On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 8:26 PM, ss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In the UK "South Asian" is the preferred term used by a Pakistani who does not > want to admit he is of Pakistani origin but cannot, or will not say he is > Indian. Indians have no trouble saying they are Indian. >
This is interesting because 'Asian' is an acceptable term for South Asians in African countries...i.e. 'asian' essentially groups everyone as an indian (east asians dont exist in significant numbers here, except for the chinese... who are just called 'chinese') Much as in the same way as black africans are viewed as monolithically 'black' or 'african'... south asians are all lumped together as monolithic 'asians' - the distinguishing characteristic is that of religion (hindus, muslims and sikhs...) i.e.they are the same except for religion. The interesting thing is among the 'asians' the distinctive groups are community based : bohras, patels, oshwals, shahs, khojas, lohanas, badalas, kutchis, pathaans, konkani muslims, goans, memons, baluchis... people identify themselves with these communities rather than as indians or pakistanis (presumably because much of the immigration happened in the early part of the last century when the communal/caste identity was the strongest).
