Oral History Interview with Alok Vaid-Menon
Alok Vaid-Menon is a gender non-conforming writer and performance artist. In their oral history, Alok describes growing up in College Station, TX, connecting with activists and artists during college in California and subsequently in New York, their experiences touring across the world as a performance artist, and their journey of navigating gender through poetry, activism and fashion.
Oral History Interview with Bishakh Som
Bishakh Som is the author of the graphic novel Apsara Engine. In the oral history, Bishakh describes growing up in Ethiopia and New York, studying and practicing architecture, "hatching" as a trans person, and storytelling through illustration.
Oral History Interview with Alex
Alex is an Indo-Guyanese drag performer. In the oral history, Alex describes growing up in New York, navigating their Indo-Guyanese and Sicilian identities, their connection to multiple faith traditions, and their experiences as a drag performer at the intersection of these identities.
Nariza and Ryan Budhu Oral History
Nariza Budhu, who emigrated from Guyana in the early 1980s, speaks with her American-born son Ryan Budhu, an attorney at a law firm, a photographer and past president of the South Asian Bar Association of New York. Nariza recounts coming to New York City for the first time to seek medical care for her toddler Ravi, who was born premature and had a heart defect.
State Senator Roxanne Persaud Oral History
Roxanne Persaud, a New York state senator from Brooklyn, left Guyana in 1984, at the age of 17. Her parents and most of her siblings had already emigrated from the country several years before, sponsored to come to America by a nurse aunt. Sen.
Fram Haveliwala Oral History Interview
The interview was conducted as part of SAADA's ACFP 2021-2022. This interviewee described his migration experience to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan. As a very young child, his migration experience was described based upon family conversations and memories he remembers of coming to Houston, Texas.
Tahmoures Hormozdyaran Oral History Interview
The interview was conducted as part of SAADA's ACFP 2021-2022. This interviewee discussed his early childhood and family life in Karachi, Pakistan, moving to a Parsi neighborhood as well as childhood memories of being a Zoroastrian in Yazd, Iran. He shared experiences of him and his family migrating to the U.S. and settling down in Centreville, Virginia for 30 or so years.
Roshni Rustomji-Kerns Oral History Interview
The interview was conducted as part of SAADA's ACFP 2021-2022. This interviewee discussed her early childhood and family life in Karachi and Mumbai before and after the Partition of India and Pakistan. She described the differences and similarities of being brought up as a Parsi woman in India and Pakistan.