor. Though Prashad includes many revealing insights about South Asians in America, at times his book seems more like a scattered collection of anecdotal lectures than a cogent analysis of race relations among minority groups in our nation. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“Fascinating reading . . . a keen eye-witness . . . Prashad has a genius for selecting the precise detail that makes observations spring to life.” -- A. Magazine: Inside Asian America --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press; 1st edition (March 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816634394
• ISBN-13: 978-0816634392
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vijay Prashad is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He is the author of eleven books, most recently The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (2007). Two of his books, Karma of Brown Folk (2000) and Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting (2002), were chosen by the Village Voice as books of the year.[citation needed] The Darker Nations was chosen as the Best Nonfiction book by the Asian American Writers' Workshop in 2008 and it won the Muzaffar Ahmed Book Award in 2009.

His pieces of journalism frequently appear in South Asian periodicals (his monthly column "Letter from America" in Frontline magazine, his book reviews in the Kathmandu based Himal, for which he is a contributing editor), in North American periodicals (Z Magazine, ColorLines Magazine, The Indian American) or else on the web (regularly at CounterPunch and ZNET). He is a contributing editor at the online magazine Naked Punch and a member of the editorial boards of the scholarly journals Amerasia Journal and Left History.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We want your work, we don't want your lives.", January 12, 2003

By 

"raprasad2" (New Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Karma of Brown Folk (Paperback)

This should be required reading for indians living in the US. Whether you agree or not with all of the opinions it helps create positive discussion (including an explanation of why such a large percentage Indians in the US have fared so well financially).

It also helps place South Asians in the context of US social order--where one's status often revolves around money and race.

The book is worth reading if only for its scathing review of deepak chopra :)

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for ALL south asians, May 26, 2001

By 

"naveenkj" (Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Karma of Brown Folk (Hardcover)

This is a book, that you will either love or hate--no middle ground. I personally love this book. Vijay Prashad's book provides a honest, critical analysis of south-asians in America. It is sharp in its criticsm of Hinduvata's influence in shaping Indian identity; just as keen in debunking the model minority myth. It is a superb rebuttal to D'Souza, and other neoconservatives and the ways in which white america uses south asians as weapons against blacks. Prashad draws on Orientalism of America, and how this affects the ways in which desis are viewed and the ways in which they act in the racial landscape of America. Finally, Prashad asks of desis to commit model minority suicide--something every desi needs to explore critically.

This book must be read by all south asians in US, to whom it is so passionately argued; whether one agrees with Prashad's arguments or not, there is something informative and worthy of consideration for desis of all political affinities. For others, it is a parochial account of the Indian immigrant experience, which makes it a bit difficult to understand, but nevertheless something you need to read and try to understand; definetely a must read for black-americans, for this book calls for a black-asian (brown) solidarity that is worth exploring. The fate (Karma)of ALL brown folks in white america, needs to be shaped by such a solidarity.

I especially recommend this book to South Asian teens, who are caught in the midst of finding their identities, and jumbling to reconcile desiness with their americaness.

35 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good insights, but a skewed perspective overall, August 24, 2001

By 

"mihirpshah" (Springfield, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Karma of Brown Folk (Hardcover)

