Model Minority: Uniquely American

In the first episode of our new mini-series "In Conversation," Nidhi sits down with novelist, essayist, and critic writer Karan Mahajan. They discuss how Karan pursued writing as someone from a conservative Indian background, terrorism as a theme in his novels, the broader Desi diaspora, South African apartheid, and more. Then, he reads a bit of his piece "The Two Asian Americas."

Welcome to the first episode of Immigrant Tales, a new subseries of Model Minority: Uniquely American!

In this story of adversity and resilience, we are invited to challenge our definitions of "success" and "equality" for Asian immigrants. Through Chu's eyes, we can see how even when people coming to America do everything "right," they face experiences that can be only be described as - troublingly - Uniquely American. You can find more about Chu's work on the Southeast Asian community her website here. 

This clip opens with an excerpt from the author and essayist Karan Mahajan's piece in the New Yorker titled, The Two Asian Americas. Followed by that, we hear a bit more of the piece read by the author himself, who Nidhi interviewed earlier this year. 

I am so excited to announce a sub-series of Model Minority: Uniquely American called Immigrant Tales. This series will consist of "mini" episodes that recount stories of success, struggle, and the journey to call this country "home," for immigrants in our model minority community. Stay tuned for these stories, along with some interviews from impactful voices in our community, such as that Karan Mahajan. 

As always, shukriya for listening, and I'm glad to have you here.  

Media. Film. TV Representation. 

For the model minority community, where do WE fit in?

Model Minorities in media is an issue of more than just “not enough representation.” For some of us, it’s about bad representation too. It’s about how our countries are depicted, how we are seen in society, and the duality it causes between who we are construed to be, and what we really are. And, it seems we’ve always ended up, just one jump ahead of the punchline, or sometimes, as the punchline itself.

"Aladdin" by thecmn is marked with CC PDM 1.0

COVID-19 spread quickly, but not as quick as the racial discrimination Asians have faced with its arrival. In addition to this, the wealthiest nation in the world — the U.S. — has seen its healthcare system crumble under the demands caused by COVID-19, leading more Americans to speak up about how long the nation has been living in sickness even before the pandemic.

In this episode, first, we uncover some stats and hear some stories from people who were affected by the anti-Asian rhetoric plaguing the country. Then, we speak with some medical professionals about how the U.S. Healthcare system is broken, how the cost of that falls on Asians and other minorities, and what it will take to fix it for all of us.

Cover art for this episode is Healthcare" by Wolfman-K is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

In 2014, Tushar Lall banded with two friends and released a cover of the "Game of Thrones" theme song on YouTube. He did so with a twist; he arranged the piece using his knowledge of Indian classical instruments, featuring tablas (South Asia hand drums) and a bansuri (a South Asian wooden flute) to supplement his keyboard part. 

353K YouTube subscribers and over 20 musical covers later, Tushar has been named one of the "Forbes Top 100 Celebrities" of India. He joins us today on Model Minority U.A. to tell us his story, how it all started at The Indian Jam Project, and the value of Indian Classical Instruments. 

Check out Tushar's work here.

Join Model Minority: Uniquely American and Project Voice this week for a very special collaboration: Enigma - The Political Lives of Asian Americans! 

In this episode, we explore reflections on why the political lives of Asian Americans are... somewhat of an enigma, or puzzle. We examine the ways in which Asians are left out of the political narrative, and how we can work to ensure we aren't simply pandered to with no benefit, or sometimes even fully left out of our country's political decisions. 

The team at project voice conducted interviews with Helena Berbano of the New American Leaders in NYC, and CeCe Horbat - a student studying environmental justice in Michigan. Nidhi at Model Minority: Uniquely American produced, wrote, and narrated these interviews into story form. Shukriya/thanks for joining us on today's episode of Model Minority: Uniquely American! Follow this podcast and Project Voice on Facebook and Insta for more great, impactful podcasting!

The Model Minority Myth is often used to wedge Asian Americans between Black and White America. In this episode, we explore how that is a problematic ideology, and why we need a new approach to understanding race. We also address how African immigrants are wedged between racial groups in the same way.

This episode features Mo Sibyl - a fellow podcaster - and Jason Chu - and Asian American rapper. Furthermore, we look to LA Race Riots as an example of racial tensions between Blacks and Asians, and try to see what we can learn. I'm Nidhi Shastri, and this is Model Minority: Uniquely American.  The intro clip is from an interview done by Asian American activist Grace Lee Boggs.

All music is from the CC Creative commons. Art: "Thick encyclopedias with colorful hardcovers" by Horia Varlan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In the second half of this episode, we explore some excerpts of stories of struggle, adversity, and resilience in our community. We also dive into the stats of ways in which Middle Eastern, African, and other parts of the model minority diaspora face economic oppression.

All music in this episode is licensed to the public under the cc creative commons license. The image is "Vasudhara, diosa de la abundancia [oct 17]" by JavierPsilocybin is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

We've all heard the idea that ALL Asians/ Model Minorities are wealthy and economically well off in America. But, if we dig into the stats and stories of our community, how much of that ideology is actually true? And for those who DO make it, at what cost is success? 

In this two-part episode, we explore the socio-economic status of Asians, Africans, and Middle Eastern Americans, and work to tell some of the stories of those who perhaps, haven't quite "made it." Part 1 features the voices of Helena Ku Rhee, author of the book The Paper Kingdom, and Andrew Kung, an Asian-American photographer whose work focuses on Asian identity and masculinity.

All music in this episode is licensed to the public under the cc creative commons license. The image is "Golden Fortune Cookies" by shaire productions is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Thank you/shukriya for listening!