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Quiz: The South Asian Diaspora

Test your understanding of Chapter 21. Choose the best answer, then click Show Answer to check.

Question 1

Which description best fits the word "diaspora"?

  1. Any group of tourists visiting a foreign country
  2. A population living outside its ancestral homeland that keeps some connection to it
  3. People who move from a village to a city inside the same country
  4. A government program that sends workers abroad on contracts
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. A diaspora lives outside its ancestral homeland but keeps ties to it through family, faith, language, food or identity. Moving from a village to a city inside one country is migration, but it does not create a diaspora, because people have not left the homeland.

Concept Tested: Diaspora Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 2

Why did plantation owners in British sugar colonies begin recruiting indentured workers from India in the 1830s?

  1. India's government asked Britain to send its farmers abroad
  2. Sugar prices had collapsed and planters wanted cheaper machines
  3. The workers were fleeing the Partition of India
  4. Britain had abolished slavery, and planters wanted a new source of cheap labor
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Britain abolished slavery across its empire by an 1833 act, so planters in places like British Guiana, Trinidad and Mauritius turned to contract workers from British India. Partition happened in 1947, more than a century later, so it cannot explain this wave.

Concept Tested: Indentured Labor Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 3

In 1972, Idi Amin gave South Asians in Uganda how long to leave the country?

  1. 90 days
  2. 30 days
  3. One year
  4. Five years
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. On 4 August 1972, Amin announced that South Asians had 90 days to leave. About 80,000 people were affected, and around 28,000 went to the United Kingdom.

Concept Tested: Uganda Expulsion of 1972 Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 4

What did the US Supreme Court decide in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)?

  1. South Asians could become citizens if they had served in the army
  2. California's ban on Punjabi farmers was unconstitutional
  3. South Asians were not "white persons" under the law, so they could not naturalize
  4. Sikhs had the right to wear turbans in the military
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. The Court ruled unanimously that "white" meant its everyday meaning, so Thind, a South Asian, could not become a naturalized citizen. Thind did later become a citizen in 1936 through a law for World War I veterans, but that was not what the 1923 decision said.

Concept Tested: Bhagat Singh Thind Case Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 5

Why did the Immigration Act of 1965 lead to a large increase in South Asian immigration to the United States?

  1. It ended the national origins quotas that had favored northern and western Europeans
  2. It gave every South Asian an automatic green card
  3. It created the Asiatic Barred Zone
  4. It only allowed immigrants who already spoke English
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. The 1965 law replaced national origins quotas with preferences for family reunification and needed skills, which opened the door to South Asian doctors, engineers, students and then their families. The Asiatic Barred Zone came from the 1917 law and did the opposite.

Concept Tested: Immigration Act of 1965 Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 6

A worker from Kerala takes a construction job in the UAE. Under the kafala system, his visa and legal residence are tied to his employer, and he cannot become a citizen. Which concept from the chapter best describes him?

  1. Indentured Labor
  2. Gulf Migrant Workers
  3. Punjabi Pioneers in California
  4. Indo-Caribbean Communities
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Gulf migrant workers usually go on temporary contracts, often under kafala, without a path to citizenship. Indenture is a tempting choice because both involve contracts far from home, but the indenture system ended around 1920.

Concept Tested: Gulf Migrant Workers Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 7

According to Pew Research Center (2023 data), Bangladeshi American households had a median income of about $78,400, while Indian American households had about $151,200. What does this comparison most directly show?

  1. Bangladeshi Americans work fewer hours than Indian Americans
  2. All Asian Americans earn more than other Americans
  3. The 1965 law banned Bangladeshi immigrants
  4. Treating all South Asian Americans as wealthy hides real differences between groups
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. The big gap between groups is one reason the model minority myth is called a myth: it hides real differences and struggles. The data say nothing about hours worked, so option A is an unsupported assumption.

Concept Tested: Model Minority Myth Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 8

In 2025, remittances to Nepal equaled about 32% of the country's GDP (World Bank). Which statement is the best conclusion from that number?

  1. Nepal receives more remittance money than India
  2. Most Nepalis live outside Nepal
  3. Money sent home by migrants is a very large part of Nepal's economy
  4. Nepal's government sends money to workers abroad
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. A share of nearly a third of GDP means remittances matter a great deal to Nepali families and the economy. India receives far more money in total (about US$150.7 billion in 2025), so option A confuses share with total amount.

Concept Tested: Remittances Bloom's Level: Analyze

Question 9

Simran's family friend says, "My uncle came to California from Punjab in 1910, worked on farms, and married a Mexican woman because almost no Punjabi women could come." Which part of the chapter does his story fit?

  1. Punjabi Pioneers in California
  2. Post-9/11 Backlash
  3. The Immigration Act of 1965
  4. British South Asians
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. Punjabi men came to the US West Coast in the early 1900s, and many married Mexican and Mexican American women because South Asian women could rarely immigrate and California law banned marriages across racial labels. The 1965 law came more than fifty years later.

Concept Tested: Punjabi Pioneers in California Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 10

Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was killed on 15 September 2001 by an attacker who thought he was an Arab Muslim. What does this case best reveal about the post-9/11 backlash?

  1. Only Muslims were targeted after the attacks
  2. Hatred lumped together people of different faiths and backgrounds based on how they looked
  3. Hate crimes fell sharply after September 2001
  4. Sikh Americans were rarely affected because they are not Muslim
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Sodhi was targeted because of his turban and beard, even though he was not Muslim or Arab, which shows how attackers profiled people by appearance. Option A is wrong because Sikhs and other South Asians were also attacked, and FBI data show anti-Islamic incidents rose, not fell, from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001.

Concept Tested: Post-9/11 Backlash Bloom's Level: Analyze