Model Minority: Uniquely American
Nidhi Shastri
Recent Episodes
Victoria Li grew up in Flushing, Queens in NYC, where her parents owned a Chinese takeout restaurant. On this episode of immigrant tales, she recounts the hardships her parents went through in order to give her and her sister a better life.
You can follow Victoria at @midsizeasianqueen on Instagram, and check out her pageantry work at @misschinesechicago on Instagram as well. Be sure to also follow MM:UA on Insta @minority_model.
Shukriya for listening, and until next time.
- Nidhi
*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*
In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.
And YOU all delivered!
In On Losing Our Tongues, we're hearing diaspora folks from over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what if feels like to struggle to speak their native language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.
Some themes in this episode include:
- How monolingual people in the diaspora relate to the English language
- Being bilingual in English & Spanish but being unable to speak your native tongue
- Having to use Google Translate to communicate between generations of family
- How immigrants process trauma and share family histories in the face of language barriers
- The science behind language erosion and the impact of that on a person's relation to their culture
- The story of Bangladesh: the first country to fight a liberation war around language
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A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:
- Abhinav Das, Shukri Ideis, Sophia Fel, Victoria Li, Annie Tan, Tommy Souravong, Farzana Haque, Marzia Chowdhury, Samantha Reyes, Stephanie Botchway, and Zamzam Dini
This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners like you ;), so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.
Shukriya, thank you!
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Listen/read my 4-min story on NPR/WBEZ: How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago!
- It aired on National Public Radio (NPR) and Chicago Public Media (WBEZ 91.5FM), and is part of a series on what home means to our communities!
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Image credits: Dall-E
Music & Sound credits: CC Creative Commons & freesound (all artists are listed on our website!)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support
*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*
In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.
And YOU all delivered!
In On Loving Our Language, we're exploring the benefits of being bilingual in a non-western languages in the US (i.e. having access to unique forms of media and television & the ability to connect with others) as well as some barriers (i.e. facing discrimination or forgoing access to healthcare or government aide).
We'll be looking at the stats about who in our communities are bilingual and what resources they are (or aren't) given. We also busting open the American Myth of Bilingualism - i.e. the idea that teaching your kids a second language + English will cause them to struggle with English.
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Check out Ahmed Ali Akbar's podcast Radiolingo here!
Listen/read my story on How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago!
- It aired on National Public Radio (NPR) and Chicago Public Media (WBEZ 91.5FM) last week, and is part of a series on what home means to our communities!
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If you sent in a clip and didn't hear yourself featured here, stay tuned! This episode is the first half in a two part series called "On Loving and Losing Our Tongues" so please keep an eye out for the second-half featuring even more clips coming up in about a week. In this two part episode, we're hearing from listeners and friends of over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what their native language means to them.
Part 2, On Losing Our Tongues, will cover what if feels like to struggle to speak your language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.
A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:
- Daniel Lin, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Shruti Shah, Mukta Deia, Brian Chen, Meghali Mazumdar and Helen Li
This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners) like you, so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.
Shukriya, thank you!
Image credits: Dall-E
Music credits: CC Creative Commons
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support
(Please hit the follow button for this show on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, to help support my work! <3 )
For Zamzam Dini, growing up in Seattle where there was little diversity meant having to endure ignorance from students and professors alike about her Somali heritage.
In this 6-min clip, Zamzam shares how her identity has shifted based on her environment - in Seattle, she was identified by others as Black first, then Muslim, and then Somali. Upon moving to Minneapolis, MN - which has a strong Somali community - she noticed a flip, where she was seen as Somali first, then Muslim, and then finally as Black.
Zamzam's family are refugees from Somalia. Towards the end of this clip, she recounts story about her and her sister during the time of the war.
Give Zamzam's research a read: Immigrant Family Financial and Relational Stressors and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Follow Zamzam's work: LinkedIn | UM Website
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Immigrant Tales is a sub-series of Model Minority: Uniquely American, aimed to be an immersive narrative from our communities' immigrants about their life stories. If you have a story to share, email me at [email protected]. Please be sure to follow this podcast, and share this episode. Shukriya!