Interviewee: Yashita Kandhari

Interviewer(s): Divya Aikat

Date: June 24, 2024

Location: Mumbai, India

Transcriber: Divya Aikat

Length: 1:14:16

Divya Aikat [00:01]
Hello, my name is Divya Aikat. Today's date is June 24, 2024. I am located in Salisbury, Maryland, USA. And I'm here today with Yashita Kandhari, a former member of the Asian American Initiative at Davidson College, and current Knowledge Associate at Point of View. Yashita, would you like to further introduce yourself and tell us where you're calling in from today?

Yashita Kandhari [00:26]
Yeah. Hi Divya, thank you so much for asking me to be here today, I'm really excited to share my experiences with you. So as you mentioned, my name is Yashita. I'm currently based in Mumbai, India. And I'm from India, I grew up in Kolkata, and I attended Davidson College from 2018 to 2022 and I was an international student there. And I majored in Sociology & Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Divya Aikat [00:57]
Wonderful, thank you so much for that introduction. Could you tell us a little bit more about how your upbringing or identity has shown up in your work?

Yashita Kandhari [01:17]
Yeah, so I grew up in India. So when I went to the US, when I went to college, I think I actually didn't really think that much about what it meant to be Indian. Because obviously, when you're in India, you don't really critically reflect on that too much, you don't think about what it means to be Indian or South Asian specifically, comparing to other identities. And I think that I definitely, obviously, felt a sense of what it means to be Indian as a national identity. But I think that going to the US, I kind of got to experience what it means to be racialized for the first time, or understand what race really means. And, of course in India, I'm extremely privileged, I come from an upper caste family, I have a lot of privilege in terms of my identity here. And then to be in the US. And I think, you know, of course it doesn't take away my caste privilege, even when I'm there. And, of course, I understand that even within South Asian American communities, there's a lot of privilege in that, even just being able to go to the US. But it was definitely quite a jarring experience for me, I would say. Suddenly being at a predominantly white institution, having to deal with the typical questions and people just not knowing, I guess, or not being aware of what India is like. So, I think that experience definitely shaped a lot of the work that I was doing on campus, a lot of my involvements – from the classes that I took to even the communities that I surrounded myself with. So I think that yeah, it is definitely very important to everything that I do, my South Asian identity.

Divya Aikat [03:16]
Right, and could you speak a little bit more... I think that, from what I've heard with this collection, we've primarily focused on South Asian American voices. And there's a very nuanced role that a South Asian American identity might have within Asian American spaces. So, could you explain a little bit more about the visibility or maybe invisibility of your South Asian and Indian identity within your organizing work or college experience in the US?

Yashita Kandhari [03:50]
Yeah, so that's actually a great question. Because when I got to campus- So, I connected with a couple of other South Asian international students, who at the time were working to create a new organization, the South Asian Student Association. And we had another association already, the Asian Cultural Awareness Association, but South Asian students felt the need to create a separate South Asian Student Association despite that, because they felt that South Asian students weren't adequately represented, and it was mostly East Asian students that were taking up that space. So again, I think even that for me was very new, because I didn't really understand… Even the fact that, being suddenly called Asian and being lumped into that as a particular category was also kind of a learning experience for me because I had, of course, never experienced that before. So on one hand, it was to kind of understand the power in coming together as East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian solidarity, of course, and the need and importance for that. But as well as the need to recognize that, you know, there are many, many differences. And ultimately, even the fact that we're all grouped together under one category is the result of certain social structures or certain power structures, and what that means as well.

And so I think that, yeah, definitely being involved in the South Asian Student Association and finding other South Asian students and building community, organizing festivals, organizing events about South Asia was super important to me, when I first got to campus. But it was definitely, as I said, just an interesting kind of learning experience for me, just seeing the way that those politics played out, even at the level of student groups on campus. And we're a really, really tiny college. I mean, it's just, I think, 1800 people, 2000 now it might be. So even in that, and then it's mostly white. So even among such a small percentage of students having so many differences- or not even differences, but I guess just everyone trying to figure out their own place and the contentions that came with that.

