scholarly journals The Impact Of South Asian Cultural Violence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riti Dass

<div>This study explores the experiences and perspectives of first/second generation South Asian Canadian women on the representation of South Asian culture and violence against South Asian women. Specifically, this study looks at the myth of South Asian cultural violence, which views South Asian culture as inherently oppressive toward women and South Asian men as violent; and as a result, South Asian women are seen as victims of these men and their culture.</div><div>This study does not undermine violence against South Asian women, but challenges the ways in which violence against South Asian women gets talked about through the myth or the discourse of South Asian cultural violence. Both the state and (trans)national media play an important role in circulating this myth to further socio-political agendas. Centering the narratives of South Asian women in this study will show the ways in which they make meaning of the myth, as well as how they challenge and resist it. This study involves a focus group with two first/second generation South Asian Canadian women using arts-informed narrative methodology. Findings demonstrate that the discourse of South Asian cultural violence has had a significant impact on their relationship to themselves, other South Asians, and to the South Asian culture due to the ongoing encounter with stories of violence against South Asian women. </div>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riti Dass

<div>This study explores the experiences and perspectives of first/second generation South Asian Canadian women on the representation of South Asian culture and violence against South Asian women. Specifically, this study looks at the myth of South Asian cultural violence, which views South Asian culture as inherently oppressive toward women and South Asian men as violent; and as a result, South Asian women are seen as victims of these men and their culture.</div><div>This study does not undermine violence against South Asian women, but challenges the ways in which violence against South Asian women gets talked about through the myth or the discourse of South Asian cultural violence. Both the state and (trans)national media play an important role in circulating this myth to further socio-political agendas. Centering the narratives of South Asian women in this study will show the ways in which they make meaning of the myth, as well as how they challenge and resist it. This study involves a focus group with two first/second generation South Asian Canadian women using arts-informed narrative methodology. Findings demonstrate that the discourse of South Asian cultural violence has had a significant impact on their relationship to themselves, other South Asians, and to the South Asian culture due to the ongoing encounter with stories of violence against South Asian women. </div>


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e001927
Author(s):  
K M Venkat Narayan ◽  
Dimple Kondal ◽  
Natalie Daya ◽  
Unjali P Gujral ◽  
Deepa Mohan ◽  
...  

IntroductionWe compared diabetes incidence in South Asians aged ≥45 years in urban India (Chennai and Delhi) and Pakistan (Karachi), two low-income and middle-income countries undergoing rapid transition, with blacks and whites in the US, a high-income country.Research design and methodsWe computed age-specific, sex-specific and body mass index (BMI)-specific diabetes incidence from the prospective Center for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia Study (n=3136) and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (blacks, n=3059; whites, n=9924). We assessed factors associated with incident diabetes using Cox proportional hazards regression.ResultsSouth Asians have lower BMI and waist circumference than blacks and whites (median BMI, kg/m2: 24.9 vs 28.2 vs 26.0; median waist circumference, cm 87.5 vs 96.0 vs 95.0). South Asians were less insulin resistant than blacks and whites (age-BMI-adjusted homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, µIU/mL/mmol/L: 2.30 vs 3.45 vs 2.59), and more insulin deficient than blacks but not whites (age-BMI-adjusted homeostasis model assessment of β-cell dysfunction, µIU/mL/mmol/L: 103.7 vs 140.6 vs 103.9). Age-standardized diabetes incidence (cases/1000 person-years (95% CI)) in South Asian men was similar to black men and 1.6 times higher (1.37 to 1.92) than white men (26.0 (22.2 to 29.8) vs 26.2 (22.7 to 29.7) vs 16.1 (14.8 to 17.4)). In South Asian women, incidence was slightly higher than black women and 3 times (2.61 to 3.66) the rate in white women (31.9 (27.5 to 36.2) vs 28.6 (25.7 to 31.6) vs 11.3 (10.2 to 12.3)). In normal weight (BMI <25 kg/m2), diabetes incidence adjusted for age was 2.9 times higher (2.09 to 4.28) in South Asian men, and 5.3 times (3.64 to 7.54) in South Asian women than in white women.ConclusionsSouth Asian adults have lower BMI and are less insulin resistant than US blacks and whites, but have higher diabetes incidence than US whites, especially in subgroups without obesity. Factors other than insulin resistance (ie, insulin secretion) may play an important role in the natural history of diabetes in South Asians.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alka M Kanaya ◽  
Namratha R Kandula ◽  
David Herrington ◽  
Kiang Liu ◽  
Michael J Blaha ◽  
...  

