Vorschlag B2

South Asian immigrants

Dieser Vorschlag enthält in Aufgabe 3 alternative Arbeitsanweisungen

Outline the problems and conflicts of South Asian immigrants and the solutions described in the text. (Material)

(30 BE)

Compare the situation of South Asian immigrants in Western countries as described in the text to Ali's in "My Son the Fanatic"

(40 BE)

Choose one of the following tasks:

3.1

Discuss the role of school and community life to support young immigrants with their identity conflicts.

(30 BE)

3.2

"[Y]ou don't have to fit into some box ... you don't have to fit in at all. There is nothing to fit into. We're beyond labels. Bigger than either/or. Us/them. We're and/and." (Tanuja Desai Hidier, Indian-American author, 2020)

Taking the quote as a starting point and referring to material dealt with in class, write an article for an English newspaper about the benefits of multicultural backgrounds. You can write as a journalist and/or as someone with a multicultural background.

(30 BE)

Material

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention (2020)

The article discusses problems of South Asian immigrants who move to western countries such as the UK or the USA.

The stigma around mental health, especially among South Asians, often deters members of the

community to seek help. Dil to Dil, a non-profit organisation in the US, aims to address just that.

Tahim, a licensed professional counsellor based in Washington, D. C., is a member of the online

community working towards deconstructing stigma surrounding mental health illnesses in South Asian

communities through open and honest conversations.

“We have someone share their journey and their own mental health story, which allows people to

know there are others that may be experiencing the same thing that they are going through,” the

31-year-old explained, adding that they are mostly active on Instagram. “It also gives people the

opportunity to speak openly in a safe environment.”

Brown Girl Therapy, a mental health community for children of immigrants, is another such initiative.

Founded by Sahaj Kohli, a second-generation South Asian immigrant and therapist in training in New

York City, the online community aims to help immigrants – especially South Asians and women of

colour – learn more about therapy and identity exploration.

Such online communities and a rise in conversations on social media around the common mental

health struggles of South Asian immigrants have helped take away some of the stigmas around

therapy, which Dr. Tina Mistry, a Birmingham1-based clinical psychologist, said has brought several

members of the community to her clinic.

[...]

For children of immigrants, there is a duality in their hyphenated existence2. “We have the freedom to

pick and choose from both cultures, identities and communities,” Kohli wrote on Twitter. “But with

that also comes the isolating reminder that we don’t totally belong in either.”

This cultural conflict, especially among teenagers and young adults, can often lead to an identity crisis.

“You could get to a point where you suddenly realise I haven’t got a clue who I am,” explained

Mistry. “It’s not a binary process. It’s a very gradual transition that you may face. [...] So you get this

kind of conflict of sorts, and begin to wonder, ‘Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to

be?’ ” [...]

In her practice, Tahim has encountered a number of cases of depression and anxiety among her South

Asian clients, which she believes are often a result of suppressed emotions. To get to the root of the

issue, Tahim says she asks her clients: “What did you perceive as love and being cared for when you

were growing up?”

Often, the response is linked to academic or professional achievements. “Coming from a South Asian

culture, we’re told that success only means making a certain amount of money, being in a certain

career field or achieving more than a relative’s child,” said Tahim.

While it’s not unusual for accomplishments, identity, and worth to be intertwined, according to Kohli,

this can create unique struggles for children of immigrants in the workplace and in their careers.

“Parentification,” explained 35-year-old Khaira, can be another common struggle for children of

immigrants, “where they act like grown-ups for their parents – helping them negotiate the challenges

of life in a new country, especially where there is a language barrier”.

A common narrative that plays out among the global South Asian diaspora3 is of a resilient community

that moved away from their native lands with little money in their pockets, often facing racism and

violence in their adopted country.

“We’ve all grown up knowing about this, and sometimes, as children of immigrants, you might feel

like your struggles pale in comparison to that of your forefathers and so you shouldn’t complain,” said

Kahira. “This can lead to children of immigrants invalidating their own experiences and telling

themselves they have no right to be unhappy because ‘at least they have it easier than the generations

before them’, or worse, having their feelings and experiences be minimised by their families because

they themselves had it worse.”

This dynamic can often breed shame and guilt, which Mistry classified as “toxic emotions that can

immobilize us,” and can lead to low mood and depression. Through therapy, Mistry said, she aims to

help South Asian immigrants pass down their gifts to the next generation, rather than their burdens.

