Indian-Americans are doctors, engineers, motel owners, taxi drivers and spelling bee champs – just a few takeaways from a new exhibition at the Smithsonian.
On closer inspection, though, curators are looking behind the cultural stereotypes of this population of 3.3 million Americans in a new exhibition that opens tomorrow in Washington DC.
The influx of Indian doctors, for example, began in the 1960s, as the United States sought physicians for its new Medicare system. The American inventors of Hotmail, the Pentium chip and fibre optics were all of Indian origin, engineers whose visas were part of the US effort to win the Cold War.
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation is the Smithsonian’s first major exhibition to examine the history of Indian immigration to the US and the influence of Indian-Americans.
It’s a story that dates to the first Indians arriving in 1790, who helped build the nation’s railroads and farms – and fought for citizenship when immigration from Asia was discouraged. There are also plenty of more recent contributions of leading Indian-American writers, entertainers and athletes – plus a fashion designer favoured by the first lady Michelle Obama.
The curator Masum Momaya says her team used Indian-American stereotypes as an entry point for visitors to learn more. “We want to take people beyond some of the things they know and have seen in popular culture to the deeper and more nuanced history,” she says. “I think one of the things that museums can do is add history and add context to contemporary conversations about race and immigration.”
In a subtle way, the show’s curators demonstrate that the current debate over immigration has been debated before.
The Smithsonian borrowed and collected objects from many Indian-Americans, from family photos and shoes that evoke a family home to the professional football helmet worn by the first Indian-American to win the Super Bowl, Brandon Chillar with the Green Bay Packers.
For more than a year, curators worked to borrow a dress made by the Indian-American designer Naeem Khan for Obama. The rarely seen gown joins items from other groundbreaking Indian-Americans, from a silver Olympic medal won by the gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj in Athens to the first US spelling bee trophy won by an Indian-American in 1985. Coincidentally, Indian-American students have been on a spelling bee winning streak for most of the past decade.
“It does speak to that experience of becoming American,” says Konrad Ng, the director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. “Spelling bees have this symbolic value – of being literate in the language and excelling in it.”
The year-long exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History is part of a US$2 million (Dh7.35m) continuing heritage project at the centre. Newly acquired artefacts include campaign materials from the US Representative Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian-American elected to Congress in 1957.
• For details, visit www.si.edu
Mica
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Stars: Zakaria Inan, Sabrina Ouazani
3 stars
Specs – Taycan 4S
Engine: Electric
Transmission: 2-speed auto
Power: 571bhp
Torque: 650Nm
Price: Dh431,800
Specs – Panamera
Engine: 3-litre V6 with 100kW electric motor
Transmission: 2-speed auto
Power: 455bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: from Dh431,800
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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