Divya Aikat [06:07]
Yeah, to respond to what you said, I think that there's a lot of power in pan-Asian solidarity and in recognizing that we have these differences and finding ways to build upon them. Because I think that another thing, echoing what you've said, amongst all of the [South Asian] people that I've talked to, regardless of the size of the school, there's always this clear distinction of saying that, "Oh, well, our Asian student association doesn't necessarily represent us." So, I think that's also very interesting. So I wanted to ask, how did you get involved in the Asian American Initiative? And what was the context in which your want to be involved, or the group, came about within?

Yashita Kandhari [06:56]
Yeah, so my freshman fall – and so this was in November 2018 – there was a student at Davidson who was outed as being a neo-Nazi, and the student was doxxed by a Twitter account and that's how word spread around campus. They were eventually asked to leave. And of course, even the college administration, faculty, everyone came together to address it. And I think that event, obviously, struck a big chord with- I think, speaking just from personal experience. First, I want to say that it obviously had a big impact, because I think before that, I wasn't thinking that critically about the fact that I was attending an institution in the US South and what that meant about the history. I wasn't even that aware of it. I didn't even fully, truly, I think, understand it. And I think, of course, I was aware that there were different student groups. And of course, I understood that I was at a predominantly white institution. But I didn't really think about what that meant politically and socially as well. And I think the fact that we were at a liberal arts college, and I guess liberal arts colleges are known for being, you know, liberal. [laughs] And it was definitely a big shock throughout our community that someone with such, just so much hate, could be amongst us on campus, and was also a student. And I think they were, at that point, either a junior or a senior, so had been around on campus. So I think it was also a matter of, what does it say about Davidson as an institution that such thoughts and opinions and are allowed to be cultivated, and that the institution isn't doing anything to address it in students? Because isn't that the whole point of education? So, I think that obviously sent shockwaves throughout the entire campus community.

I was also made aware then of a certain set of demands that the Black Student Coalition had launched in the early 80s. It was called Project 87. And there were a certain set of demands that were supposed to be attained by 1987. I started to learn more about the history of Davidson as well and become interested in that. And I was then roped in by a friend, who was a senior at that time, to do a project on a history of student activism at Davidson College. And I think through that work as well, we were doing oral histories with alumni on student movements that had happened and then fizzled out in the past few years. So, I feel like my introduction into just being involved on campus and in campus politics was through my friends and through my peers, that kind of happened by mistake. Like I had never even heard of what oral history was, I didn't have any idea about any student activism in the past. But I think through just being friends with her, I was introduced to this and introduced to- I guess, I didn't even know what student activism looked like. And then through this work, I'd seen how different students presented their demands to administration before. So, while this was kind of my personal journey that was going on, at the same time, there was a group of students. So again, I guess people who were my friends, and that's how I got to know about it. But who, you know, realize that it's really important to have the space for Asian American students on campus, but also knowledge about Asian American identity and Asian American issues, which was really missing.

Because back then, we had one South Asian Studies professor, or maybe two. And so one was a South Asian historian, who is from South Asia specializing in South Asian history. The other one also studied some South Asian history before and there were other South Asian professors, but not actually specializing in South Asian Studies. And then we had an East Asian Studies department, but then only one professor who could actually teach Asian American Studies. So, this just reflected a really big gap in our curriculum. So there were a group of students that then started advocating for this. And I really became involved in the Asian American Initiative, then in the spring of 2019. And I think that a part of me wasn't sure whether it was my space to even join them and to join that initiative. Because I was an international student, I felt like I didn't really want to take up space that isn't mine. Because even, you know, I was in the US, but I couldn't exactly say I was part of the diaspora because I was just an international student. And I just moved, so I still very much felt, you know, Indian and didn't really feel like I had the ability or the right to even speak about Asian American issues. But then I kind of saw it as, you know, that it was still important to speak about and even just having Asian American Studies and Diaspora Studies in general is important, because I felt like the college needed Asian American Studies, so I felt like it was important for me to get involved. And yeah, that is a very long answer about how it happened and my involvement.

