Love it or hate it, but Asian culture is here to stay in America. It is no more a passing fad but is now changing mainstream America slowly.
Whether it is the culture which has become more accepted and fascinating to Americans or is it the individuals themselves who have better acclimated to American culture is examined in the latest issue of Contexts Magazine.
Two article published in "In Contexts," focus on Asian Americans and Asian spirituality within American society. Much of the increase in Asian culture's pervasiveness in America has to do with accelerated immigration following the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which ended the national origins quota system and the historic resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees after the Vietnam War.
According to Sociology professors Wendy Cadge, Bowdoin University, and Courtney Bender, Columbia University, the authors of the Contexts article, "Americans made 629 million visits to complementary and alternative medicine providers, paying $27 billion in out of pocket expenses."
This amount is almost equal to the National Institutes of Health FY 2004 budget. "The increased popularity and acceptance of alternative medicine nonetheless introduces Americans to Eastern ideas of spirituality and health, even if taught by acupuncturists and Ayurvedic healers."
"The recent burgeoning of Americans' fascination with Asian religions is rooted in increasing immigration, widening global networks, and changes in American religious and health care institutions," say Cadge and Bender.
While Asians have been practicing their religions ever since their arrival, their religions went unnoticed or romanticised until their numbers grew after the US immigration laws were relaxed.
According to a 2003 survey by Robert Wuthnow, 30 per cent of Americans report being at least somewhat familiar with Buddhist teachings and 22 per cent claim similar familiarity with Hindu teachings.
From temples and ashrams to alternative health clinics and yoga studios, the numbers of sites in which Asian religions are learned is steadily growing. The number of English language books about Buddhism more than tripled between 1965 and 2000.
Asian religious centers provide an organisational base for immigrants to claim recognition. For non-Asian Americans, one-third of Thai temples have programmes in English.
Yoga is seen as a stress management technique with numererous health insurance plans even paying for classes. This option to teach yoga as fitness and a devotional practice makes Asian religions available to a more varied American audience.
The authors conclude that while some of the interest is a fad yielding eventually to the next fashion, "Beneath the fad, however, hundreds of organisations have emerged around Asian religions in America and millions of people have been exposed to Asian religious teachings and practices."