Being an immigrant also means having to “adapt to live in a white person’s world,” she said. “We

have to assimilate and mould according to the dominant culture because of the fear of racism.”

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention, in: Quartz India, 15.09.2020,
URL: https://qz.com/india/1903589/immigrants-in-uk-us-struggle-with-depression-findingtherapist/ (abgerufen am 05.04.2020).

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Note:
Our solutions are listed in bullet points. In the examination, full marks can only be achieved by writing a continuous text.

Amanat Khullar's 2020 article "A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention" published in Quartz India, addresses the issues regarding the mental health of South Asian immigrants in the UK and the US and explains how these difficulties can be addressed

Introduction and referring to the article

stigmatization of mental health problems among South Asians, which leads to many not seeking help even if they suffer from problems
identity crises among children because they do not feel a sense of belonging $\rightarrow$ neither to the society they live in, nor to the culture of their parents
this leads to isolation and can lead to anxiety and depression
they are also under high pressure to perform and fear not getting affection or love from their parents if they "fail"
burden of responsibility to know and translate language better than parents
especially the young generation has inhibitions to describe and communicate their difficulties, because they are often dismissed and put in relation to the difficult situation of the older generation
thus, they do not communicate their worries, which often depresses them.
the immigrant generations are also characterized by the need to adapt to the Western culture in order to avoid racism

Main Body
Problems of South Asian Immigrants

but the article also includes some possible solutions
there are non-profit organizations that provide a safe place online to talk about mental health and identity difficulties
the stories and experiences of people with mental health are published on these websites to encourage others to talk about propobleem as well
the organizations also strive to show people that therapy is a good thing and that they are not passing on fears to the next generation

Solutions for South Asian Immigrants

the article focuses on the problems South Asian immigrants face in the U.S.
in the short story "My Son the Fanatic," a South Asian family consisting of Parvez and his teenage son from Pakistan is portrayed

Introduction

according to the article, first of all, the relationship in immigrant families between parents and their children is difficult
young immigrants grow up in two cultures and feel they belong to neither, which often leads to psychological and identity problems

In the short story, however, this situation is different:

Parvez, the father, has already assimilated into British society and the Western lifestyle; has worked as a cab driver in London for 20 years
in the story, it is never explicitly mentioned that Ali, the son feels identity problems or a torn between the two cultures
he lived fully in the Western way of life $\rightarrow$ performed well in school, had a British girlfriend and played guitar
when he suddenly broke up with his girlfriend for no apparent reason and completely rejected this way of life

Main Body
Relationship between immigrant parents and children

the focus of the article is on the psychological problems and depression caused by the cultural discord between the parent's country of origin and the country in which they live
Religious Fatanism is Ali's solution to his problems - in the story, it is implied that he receives feelings of rejection from British society, but the reader learns nothing about his feelings as they are never mentioned
the length of stay of the immigrants is another difference between the problem addressed in the article and the one in the story
in the article, the parents often rely on their children's translations because they have not been in the country for very long
Parvez, however, has been living in GB for several decades so he does not need his son for translations or to adapt British culture

Identity challenges due to cultural discord

a common aspect in both texts is the pressure of expectations exerted on children and adolescents by their parents
the article states that a great deal of pressure is exerted by parents on their children to perform
there is an insistence that they work hard to enable their children to pursue an academic career
parents see their own successful integration process as proportional to their children's academic performance
while in the article, the immigrants suffer from anxiety and depression, in "My Son, the Fanatic," Ali adheres to religion
another aspect that makes immigrant children feel pressured and ultimately suffer from guilt and shame is that they feel like they fail in being happy in a foreign culture, even though they have not had to go through the hardships of their parents
in the short story, however, the shame comes from a very different perspective; Parvez thinks he has failed to integrate his son and blames himself
he is ashamed of the perceived failure of his upbringing and his quality as a father

Pressure to perform from parents

ultimately, it can be summarized that both texts deal with the same issues of integration, psychological challenges, the pressure of expectations, and feelings of guilt; even if they are presented in different ways
in the article, a general analysis is made, and a possible solution to the problem is offered; the focus is on the generational conflict of new immigrants
while the short story tells the individual conflict between father and son; it foregrounds a problem that is deeply rooted in many cultures $\rightarrow$ that immigrants, even if they have lived in a country for decades and have children who have spent most of their lives in that country, are still considered "foreign immigrants

