Many view India as having just one culture, but it really is a “supreme example” of societal diversity. It contains multiple major religions, thousands of ranked caste groups, and two major language families: Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. The divide between northern and southern India extends beyond language, including differences in food, dress, religion, and broader patterns of life. These differences became especially important in southern India, where leaders argued that Tami

Contrary to what most people believe, India does not have a national language. Many might wonder why Hindi is not the national language when that is what the majority of the population speaks. This is because while 53.6% of the population fluently speaks Hindi, about half of it does not understand this language. For example, in the Southern half of India, less than 15% of speakers can understand Hindi. This leads to the question of what language the rest of India speaks, if n

Indian immigration really only started after the Immigration Act of 1965. The wave of diverse immigration post-1965 called for a revision of assimilation theories. Much of this was also due to the different economic and social contexts. The economy during the time was an hourglass economy that had lots of high-skill and low-wage jobs. Furthermore, these immigrants faced more persistent racial discrimination, leading to residential segregation and the formation of ethnic encla