American-Born Confused Desi

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American-Born Confused Desi, or ABCD for short is a term used to refer to Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans born in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled there. The longer form "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House In Jersey" is also occasionally seen; playing on the alphabet theme, it has been expanded for K-Z variously as "Kids Learning Medicine, Now Owning Property, Quite Reasonable Salary, Two Uncles Visiting, White Xenophobia, Yet Zestful" or "Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reaching Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways, Xenophobic Yet Zestful".^[1] Among Indian Americans, the term may be considered divisive, as first generation Indian Americans use it to criticize the Americanization and lack of belonging to either Indian or American culture they perceive in their second-generation peers or children.^[2] Writer Vijay Prashad describes the term as "ponderous and overused" and notes it as one of the mechanisms by which new migrants attempt to make second-generation youth feel "culturally inadequate and unfinished."^[3]

The "Confused" portion of the term allegedly refers to the identity crisis that many second-generation Indian and other South Asian Americans face while navigating between American and South Asian culture. The notion of this identity crisis comes from differences in accent, dress and etiquette between recent immigrants and American-born Indians. Most ABCDs are perceived to have strong ties to their Indian heritage, frequently visiting friends and family in their country of descent. They are also typically fluent in English and can understand an additional Indian language (though frequently unable to properly communicate or write it). They also tend to understand both American and Indian cultural value systems, but often do not participate fully in either culture. There is also a perception that ABCDs dislike recent immigrants, often colorfully referring to them, using a slur of their own, FOB, for "Fresh Off the Boat". Or, in a funny turn of the tables, DCBA (Desi-Confused-By-America).^{[citation needed]}

The idea of a well-documented cultural identity crisis is not unique to Indian Americans; British Asians often struggled with similar cultural conflicts. The term was also used as the title of a movie released in the United States in 1999, about the cultural struggles of a young American of Indian ancestry.

As a retort on the ABCD angst, sites such as mydesiishq.com have sprouted up. They aim to provide a place for Indian-Americans to meet and communicate with each other.

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[edit] Notes

^ Das, Diya (2007). The Evolution of an Identity: Indian American Immigrants from the Early 20th Century to the Present. Tribute Books, 60. ISBN 0979504562.
^ Skop, Emily. "Asian Indians and the Construction of Community and Identity". Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America: 287, Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 0742537722.
^ Prashad, Vijay (2000), The Karma of Brown Folk, University of Minnesota Press, p. 131, ISBN 0816634394