Photograph of Wazir Ishmael
Wazir Ishmael is pictured here, at age 10, with his father Yussuph Ishmael, a dispenser at the Rose Hall Sugar Estate in Guyana, and Alan Dabbs, whose family Wazir stayed with during school holidays when he was in boarding school.
Oral History Interview with Mimi Mondal
Mimi Mondal is an Indian speculative fiction writer based in New York and the first writer from India to have been nominated for any Hugo Award. She is a Dalit, Indian woman.
Oral History Interview with Mani Soma
Mani Soma performs as the drag artist KaMANI Sutra. In the oral history, Mani describes growing up in India, navigating a queer relationship as a teenager, helping to organize a flash mob at Osmania University, finding south asian LGBTQ community after immigrating to the DC area, and their experiences performing as a drag artist.
Content warning: Suicide
Parbatee Mohan and Dan Persaud Oral History Interview
Daniel Persaud, a musician, interviews his grandmother Parbatee Mohan, a seamstress from a village in Berbice, Guyana about emigrating, her expectations of life in the United States, working to build their American Dream and her recent visit to India. The interview took place in the enclave of "Little Guyana" in Richmond Hill, Queens.
Oral History Interview with Marina
Marina describes her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, immigrating to the U.S. with family, and navigating her sexuality as a bisexual muslim woman.
Content warning: Abuse
John Boopalan Oral History Interview
John Boopalan is a Dalit Theologian, pastor, and the author of the book "Memory, Grief, and Agency: A Political Theological Account of Wrongs and Rite."
Oral History Interview with Sanjay Chhugani
Sanjay Chhugani has been active in several LGBTQ, Asian and South Asian organizations including Trikone—LA, Satrang and several other groups in Southern California for over a decade. In his oral history, Sanjay describes growing up in Bombay, studying as a graduate student in Chicago, and later finding LGBTQ community in Michigan and Los Angeles.
Oral History Interview with Samia Rahman
Samia Rahman co founded the business Pantried, an online platform to shop from local businesses in metro Detroit in 2017 with a group of friends. The business features many immigrant owned mom-and-pop shops, creating equitable access to shopping local. Samia says many local businesses cater to specific items and foods which are inaccessible, or more readily available in stores.
