Negotiating Invisibility at the Epicenter: Himalayan New Yorkers Confront Covid-19
June 10, 2021
Through audio diaries and interviews, 2019 Wall Scholar, Mark Turin and his collaborators, Sienna R. Craig, Ross Perlin, Nawang Tsering Gurung, Maya Daurio, and Daniel Kaufman chronicled the experiences of Himalayan New Yorkers during the pandemic. Many Himalayans live in central Queens, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in New York City. This essay in the Social Science Research Council’s Items website, shares the many challenges faced by the Himalayan community, not least their struggle to be seen as a “community” with its own needs. But it also emphasizes the responses of Himalayans in terms of collective self-help and making claims on city government for attention and essential services.
PWIAS provided support for this research through our Wall Solutions Initiative.
Photo by: Nawang Tsering Gurung.
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