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6 Case Studies What follows are three case studies. As described in the Introduction, these case studies are for the reader’s use in applying and interpreting the material in the first five chapters of the book. Each one presents the experiences of a single research participant across his or her lifespan to date, drawing heavily on the individual’s own voice. The reader should bear in mind that the interview was not contemporaneous with the incidents described. Rather, the research participant ’s viewpoint is retrospective; it is the view of the research participant at the particular moment of the interview. Questions to Consider 1. Neha and Salim described being aware and resentful of Christian teachers’ injection of their religious beliefs into the classroom. What explains the divergent paths each has taken in adulthood with respect to his or her home religion? 2. Consider Binu’s experience in high school as compared to Salim’s—what explains the differing outcomes for their ethnic and religious identities? Binu Binu, a female Catholic, was born in Metro Atlanta and has spent her entire life there, with the exception of one year of graduate school in Tennessee. Her parents , Malayali Catholics, emigrated from Kerala and arrived in the United States in 1973, before she was born.1 Her family, like many other Malayali Catholic families immigrated after the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act; Binu’s mother was part of the large number of nurses hired from India (particularly from southern India) and other countries. She arrived first and later sponsored the rest of her family. Binu’s father worked for an airline company. 145 VVVVVVVVVVV Binu is the elder child and has one brother. She described growing up in a middle-class neighborhood that was predominantly white. She described her private Catholic school K–12 experience in much the same way, adding that there were “a few blacks.” Everyone at her school was Catholic, as the school only began admitting non-Catholics during her senior year of high school. She attended a historically black women’s college for one year, then transferred to an urban commuter university. Immediately after finishing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled in a one-year program and earned her Master of Public Health degree. When she was interviewed, she was working for a health insurance company and was making preparations for her upcoming wedding. Growing up, Binu attended Mass every Sunday at a local Malayali Catholic church. In college, once a month she attended Mass at the same Malayali church she attended growing up. She and her family have been very involved with the Malayali Catholic community in her town. Binu grew up identifying very strongly with being Malyali (an Indian regional identity, centered in the state of Kerala, which has the highest concentration of Christians, mostly Catholics, in India); she spoke the language at home and traveled almost yearly “back to Kerala.” Binu’s Experiences in K–12 Binu attended Catholic schools for all of her K–12 education. She reported having both African American and Caucasian friends at school, adding that she never felt “shunned or anything,” but that she became “aware of differentness from my Caucasian friends” in the third and forth grade. She said she didn’t feel different from her classmates, but also recalled noticing differences between herself and her classmates. She was very surprised when her classmates asked her questions about India, saris, or bindis: “That made me realize . . . I always thought everyone knew about that kind of stuff. . . . I just assumed everyone knew.” There was only one time, in fifth grade, that she was taunted by classmates because of her ethnic differences: “At one point with their curiosity and everything, they would make fun of Indian women, like they would say ‘why don’t you wear your bindi,’ or something.” Despite the few taunts, she said, she felt love and admiration for Indian culture while growing up. She did not recall ever being embarrassed or wanting to shun Indian culture during her K–12 years. “I never minded wearing salvars. I would wear them to Indian parties and was fine with it, like even if afterwards some of us went to the mall or whatever. I didn’t mind. I was not self-conscious of it or anything.” Binu said she always felt connected to her Indian heritage. All throughout her elementary and secondary education, she traveled to India. She said that her trips back to India were big...

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