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American road trip. In both of these
projects, community members can go
to our website to see the stories that
have been submitted and then directly
upload their own” an acknowledge-
ment of the fact that archives are in
effect owned by people. “Our goal is for
SAADA’s work to reflect the diversity
of the South Asian American com-
munity itself. And in doing so, we want
to ensure that stories from within the
community that are often overlooked
are also given the importance they
deserve,” said Mallick.
SAADA is a community-based
effort, and accordingly, the vast
the other co-founder of SAADA, and carries original articles by scholars of majority of its support comes from
Mallick worked together to create this South Asian American studies. “We individual donors who believe in the
organization from the ground up. “To- also include oral history interviews, importance of this work and contrib-
gether we had the right backgrounds videos, archived websites, and other ute small amounts— $50 or $100 — to
to set up an archive. I have worked born-digital materials”, explains Mallick support it. “Over the last four years,
with technology and non profits and proud about the variety of its cachet. more than 800 individuals, not all of
Michelle is now an Assistant Professor What is more, each item in the archive them South Asian American, have
of Archival Studies at UCLA. The two of is digitized according to preservation supported SAADA through individual
us shared a deep interest in the ways standards and has associated metadata donations” claimed Mallick. “But we
that archives can empower communi- so that it can be easily searched and also have also received financial sup-
ties. In 2008 we created SAADA and for browsed. “We know that the archive port from government agencies, such
the last nine years the organization has has been used extensively by scholars, as the National Endowment for the
been working to digitally document, students, journalists, artists, activists, Humanities, private foundations, such
preserve, and share stories of those in and other members of the community,” as the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage,
the US who trace their heritage to India, said Mallick acknowledging the user and community-based funders, such
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, base of the archive. “This archive is now, as the Asian Mosaic Fund (in Philadel-
Bhutan, Maldives, and the many South in fact, the largest publicly accessible phia) and the Asian Giving Circle (in
Asian Diaspora communities around collection of materials related to the Chicago) in the past. Grants from these
the globe,” explains Mallick. experiences of South Asians in the US” funders have allowed us to take on
So, it is not just people from South he said with a justifiable sense of pride. bigger and more ambitious projects.”
Asia but South Asian origin people SAADA approaches its work with a For example, they recently completed a
from the large global diaspora that creative and imaginative flair to ensure one-year discovery project, supported
SAADA caters to, I asked. “Yes. This is a that it is netting multi-vocal histories. by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage,
large and diverse community. In the US In addition to the archive of historical titled ‘Where We Belong: Artists in the
there are now more than 4.3 million materials, they have also created other Archive’. “In this project, we partnered
individuals who trace their heritage to participatory digital storytelling initia- with five contemporary South Asian
South Asia. And it is also a community tives that allow community members American artists from different artistic
with a very rich history, with a presence to submit their stories directly to the disciplines who engaged with SAADA’s
in the US going back more than one archive. archive to create new artistic works.
hundred and thirty years”. ‘The First Days Project’, which we These new works were presented to the
SAADA’s digital archives now started four years ago, now includes public at a symposium in Philadelphia
include more than 3,000 unique items, more than 350 stories from immigrants in April 2017 and also shared nation-
constituting rare historical photo- and refugees about their first experi- ally through community gatherings
graphs, letters, postcards, newspaper ences in the country. ‘The Road Trips in people’s homes on August 5, 2017,
clippings, and ephemera. Over five Project’, which we launched earlier this the fifth anniversary of the 2012 mass
lakh visitors from around the globe summer, includes photographs and shooting at the Oak Creek Gurudwara
have visited the website over just the stories from South Asians travelling in Wisconsin,” said Mallick.
last three years. They also bring out across the country by road as a way to
an online magazine called ‘Tides’ that help us re-imagine the tradition of the letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 31 august 2018 61 www.Tehelka.com