"This beautifully crafted and admirably empathetic study rightly fixes its gaze not on abstract collections of beliefs and practices but on the actual lives of specific Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. Along the way, it teaches us much about race and religion in American life."
-Stephen Prothero, chair, department of religion, Boston University

"Joshi has written a ground-breaking contribution on the racialization of religion, an issue scholars have long been reluctant to address. This stimulating and important book is essential in the study of South Asian Americans, second-generation immigrants, and Asian American religions."
-Paul Spickard, coauthor of Colorism in Asian America

"New Roots in America's Sacred Ground provides both a detailed analysis of second-generation Indian Americans and identity, and a sophisticated and lucid argument about the integral role religion and religious oppression play in race and ethnicity in the United States. Joshi's insightful intervention about the role of religious identity has gained even more significance in light of discriminatory practices occurring since 9/11."
-Jigna Desai, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, University of Minnesota

"This is a ground-breaking book in the contested territory of race, religion, and ethnicity in the United States. Despite being one of the of the fastest growing, most upwardly mobile groups in the country, second generation Indian Americans-Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, and Muslims-are conspicuous by their absence in scholarly studies. This book has invaluable data and case studies, which have been skillfully analyzed and thoughtfully presented. A "must-read" book for all those interested in immigration studies, transnational religion, Asian Americans, and American Religions."
-Vasudha Narayanan, professor of religion and director of the Center for the study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra) at the University of Florida

What does race have to do with religion? According to Khyati Y. Joshi, quite a bit. In this compelling look at the ways that second generation Indian Americans develop and change their sense of ethnic identity, she reveals how race and religion interact, intersect, and affect each other in a myriad of complex ways. In a society where Christianity and whiteness are the norm, most Indian Americans are both racial and religious minorities. At the same time-perceived as neither black nor white-they are a racially ambiguous population. One result of these factors is the racialization of religion, on which Joshi offers important insights in the wake of 9/11 and the intensified backlash against Americans who look Middle Eastern and South Asian.

Drawing on case studies and in-depth interviews with forty-one second-generation Indian Americans, Joshi analyzes their experiences involving religion, race, and ethnicity from elementary school to adulthood. She shows how their identity has developed differently from their parents' and their non-Indian peers', and how religion often exerted a dramatic effect. She maps the many crossroads that they encounter as they navigate between home and religious community, family obligations and school, and a hope to retain their ethnic identity while also feeling disconnected from their parents' generation.

Through her candid insights into the internal conflicts that contemporary Indian Americans face as they negotiate this pastiche of experiences, and the religious and racial discrimination they encounter, Joshi provides a timely window into the ways that race, religion, and ethnicity coincide in day-to-day life.

Khyati Y. Joshi is an assistant professor at the School of Education at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Religion in America
Chapter 2 Ethnicity and Religion
Chapter 3 Facets of Lived Religion
Chapter 4 What Does Race Have to Do with Religion?
Chapter 5 Religious Oppression
Chapter 6 Case Studies
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index