Background: South Asians (individuals from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) have high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) which cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors. We created a community-based cohort of South Asians (MASALA) and compared the prevalence of coronary artery calcium (CAC) to four racial/ethnic groups in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Methods: We compared 803 South Asians to the four racial/ethnic groups (2,622 Whites, 1,893 African Americans, 1,496 Latinos and 803 Chinese Americans), all free of CVD. We created pooled multivariate Poisson models to examine the effect of race/ethnicity with CAC after adjusting for sex, age, clinical site, education, smoking, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, HDL-, LDL-cholesterol, and cholesterol lowering medication use. Results: The age-adjusted prevalence of any CAC was similar between White and South Asian men (68%), but was lower in Latino (58%), Chinese American (58%) and African American men (51%). South Asian women had similar CAC prevalence as other ethnic minority women but significantly lower than White women (37% vs. 43%, p<0.05). The figure shows the mean CAC scores among each of the five racial/ethnic groups by 5-year increments in age. After adjusting for all covariates, South Asian men were similar to White men and had higher CAC scores compared to African Americans, Latinos and Chinese Americans. In fully adjusted models, CAC scores were similar for South Asian women compared to all MESA groups. However, South Asian women ≥70 years had a higher prevalence of any CAC than all other racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions: South Asian men are more similar to Whites than the other race/ethnic groups in MESA. The high burden of subclinical atherosclerosis in South Asians may partly explain higher rates of CVD in South Asians. Follow-up data from the MASALA study will determine whether CAC is associated with incident CVD among South Asians and if this relationship differs from that observed in other racial/ethnic groups.


2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 183-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.C. Sutton ◽  
A. Storer ◽  
K. Rowe

OBJECTIVE:To measure the cervical and breast screening coverage of south Asian women in Wakefield, compared with other city residents. DESIGN:Pairwise measurement of screening histories of women whose names appeared to be south Asian, and of non-Asian women matched by date of birth and general practice. Data source—Computerised records of screening histories held by West Yorkshire Central Services Agency, for the eight general practices in central Wakefield. RESULTS:67% of south Asians and 75% of non-Asians had acceptable (not overdue) cervical screening histories (&khgr;2=13.75, p<0.001). 53% of south Asians and 78% of non-Asians had acceptable breast screening histories (&khgr;2=8.5, p<0.01) CONCLUSION:Interventions should be designed to improve coverage for breast screening among south Asian women. The need for such interventions for cervical screening is equivocal.


2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Karen Jenum ◽  
Kåre Rønn Richardsen ◽  
Sveinung Berntsen ◽  
Kjersti Mørkrid

Aims: To summarize findings from the STORK-Groruddalen Study regarding ethnic differences in the prevalence of gestational diabetes (GDM) by the WHO and modified International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria (no one hour value), insulin resistance, β-cell function and physical activity (PA) level. Methods: Population-based cohort study of 823 healthy pregnant women (59% ethnic minorities). Data from questionnaires, fasting blood samples, anthropometrics and objectively recorded PA level (SenseWear Armband), were collected at &lt;20 (Visit 1) and 28±2 (Visit 2) weeks of gestation. The 75-g OGTT was performed at Visit 2. Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and β-cell function (HOMA-β) were estimated from venous fasting plasma glucose and C-peptide. Results: The GDM prevalence was 13.0% with the WHO and 31.5% with the IADPSG criteria. The ethnic minority women, especially South Asians, had highest figures. South and East Asian women had highest HOMA-IR at Visit 1 after adjustment for BMI. HOMA-IR increased from Visit 1 to Visit 2 irrespective of ethnic origin. Compared with Western European women, the absolute and percentage increase in HOMA-β from Visit 1 to Visit 2 was poorest for the South and East Asian women. All ethnic groups walked less and spent less time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during weekend days compared with weekdays. South Asian women were least active, measured by steps and by time spent in MVPA. Conclusion: Alarmingly high rates of GDM were found, highest among South Asians. South Asian women were less physically active, more insulin resistant and showed poorer β-cell compensation compared with Western Europeans.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel L Finn

This article explores young South Asian women’s accounts of being subject to surveillance within a post-September 11th United States political framework, using a combination of surveillance studies and a postcolonial studies attention to practices of racialization and belonging. It looks at non-technological practices of person-to-person surveillance of South Asian women by non-authoritative white Americans. The article discusses young women’s accounts of feeling ‘stared at’ by other Americans in public space, and examines how the effects of this surveillance relates to young women’s identities as South Asians in America. The article argues that citizen surveillance practices have racialized outcomes for young women of South Asian descent that sometimes consolidates a South Asian racial subjectivity within the US. The fieldwork also uncovers an extension of arguments about racialized surveillance to consider cultural bodily practices and clothing artifacts alongside racial identity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 931-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris A. Lesser ◽  
Jordan A. Guenette ◽  
Amandah Hoogbruin ◽  
Dawn C. Mackey ◽  
Joel Singer ◽  
...  

The South Asian population suffers from a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A unique obesity phenotype of elevated visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with CVD risk among South Asians. Exercise-induced reduction in VAT and body fat is an effective mechanism to improve cardiometabolic risk factors but this has not been shown in South Asians. Whether exercise-induced changes in measurements such as waist circumference (WC) are independently related to changes in cardiometabolic risk factors in South Asians is unknown. Multi-slice computed tomography scanning was used to assess VAT, cardiometabolic risk factors through a fasting blood sample, and body fat using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Forty- nine postmenopausal South Asian women who participated in two 12-week aerobic exercise programs were included. Bivariate correlations were used to assess associations between change in cardiometabolic risk factors and change in body composition. Regression analyses were conducted with change in glucose, insulin, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) as dependent variables and change in body composition as independent variables of interest. There were significant associations between changes in fasting insulin, glucose, and HOMA-IR with change in VAT. The association between change in VAT and these cardiometabolic risk factors was independent of change in other body composition variables of interest. South Asian women should be encouraged to engage in aerobic activity to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes and CVD, and physicians should be aware of improvements in glucose regulation with exercise training not observed through reductions in WC.


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