First, what's right about this book: There is no question that racism and prejudice in the South Asian community is a serious issue and needs to be addressed. I applaud Prashad for, at the very least, bringing the issue to the forefront. This is the first book I am aware of that attempts to delve into this matter head-on. Prashad is one of the few folks on the far Left to clearly articulate a dynamic view of culture, as opposed to (this is consistent with my own opinion on the nature of culture). In contrast to many multiculturalists who view culture as a static in nature where people are to be pigeon-holed in a racial or ethnic box, Prashad refreshingly describes culture as a fluid concept where individuals have some degree of choosing cultural ideas, themes, practices, rituals, and values. I wish more people of Prashad's ideology would get this. As of now, I have only seen this view expressed well (if at all) by neolibertarians (e.g., various Reason magazine columnists ) and neoconservatives (e.g., Paul Gigot in the Wall Street Journal and Michael Barone in The Weekly Standard). This dynamic view of culture is Prashad's and the book's greatest contribution. Now, what's wrong with this book: The biggest problem I have with Prashad is that he has an extremely pessimistic idea of what America (i.e., the USA) is about. Specifically, he holds the common (if not standard) Leftist perspective that America is a white male-dominated society. Phrases like "racist country" and "white supremacist" pepper his arguments. While I understand this work is a polemic in nature, nevertheless his shrill statements on America as a fundamentally racist nation greatly diminish the value of his arguments on the dynamic nature of culture. His essays (such as those in the progressive magazine "Little India"), express this same, tired view of America, and generally without the benefit of his otherwise keen insights on cultural dynamics. We are expected, in this book, to accept America as a hopelessy white supremacist society (almost a priori) and this for me made the book extremely irritating to read at times. Also, I would agree with an earlier review that there are two (if not more) books within this book. While some of his discussions on Orientalism, "greedy gurus", and Hindutva (i.e., Hindu chauvinism) dovetail with is main points on racism and prejudice, he devotes far too much time and effort to these topics. Indeed, the impression I get is that he is excessively attributing South Asian racism to these factors. It seems he is trying too hard to connect South Asian racism to these themes, and in the process leaves out several issues that have been explored by others as possible factors contributing to South Asian prejudice. Why, for example, didn't he fully address desi (i.e., Indian) cultural attachment to white (a.k.a. "fair") skin? What about intra-South Asian prejudice originating in South Asia itself (which includes caste, religion, language, region, class, etc.)? One of his central arguments of (Hindu) desi Americans using "Yankee Hindutva" as a reaction to "white supremacy" fail to convince me. I believe there is far more to explore beyond orientalism, gurus, and Hindutva to try to explain desi prejudice. Prashad also almost totally ignores other ethnicities and how the play into this new American ethnocultural landscape. I would have greatly appreciate the author's views on the experiences and histories of other Asian Amerians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Cambodians, etc.), Hispanics, native Americans, Jews, Italians, Irish, Arabs, Persians, Caribbean blacks, African immigrants, etc. While I'm not saying that Prashad was required to give "equal time" to other groups (he is, after all, writing a book about desis), he seems to focus too much on a desi-white(WASP)-African American triangle and not much else. Specifically, why hasn't he explored desis' views of other minorities, which would more correctly reflect desi patterns of prejudice and racism? Another twist on this is that Prashad could have discussed the experiences of desis across the diaspora, especially in Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Guyana, Trinidad, Fiji, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. The latter 6 countries provide especially vivid desi experiences that point to desis' high degree of endogamy, ethnocultural conservatism, and disproportional economic power as phenomena to be explored. Finally, and this may be my own prejudice as a pragmatic, mild-mannered Midwesterner: I can't help but see Prashad as yet another ivory tower academic pontificating from his ideological bunker in the elite Cambridge-to-Capitol Hill corridor (he's a professor at Trinity College in Connecticut). Maybe it's just me, but his calls for progressive action ring hollow to me and at times it seems as if he's trying to show off his progressive credentials. Also, particularly annoying to me is his reliance on Internet usenet newsgroups to gauge desi sociopolitial thoughts and views. (I'm not sure if he uses newsgroups as an example in this book or in his other essays). A few individuals drawn to the Internet to vent their bigotry does not qualify as a group for serious cultural analyis. These newsgroups are often merely echo chambers of extremism, chauvinism, and hubris. This reliance on newsgroups makes Prashad appear to be an out-of-touch academic who doesn't or won't take the time and effort to take into account the full range of South Asian American cultural experiences. Would it be too much to ask Prashad to spend a few days interviewing desis from a variety of places, such as Edison, NJ (a premier desi commerical and cultural hub), Oak Brook, IL (a high concentration of rich and upwardly-mobile suburban desis), or just about any random motel off an Interstate in the South (where there is high chance you'll find a desis working as anything from housekeepers to managers to wealthy owners)? In short, the book discusses some important and interesting topics, and provides some very useful insights and observations, but ultimately, Prashad's stubborn ideological bent greatly diminishes an otherwise noble effort to pry open the critical cultural phenomenon of desi "success" and prejudice.