So essentially, there was Raven Hudson, Sanzari Aranyak, Ashley Ip, Cathy Xu, and then myself. So the four of them actually were the main people who started working on this, from the fall itself. And then I joined them in the spring. And we had a lot of support from faculty, but one of the first faculty members that we went to for support and advice was Dr. Fuji Lozada. He was part of the Anthropology department.

Divya Aikat [13:05]
Wonderful, thank you so much for giving us that rich history and the background about your involvement. I wanted to ask, what made you become invested in this work? I know that a lot of people get involved in organizing through friends. But there are particular things that may make them stay. So, what continued your involvement?

Yashita Kandhari [13:30]
Yeah, so when we started properly organizing in spring 2019, I think that we picked up momentum quite quickly. And I think from the get go, we managed to garner a lot of student interest, and a lot of people just wanting to get involved. And I think that it was just exciting. And it also felt really hopeful because we were seeing these initial successes and because so many people were also excited about it. I don't know if this correctly answers your question, but I think it was just hope. It was just the idea that oh, we can make change, and we can do something, and we can bring about change on campus and make it a better place for people who are going to come after us. So, I think that was the main reason why all of us were doing it and all of us cared so much. We just wanted to make campus a better place. And I think it also really helped being a freshman. Because I knew that I was going to be around for a while. I mean, of course, we'll get to this, but by the time I was in my senior year, I was just so burned out. And as a freshman, I always used to think that oh, alumni stop caring, and seniors stop caring as much. Once I actually got to being a senior, and then graduating, you just realize that it is because you just get burned out. And it is tiring, to be continuously advocating for the same thing, and then just not getting what you hoped. And then of course, life takes over and there are other priorities. So, I think that the fact that we were three freshmen and two sophomores, I think that really, really helped. Because we weren't just changing campus for people to come after us. We were changing campus and changing Davidson for ourselves, as well. So, I think that that was also good that we could be around and kind of set the groundwork for a while and try to see real change before we graduated. So, I think that as well.

Divya Aikat [15:47]
That's amazing. Yeah, thank you for sharing. As I was looking up the Davidson Asian American Initiative, I found the website that you all had made. And I saw the timeline that Asian American student advocacy and organizing has been happening there since 2002, with more targeted Asian American Studies efforts beginning in 2016. So, during your time at Davidson, how did you see Asian American Studies evolve? And what do you think after graduating now, being an alumna, how do you feel? What do you think the presence is of Asian American studies on campus?

Yashita Kandhari [16:30]
Yeah, so I think that when we actually started doing this work in the spring of 2019, we had no idea that there was a whole group called ExpectAsian that was doing all of this work starting in 2016. And one of the other founders of AAI, they actually just stumbled across a tweet mentioning ExpectAsian, completely by accident. And that's how they actually found out that such an initiative existed already and there were students who had tried to get Asian American Studies to campus before. And then as part of the other oral history project that we were doing, we also spoke to some of the past members of ExpectAsian. And I think learning from them and their experiences probably definitely helped our work and what we did to a certain extent, as well. So in 2016, I think back then there were students who were doing work on Asian American Studies, but independently. So, one of the founders of ExpectAsian, they, I think, wrote a thesis in Asian American Studies or created their own Asian American Studies major and took courses. Someone else was an English major, if I'm not mistaken, or a Global Lit major, and also wrote their thesis on Asian American Studies. But again, this was through individual mentoring and research, and not because the institution had the resources or enough faculty members to kind of advise Asian American Studies theses. And then, while we were advocating for it, we had one professor in the Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, whose specialty was Asian American Studies. And then there were a couple of visiting professor roles who were hired. And then since then, I think someone in the English department as well. But since then, I don't know, actually, what efforts have been like.

