Mistaken Identities: The Media and Parental Ethno-Religious Socialization in a Midwestern Sikh Community

Abstract

Strong anti-Islamic sentiments increased dramatically after the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, leading to an uptick in prejudice and the perpetration of hate crimes targeting Muslims. Sikh men and boys, often mistaken for Muslims, suffered as collateral damage. The overall health of both communities has been adversely affected by these experiences. Faced with such realities, communities and parents often adopt adaptive behaviors to foster healthy development in their children. In this paper, drawing on interviews with 23 Sikh parents from 12 families, we examine Sikh parents’ ethno-religious socialization of their children. The confluence of media stereotyping and mistaken identities has shaped Sikh parents’ beliefs regarding their children’s retention/relinquishment of outward identity markers. Sikh parents, in general, are concerned about the safety of their boys, due to the distinctive appearance of their religious markers, such as the turban. They are engaged in a constant struggle to ensure that their children are not identified as Muslims and to protect them from potential harm. In most of the families in our study, boys were raised to give up wearing the indicators of their ethno-religious group. In addition, many parents took responsibility for educating the wider community about their ethno-religious practices through direct communication, participation in cultural events, and support of other ethno-religious minorities. Policy implications are discussed.

Engaging South Asian youth and families: A clinical review

“…From an inter-community perspective, SAA youth and families often must contend with microaggression (McMurtry et al, 2019) and macroaggression (Ekanayake et al, 2012; Paradies et al, 2015; Patel, 2019) based on appearance, religion, assumption of foreignness and intelligence. They range from aspersions of terrorism due to being brown-skinned (Poolokasingham et al, 2014; Sundar, 2008) or wearing a turban or hijab (Rana et al, 2019) to being treated as perpetual foreigners (Devos & Banaji, 2005). The ascription of intelligence to SA youth is closely linked to the model minority stereotype.…”

Ethnic‐racial socialization in mono‐racial Asian American and Pacific Islander families: A 21‐year systematic literature review

“…However, these measures, as well as previously established ERS measures for multiple ethnic-racial groups, employed in the reviewed studies, focused largely on cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust. While these strategies are important, we also need to regularly assess other identified strategies, such as becoming American and anti-racism socialization, as in Juang et al (2018) and Atkin and Ahn (2022), and nonverbal strategies (e.g., Rana et al, 2019). Since two-thirds of AAPIs are immigrants (New American Economy, 2021), greater attention to immigration socialization can build on the reviewed studies focusing on immigrant families and how immigration shapes socialization (Choi et al, 2018;Juang et al, 2018;Mehta, 2017;Park, 2020;Rana et al, 2019).…”

“…One study found that socialization was influenced by parents' perceptions of media. Rana et al (2019) found that Sikh parents who were conscious of negative media stereotyping and concerned about its effect on their child's safety were more likely to culturally socialize their sons to avoid outward identity markers (e.g., the turban).…”

“…, becoming American(Juang et al, 2018;Kim, Hunt, et al, 2023;Waters & Kasinitz, 2010), and anti-racism socialization(Tian, 2023). In their qualitative studyRana et al (2019) identified a behavioral strategy in Sikh families; concerned about discrimination, some parents permitted their boy children not to wear a turban. In their qualitative study of Asian American men,Keum et al (2023) identified white supremacist socialization, in the form of messages about the superiority of white people relative to Asian people.Two studies evaluated profiles of ERS.…”

Ecological Perspectives on Religion and Positive Youth Development

“…Using the ethnoreligious socialization framework, adapted from the ethnic racial socialization work done in African-American families, Rana et al (2019) present ethnographic work with a Sikh community in a Midwestern town. Using the bioecological framework, the authors draw from 23 parent interviews and observation notes from 12 Sikh families on their socialization of their sons to protect them from bullying and harassment that happens in schools due to popularized media images maligning Muslims and Sikhs mistaken as Muslims.…”