The Karma of Brown Folk

Prashad, Vijay. 2000. The Karma of Brown Folk. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. $24.95 hc. $16.95 sc. xv + 253pp.

Perhaps I am not alone in fearing an outbreak of racism due to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. While many Americans have expressed their nationalism with tri-colored ribbons and flags, some hate crimes were reported when the identity of the terrorists was revealed. In a time like this, it is especially important to reexamine the complexities of race and ethnicity in America. Prashad's book is an excellent choice to gain insights on Americans of South Asian descent.

It is no coincidence that the title of Vijay Prashad's book reminds readers ofW E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk. Coming across Du Bois's book in Calcutta two decades ago,Vijay Prashad draws from Du Bois's question, "How does it feel to be a problem?" (vii), and writes about the problematic question that South Asians in the US. face: "How does it feel to be a solution?" (viii). In The Karma of Brown Folk, Prashad explores the feelings and the consciousness of the desis (people who claim ancestry from South Asia), who are often considered a model minority and a solution to the crisis of Black America.

While Prashad limits his observations to South Asian diasporas, he extends his discussions to literature, popular culture, history, and immigration policy in the US. Prashad first examines the views of American intellectuals towards India, specifically looking at Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman, and points out that traditionally, like...