SAADA holds Archival Creators Fellowship celebration in New York City

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The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) held its Archival Creators Fellowship Celebration Saturday, October 8 at the Midtown Loft & Terrace in Manhattan, NYC. The highlights of the event were stories from the fellows about their projects.

SAADA, a 14-year old community-based culture change organization, makes an effort to preserve the historical presence of South Asians in America by documenting their stories and creating an archive with an aim to include them in American history.

SAADA’s Archival Creators Fellowship program, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, has fellows who are as diverse as the stories and experiences of South Asian Americans they document.

SAADA’s current year’s fellows and their projects include Nureena Faruaqi with her project on How disabled/chronically ill South Asian Americans have created communities via virtual space, Pooja Prazid with her project on South Asian American experience in southeast Louisiana with regards to climate change, and Rojika Sharma with her project on The Bhutanese-Nepali community in Central Ohio.

SAADA’s last year’s fellows include Roshni Bhupendra Shah, Sanjana Nigam, Joymala Hajra, Luna Ranjit, Zainab Mohsini, Sharmeen Mehri, Sandhya Jha, Michael A. Henry, and Kartik Amarnath.

Books, fellowships, walking tours, merchandise, artist collaborations are all part of the organization. The organization has more than 4,500 South Asian American stories in their publicly accessible collection. Its online magazine ‘Tides’ also publishes original essays about South Asian America.

SAADA holds events and presentations at various places in the U.S. Among SAADA’s upcoming events is a Saturday, October 29th Walking Tour at the Liberty Bell, Philadelphia.