As one student from India said, “People don’t realize India is not a land of snake charmers anymore.”
Even so, many people in NYU can still be surprised by what real Indian and Pakistani international students are like.
NYU has nearly 6400 international students. Despite these large numbers, international students can still encounter cultural friction. These students say they are sometimes offended when asked questions like how they learned English so well. Students from regions in and around India and Pakistan can be subjected to stereotypes even though the reality of who they are points otherwise.
While there can be ignorance from people outside the culture some of the most culturally ignorant can be NYU’s American-born ethnic students. When these students are from the India/Pakistan region they are referred to as ABCDs. ABCD is an acronym standing for American-born confused Desi, used to denote minority students with misconceptions on their own culture.
Aditi Khandelwal, a student from India, talked about the stereotyping that goes on from American-Indian students. She said that international students have the reputation of being rich white wannabes. “ABCDs say we watch English movies or listen to English music because we are trying to fit in,” she said.
Anvi Byani, another student from India, explained that ABCDs “have a preconceived notion of how Indians are…Some call us wannabe-whites…Just because I have Indian roots doesn’t mean I’m not modern.”
Similar stigmas can also be held against Pakistani students who do not fit in with stereotypes. Pakistani student Anum Shahnawaz explained that the two most common points of ignorance are clothing and language. “People think they understand us before we come but they really don’t know,” she said. “People back home wear what people here wear. It is not your dress that makes you a good girl; it’s how you project yourself.”
Bisma Ahmad, an international student from Pakistan, explained how clothing fit in with her religious views. “People see me wearing jeans and shirts without sleeves and, yeah, I know my religion is against it, but I pay attention to the more important aspects of being Muslim like how to be a better person. I don’t pay attention to the trivial things.”
Internationals students speaking English is another issue that American students can sometimes fail to grasp. In many countries like India and Pakistan, English is taught alongside of their native language. Because of this, international students come to NYU already knowing how to speak English fluently. Many American born students, however, are unaware of this fact. Students interviewed stated that how they learned English so well was one of the more frequently asked questions about their country.
Byani found this out when a friend of hers asked her this same question. Reflecting on the incident she said “People here don’t realize that English is like the second language of India. You get taught it all your life along with Hindi,” the native language of India.
Even though she knew English fluently, Khandelwal about how Indian accents are sometimes made fun of. She recalled being mocked of in NYU’s Bobst library because of her accent. According to her, an ABCD and his friend started making fun of the way she spoke, imitating her in a mock Indian accent.
Besides dealing with cultural friction, International students have also needed to make transitions to fit into American culture. One of these transitions was the relative acceptance of homosexuality. Homosexuality is a taboo subject in other countries. In countries like India, it is even outlawed as being unnatural. Coming to America, where homosexuals are more free to express themselves, many international students were forced to take a new look at being gay or lesbian. As one Pakistani student said, back home “if someone was to tell me he was gay I would be shocked. Here it is not such a big deal. I’m immune to it.”
Another transition was in understanding American religiousness. Byani said that before coming to NYU, she generally believed that Americans were not religious people. This changed, however, in meeting several devout Christians and Jews who keep up with their religious obligations.
Dr. David Benton Austell said it is this learning process on both sides that makes it important for international students to come to America. Dr. Austell is the Director of The Office of International Students and Scholars, OSIS. Besides returning home with the prestige of a degree, Dr. Austell mentioned the importance of learning about American culture. “It is important for nationals to learn about the culture of this country in this governmental experiment of democracy,” he said. Dr. Austell also mentioned how this learning process breaks down stereotypes on both sides. He said, “America is still seen as the land of opportunity but the downside is it is seen as godless, unethical and immoral.”
This images foreign nationals have, they can compare to what they see here and figure out what is stereotype and what is true.” The same went for American students learning about other cultures, he said. Dr. Austell explained that Americans are in many way isolated from the rest of the world. It is through bringing international students here that Americans can understand other cultures more fully.
Cultural friction can be seen as just the growing pains of a generation being exposed to the outside world. By allowing international students to study at NYU, both the international and American-born students partake in a learning experience that you will not see in a classroom. Even with the occasional bad experience, all international students interviewed said they were still happy with her decision to study in a different country. It is thanks to international students that NYU has such a high number of groups geared toward minorities. These groups can help build ties among students of similar backgrounds. So while NYU may not be completely tolerant, thanks to international students breaking down American isolation, perhaps it will be soon.
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