So even AAI, we kind of lost momentum during the pandemic. And we all worked really well together when we were all in the same place, but the pandemic definitely put a- because, I mean, we couldn't host events, we couldn't speak to faculty, we couldn't go up to administration and have meetings. I mean, it was completely different. And so, I think things may have looked very different, had the pandemic not happened as well. And yeah, so during the pandemic, that's when – I guess this wasn't directly Asian American Initiative related. But one of the other co-founders, Ashley and I, we had our other project on the history of Asians and Asian Americans on campus. But I'm not sure exactly what kind of advocacy and activism there is since then and now around bringing Asian American Studies or having an Asian American Studies Department at Davidson.

Divya Aikat [19:53]
Right. And I think that also speaks to the ways that – we were talking about this earlier – but the ways that institutions can wait students out or that there are different waves of student advocacy, that maybe are only confined to the four years during which a group of students is able to be active within. So I wanted to ask, to start off, from collecting your oral histories from members of ExpectAsian and different things like that, what did you learn about the history of student activism or Asian American Studies activism at Davidson?

Yashita Kandhari [20:33]
Yeah, so I think that the biggest learning from ExpectAsian and around activism for Asian American Studies that we got, was that ExpectAsian spoke or tried to advocate to faculty and administration directly and tried to put their case forward for having Asian American Studies and hires. And they didn't do, or as much as we could tell, as much student mobilization. It was more directly to faculty and administration. And I think that was the biggest learning, that that wasn't enough. So I think in our approach, the biggest thing that we did and started out with- even before saying that, “Oh, we want Asian American Studies”- and I guess saying "even before" is not right, because that was our demand from the beginning. But I think that we started out trying to get student support, that was the biggest thing.

And so I think, the first thing that we actually started out doing was that we had an interest meeting, where this idea was pitched and spoken about. And then there was a dialogue series that was organized, where we had events ourselves that were organized and readings that we did ourselves- I guess we lead reading circles together where we discussed things, kind of like a classroom setting where we were conducting the sessions. And we also got in guest speakers, like we got in Dr. Khyati Joshi to come in and speak about why we need Asian American Studies on campus. We had a full session on what Asian American Studies even is, and I think we got about 56 students attending our interest meeting, which was our first event talking about what Asian American Studies is, which was pretty big, I mean, bigger than a lot of classes at Davidson as well. So, I think it was clear that there was a lot of student support from the get-go. And then after we did this and kind of got students more aware of what Asian American Studies is, we then released a set of demands on campus, kind of pitching our case forward. So along with our demands, we compiled- there was an infographic that was released with some data around the Asian American population in North Carolina and Mecklenburg County specifically.

And then also, besides this, we wanted to make sure that we were noticed. So we put our demands everywhere. We basically printed them out and then taped them everywhere across campus, on the main buildings, so that you could see them. I mean, you couldn't avoid seeing them. And then, even with our demands, we released a really short survey, where we asked students, I think, basic questions. Like if they would take an Asian American Studies class, if they would minor in Asian American Studies, if they would major in it. We asked them what their majors and minors are and whether they saw an Asian American Studies faculty member benefiting them in their respective departments. So with our demands, we released this survey. This survey was super helpful because we could actually collect real student data to then show faculty or admin that, "Okay, we need Asian American Studies, and there will actually be interest for Asian American Studies, because here's the survey." So I think that was a learning that was maybe informed by ExpectAsian, like the need to have student voices. That was kind of our biggest learning. And I can go a little bit into what, I guess Asian, or broader activism, looked like. Not just for Asian American Studies, but in general. Like, you know, the evolution, I guess, of Asian identity on campus, if that's something that you'd like me to go into. That's a separate thing that, yeah, I can.

