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Unruly Immigrants: Rights, Activism, and Transnational South Asian Politics in the United States, by Monisha Das Gupta. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006. 318pp. $22.95 paper. ISBN: 082233898X.
In Unruly Immigrants: Rights, Activism, and Transnational South Asian Politics in the United States, Monisha Das Gupta brings much needed attention to the growing number of social justice organizations within South Asian America that work against the dominant image of South Asian Americans as the model minority. The book examines women, gay/lesbian, and labor organizations (seven in total) in New York City, New Jersey, and Boston. Its main argument is that these organizations seek equality for their constituents through using a "transnational rights regime" rather than claiming general human rights or, more importantly, the right of citizenship within the increasingly restrictive neo-liberal state. According to Das Gupta, the right of citizenship will always depend on an exclusion of others, namely marginal members of minority communities. Her argument advances the literature on immigrant social justice generally, which applauds the efforts of immigrants to resist their marginalization by claiming a role as full citizens. This book is especially worthwhile in understanding social justice organizing; the intersection of immigration and race with gender, queer, and labor activism; and critiques of the neoliberal state relative to immigration. It also...