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Research on the assimilation of contemporary second-generation Americans has shown that ethnic enclaves are saturated with several cultural, religious, and transnational amenities that facilitate the process of immigrant integration in the United States. Missing from this research is a discussion of how middle-class, second-generation Americans use urban enclaves as a means of remaining attached to their ethnic identities. One such group with members who has achieved middle-class status and remained culturally attached to their enclave is Indo-Guyanese Americans of Indian Caribbean descent. This ethnographic study examines the ways in which second-generation Indo-Guyanese Americans use familial, cultural, and religious interactions in Little Guyana to create a sense of belonging and community. As the descendants of re-migrants, their multiethnic identities are complicating their assimilation in American society. Their experiences with racialization and social exclusion from white, South Asian American, and non-co-ethnic circles have pushed them toward developing their multiethnic identity. I use the term ethnic restoration to discuss how second-generation Indo-Guyanese Americans are using transnational ethnic consumption, religious institutions, and co-ethnic interactions to validate their ethnic identities and resist racialization. Their engagement in ethno-religious institutions in Richmond Hill is central to this analysis, as they embrace their Indian Caribbean identities more intensely after experiencing racialization. The findings of this research point to the need to understand why middle-class second-generation Americans are ethnically attached to urban enclaves.

Since 9/11, second-generation Muslims have experienced an increase in religious discrimination that has presented several challenges to their American integration.  Scholars have noted that Muslims are often marginalized and “othered” because of their religious beliefs, attire choices and non-Western ethnic origins.  In New York, Arabs, South Asians and Africans are the predominant ethnic groups practicing Islam.  Although Muslim communities are ethnically and racially diverse, they are categorized in ways that have transformed their religious identity into a racialized group.  This new form of racial amalgamation is not constructed on underlying skin color similarities but on their religious adherence to Islam. The War on Terror has complicated the image of Muslims by circulating Islamophobia, or the fear of Muslims and Islam, onto American society.  Political rhetoric targeting Muslim communities has also incited new ways of misinterpreting Qur’anic text to further marginalize them. Second-generation Muslim Americans are responding to Islamophobia by reframing the negative depictions about their identities through community-based activism.  This paper takes an intersectionality approach to understanding how Muslims across the New York metro area are managing their religious identities as they seek to develop a sense of belonging in American society.  This ethnographic case study addresses how second-generation Muslims are resisting Islamophobia through community building, civic engagement, and college student associations.  Countering Islamophobia has become part of the everyday life experience for Muslims in New York and is currently their main trajectory for integration into American society.

Since 9/11, second-generation Muslims have experienced an increase in religious discrimination that has presented several challenges to their American integration.  Scholars have noted that Muslims are often marginalized and “othered” because of their religious beliefs, attire choices and non-Western ethnic origins.  In New York, Arabs, South Asians and Africans are the predominant ethnic groups practicing Islam.  Although Muslim communities are ethnically and racially diverse, they are categorized in ways that have transformed their religious identity into a racialized group.  This new form of racial amalgamation is not constructed on underlying skin color similarities but on their religious adherence to Islam. The War on Terror has complicated the image of Muslims by circulating Islamophobia, or the fear of Muslims and Islam, onto American society.  Political rhetoric targeting Muslim communities has also incited new ways of misinterpreting Qur’anic text to further marginalize them. Second-generation Muslim Americans are responding to Islamophobia by reframing the negative depictions about their identities through community-based activism.  This paper takes an intersectionality approach to understanding how Muslims across the New York metro area are managing their religious identities as they seek to develop a sense of belonging in American society.  This ethnographic case study addresses how second-generation Muslims are resisting Islamophobia through community building, civic engagement, and college student associations.  Countering Islamophobia has become part of the everyday life experience for Muslims in New York and is currently their main trajectory for integration into American society.

No abstract