The UK’s breakdown is relevant to the UK. There was almost a total lack of inclusion of Latinos on the list, and I was surprised about the “Chinese or Other” category. Does that mean all East Asians? Where does one draw that line? What if you’re from Bhutan? Tibet? In the UK Asian means people like me, whereas in the States it means “Chinese or Other.”

In the US we are lucky to have South Asian, forget about a breakdown by country. I am uncomfortable checking off Asian/Asian Pacific Islander on forms because while I know I’m Asian, others don’t see me as Asian. When there’s an other box I check it and write in South Asian because I want whomever is looking at whatever study to recognize that we exist (I know, my own personal existential crisis), and that there are a lot of us, damn it.

Latinos are probably more mixed than anyone…

When the Spanish came in they mixed with many of the indigenous/native/indians but also with the slaves taken from Africa. My husbands grandmother was black, for instance. Also, lest we not forget, the Spanish, even pre-Colombian days, were mixing with North Africans/Arabs and Persians even before they got to the Americas. What is latino, really? M1, M2, M9, B9 or W9?

BTW Razib, I worked that Census too! About every block or so, instead of answering the questions, at least one person would squint their eyes and ask me ‘What are you?’

They would get so pleased when I would say ‘This is all about you, not me.’;)

Lets face it, ghettoization (or even deportation) rather than assimilation appears to be the most likely future for desis abroad. The pakistani ghetto in Bradford, U.K. and the indian ghetto in Edison, New Jersey are prototypes of the ethnic enclaves where the majority of desis might end up living in an ever less welcoming west. If, or rather when, there is an economic downturn, desis will probabaly be the most vulnerable minority.

no. well, it depends. for gov. purposes the more “disadvantaged” ancestry is usually taken and used for proportional analysis. e.g., people who are black & white are counted as black for figuring out how many gov. set asides should be set aside for blacks. this was a concession by those who wanted to add multiracial to the 2000 census since minority activists believed it would decrease their numbers via defection. gets confusing when someone is mixed asian or native american and black or latino. we know white is right and the best, but the rank order of other groups is confused though i think the general consensus is the group in the suckiest situation is lower rank for a given social metric analysis (e.g., half-black and half-korean is counted as black for university admission, but not necessarily for gov. contracts where asians get a lot of favoritism).

Amen sister, I myself am waiting for boxes that say things like “ethnically swirled,” “mixie-matchie” and “one foot on the subcontitent, one foot in Mickey Dees.” Being a mixie like yourself, I have in the past checked different boxes depending on avialability and where I was in my life “identity-wise.” I kind of feel left out because there is no mixed box and according to the us census link in the post, it looks like if you check “white” and anything else, they will count you as “white.”

By the way, though I’ve never been, I have a deep and unfufilled affection for Canada. I hear its purty.

Thanks for the link.

I am still a little confused. The report seems to indicate that only 2% of all marriages in the UK are interethnic, and of those 90% are white-other marriages.

I am not sure if they are categorizing an Asian-Asian marriage as interethnic.

People from South Asian backgrounds were the least likely of the minority ethnic groups to be married to someone from a different ethnic group. Only 6 per cent of Indians, 4 per cent of Pakistanis, and 3 per cent of Bangladeshis had married someone outside the Asian group. As well as cultural and racial differences, people from South Asian backgrounds generally have different religions to people from other ethnic groups which may explain their relatively low inter-marriage rate.

My reading of the above paragraph is that the report does notconsider Asian-Asian marriage as interethnic.

Hmm.. two of my aunts and one of my uncles moved to England from Karachi right after the partition. So, I guess that makes them A2. My grandparents moved to India with my parents. So, my parents are A1. So, my father is A1, but his sister is A2. Funny!!