Conclusion

3.1

every adolescent is confronted with problems such as finding identity, puberty or even cultural classification when growing up
usually peers, parents or the social and school environment provide the support to cope with these problems
children from immigrant families often lack the support of their parents to cope with the identity crisis $\rightarrow$ therefore they are dependent on the support of their environment
however, it is questionable to what extent community institutions or the school can offer this supportive framework and help with problems

Introduction

at school, young people are usually surrounded by like-minded people who face similar problems regardless of culture
this helps teenagers to talk about these problems and try to solve them
within the school, there are usually also other institutions to which students with multicultural backgrounds can turn for help
teachers and social workers can also serve as interlocutors for young people who exhibit behavioral problems or depressive behavior
appropriate literature can also serve as a coping tool
however, students can only be helped if they actively approach others and address their problems
accordingly, when immigrant children suffer from problems and they don't talk about it or it otherwise goes unnoticed, it is very difficult to help

Main Body
Support at school

teenagers must be allowed to identify with their values, in addition to the appropriate social environment and activities
They need role models with multicultural backgrounds, such as teachers, mayors, police officers, or even firefighters, to see that they too can find their place in society

Support through role models

young immigrants also receive support and help in their community
a challenge is the bicultural identity with which they grow up; to reconcile the cultural heritage with the culture of the present
in order to develop healthily, it is therefore important to give both cultures the necessary space, i.e. time in groups with the same cultural background as well as in groups with peers of the country in which one lives
school or sports clubs or other leisure activities can give young people the space they need to integrate and feel included
however, recreational activities or clubs with young people from the same ethnic background can also give young people the opportunity to learn and understand the culture of their parents
this requires an environment in which young people have easy access to such activities
if there is no interest or access for the teenager, it is of course difficult to find support

Support from the community and sport clubs

all in all, it can be concluded that no one should lightly dismiss the struggles and often inner turmoil of young immigrants, we should all be sensitized to it
in our multicultural society, they need to feel welcome, they need to be accommodated, and they need to be seen
everyone - especially white people, must be aware of possible racial tendencies and discard them

Conclusion

3.2

Multiculturality - enriching Society, Community, and Togetherness

Headline

"[Y]ou don't have to fit into some box ... you don't have to fit in at all. There is nothing to fit into. We're beyond labels. Bigger than either/or. Us/them. We're and/and." (2020) with this statement, Tanuja Desai Hidier, an Indian-American author, describes the importance for society of having a multicultural background
she states that multiculturalism is something positive and a driver for eliminating "pigeonholing" and labeling
the idea of having to fit in is especially preoccupying for young people who feel torn between two cultures
a multicultural society has positive effects on both individuals and society

Introduction
referring to and explanation of the quote

multiculturalism is also an advantage in that society gets away from pigeonholing and thus prevents exclusion and disadvantage
besides race, people are also labeled according to, for example, their sexuality, gender, class, health disadvantage or religion
however, it is impossible to reduce an individual to this one aspect and thereby conclude the character
when you get to know an individual, you see how complex the individual characters are and how many facets make up a person
this way of thinking is relevant for every area of life, whether in private life, at school or at work, in order to treat everyone with tolerance, openness and respect

Main Body
Overcoming labeling due to multiculturality

people who grow up with a multicultural background have experienced ambiguity all their lives, learned that different opinions can be tolerated even if they are very different
ideally, they are more open-minded and open-minded
they grow up in an environment where there is not just one culture, where differences are accepted and can coexist
where in the best case there is no right or wrong, or condemnation of others

Further benefits of multiculturality: open-mindedness, tolerance

but of course there are exceptions; short stories such as "My Son the Fanatic" take up this discrepancy and show that the son rejects the western way of life and believes that this is the wrong way and the way to religious extremism is the right one
a society should try to understand why some bicultural people turn to extremism and how this could be prevented
because a multicultural society has very great advantages that should be benefited from, such as bilingualism

Exceptions like Fatanism

people with multicultural backgrounds are special and stand out from their peers
however, the unique knowledge can only be exploited if society accepts the differences
multiculturalism in different countries is called a melting pot or a salad bowl of different cultures by writers and journalists in the USA, for example
Benjamin Zephaniah describes in his poem "The British", also a multicultural GB, which is composed of many different components
each individual in society is a small building block from which the whole picture emerges
however, in order to achieve full potential and personal growth, acceptance and appreciation of multiculturalism is needed
immigrants must overcome problems and find their place in society in order to benefit from their cultural background

Multicultural societies

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