BODY, HOME, WORLD - South Asian American LGBTQ+ Journeys

Imagine a mandala. A digital mandala. Imagine it as a story interface that invites you to navigate stories of LGBTQ+-identifying individuals and their families. Imagine it as a living digital imprint that transforms and evolves, tracking your own transformative journey through their documentary narratives. Imagine recreating narratives that have been erased. Imagine sharing them through the digital diaspora.

Body, Home, World: South Asian LGBTQ+ Journeys is an attempt to weave a digital tapestry of documentary stories about queer spaces of color, family, and the immigrant experience. It is a recognition that in many immigrant and communities of color, the family dialogue on sexual and gender identities is fraught with tension and risk, and that the spaces for safe inquiry, consultation, and advocacy are few and far between. It is our hope that these narratives will create a sense of shared experience, an empathic stepping-in-the-shoes, and a sense of community that is respectful, inclusive, and internally diverse.

Over the course of four months, you will be invited to embark on four different journeys. Each journey has been mapped from the point of view of LGBTQ+ individuals as well as that of their family members. We hope that you will not only return to the site to watch new content, but also share these stories within your digital networks, your safe spaces, and your families. The creative team behind Body, Home, World also invites you to join us on our social networks for future updates.

Conceived, Produced, and Directed by

Aashish Kumar

Creative Director / Lead Coder

Ali Tan Ucer

Documentary Segments Produced, Directed, and Edited by

Aashish Kumar

Music by

Ravi Krishnaswami

Intern and Associate Coder

Jill Shah

Mandala Artwork

Aymun Naqvi

Additional Artwork

Shanshan Wang

Camera

Aashish Kumar

Matt Belen

Research Assistant

Katherine Chwe

Archival Photos and Videos Courtesy

Vaibhav Jain and Parag Mehta Wedding Video

(Tomas Ramos Photographers & Film)

D’lo Live Shows

(D’Lo)

Mehta Family Photos

(Vijay and Parag Mehta)

Hate in America: 20 years after Matthew Shepard's murder

(Courtesy The National Desk and Circa)

Other Archival Images used under the

Creative Commons non-commercial usage license

Interactive Storytelling Mentors and Incubation Support

Sandra Gaudenzi

Mike Robbins

Samuel Gantier

Clementine Havrez

IFLab Europe

Special Thanks to

Tanja Auf Der Heyde

Brandi Kinard

Anuva Kalawar

Kingston Kodan

The Jain Family

The Mehta Family

The Kosi/Huber Family

D’Lo

Deepa Iyer

Parag Khandahar

Aruna Rao

Arun Venugopal

Manish Patwari

Nalini Patwari

Julia Beabout

Sanjeev Chatterjee

Sucheta Sachdev

Jesse Ryan

Shivani Dave

Nina Bangalore

Alana Taub

Savini Ganhewa

Brian Nandy

Kabir Adhiya-Kumar

Charmaine Hussain

Jaideep Punjabi

Lawrence Herbert School of Communication,

Hofstra University

Khush DC

Desi Rainbow Parents and Allies

World Learning Staff

Partial Funding provided by

Alumni TIES, United States Department of State

Hofstra University Provost’s Diversity Grant

Lawrence Herbert School of Communication Research Grant

Honors College Research Assistant Grant

Embers Films