Module 2: Contours: A Profile of the Pakistani American Community
Do Pakistani Americans fit under the broad umbrella of an “Asian American” panethnic identity?
This module examines the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), family migration laws, and their collective impact on the Pakistani American community.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA) became instrumental in shaping all Asian American demographics in the US since it reversed the Asian exclusion laws of the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. For Pakistani immigrants, in particular, the act created opportunities and pathways for white-collar professionals to move to the United States.
Such a brain drain from Pakistan shaped the Pakistani American community in the US, while leaving a lasting impact on patterns of education, employment, and emigration decisions back home. Later, the family immigration policies passed in the 1980s and 1990s in the US created more class diversity within the Pakistani American population.
How did immigration laws after 1965 support Pakistani migration?
What broad patterns have shaped the Pakistani American community in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?
How have Pakistani American women contributed to the US labor force?
