I just look forward to the INDOLINK column 'Desis in Pardes" by Francis Assisi. Because his articles are tilted towards the academic side of the dispora. His latest is

NYU’s Vivek Bald Reveals Early Desi Diaspora in New York

Perhaps the most important, relating to South Asian Americans, was that of documentary filmmaker, electronic musician, and militant activist Vivek Renjen Bald who is currently working towards a Ph.D. in American Studies at NYU. Brought up by a Punjabi mother and an Australian father, Bald grew up in Santa Cruz, California, before moving to New York in the late 80s.

Here is a guy who digs diaspora studies, he's made dcoumentaries on the diaspora,founder of a South Asian music hub. And he's doing a Ph.D on the ealry Indian American diaspora. I wish I could exchange notes with this guy.

Bald has already made a name for himself with his 1994 documentary Taxi-vala/Auto-biography, which chronicled the lives, experiences and political activism of South Asian immigrant taxi drivers in New York

More recently, Bald’s Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music (2003), documented the birth of the South Asian music movement in 90s Britain, interviewing performers and DJs who were influenced by punk and hip hop as much as they were by Punjabi bhangra and Bollywood soundtracks.

Taxi-vala/Auto-biography

Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music


VIVEK BALD is working on a Ph.D! So am I!