Divya Aikat [25:06]
Yeah, I would love to hear more about that.

Yashita Kandhari [25:09]
Yeah. Okay, so that essentially is the finding from the oral history project that Ashley and I did where we interviewed, you know, faculty, alumni. And so that was pretty great, because we kind of got an idea also about how Asian and Asian American identity on campus has evolved, but also an idea of how different- not just Asian American Studies, but also East Asian Studies and South Asian Studies, how that came to campus and how that evolved. So, our first South Asian faculty member, we actually got in the 1970s. He was a historian, he taught South Asian Studies until he retired in 2016. So South Asian Studies was actually really big at Davidson, like way back in the 70s, as well, when Dr. [I. Job] Thomas, you know, came to campus. So apart from him, in the 80s, there was another professor of religion, who kind of spoke about Hinduism. And then in the 80s, I think Davidson had one of the best or most well-known India study abroad programs; they call it the Davidson in India program. So there were a bunch of students from different colleges as well, who would come and sign up with Davidson, just because Davidson was known for doing this and for leading this exchange with India. So interestingly, there's always been this India connect, I guess, that Davidson has had in the beginning. So that's just kind of like a fun fact.

And then, I guess, in terms of student experiences from what we kind of spoke to students. So Davidson continues to be predominantly white, but obviously, back then, it was even more so. I'm not exactly sure of the percentages, but there were very few Asian students on campus. And initially, a couple of the students that we interviewed from the 80s, kind of spoke about the fact that there was- So from one of the interviews, for example, one person mentioned that there was no need for all the Asian students to bond together, they didn't feel that kind of need to come together just because of their Asian identity. And everyone just kind of assimilated and, you know, there wasn't a sense of like, "Oh, we're Asian, so we're gonna stick together." There wasn't that kind of recognition or identity group. And even in terms of the resources that were there for Asian students specifically on campus, there wasn't anything specific. It was all just general, whatever was there at Davidson anyway. And then, something else that another person mentioned in the oral history was that even just understandings of race and racial politics were more seen in terms of black and white, and at least on campus -- and this is according to that oral history -- there wasn't as much understanding of where Asian people kind of fit into that, I guess, discourse around race on campus. So that was the 80s. But then, interestingly, in the late 80s, there was a South Asian exchange student who put on a play. And it was a political play that was originally written in Bengali and then translated. And I think this, at least from our own histories, was one of the first instances of like a visible display of Asian identity on campus. It became like this big thing and was reported in the college newspaper, a lot of the international students kind of came together. And the person who actually wrote this play and organized this was kind of talking about how, for him coming on campus, he felt more solidarity in the international community, whether it was South Asian internationals or just the broader internationals. And also, he was talking about how a lot of the Black students were friends with international students as well. So it was clear that somewhere there, I guess, there was a sense of solidarity that was forming on campus. At least this was his experience and this is what he had said about his time there.

And then in the 90s, we had, I think, maybe there was an even stronger sense of this Asian identity forming on campus. One person had mentioned that, in the US, while he was doing his admissions tours to Davidson, he asked a question about, like, “What are your multicultural resources?” And the person who was giving the tour came up blank, basically saying nothing. So, he was saying that as a South Asian student on campus, diversity was just seen as one thing, I mean, there wasn't space for nuance, like Asian identity, international identity, different races; it was kind of seen as one thing. So he felt like that kind of nuance was missing from conversations on campus. There was also a Japanese American student who shared how in one of the classes, someone said something really offensive about internment camps and the professor didn't say anything. And she was the one who actually had to speak up and defend herself in that classroom. So I think even back then, I guess, there was the need- Or basically, she just showed this lack of understanding of the Asian American experience in classrooms and a lack of that knowledge. And then kind of moving into the 2000s and 2010s is when we see different organizations forming. So, there was this organization called the Curry Club, which was South Asians, then the Asian Cultural Awareness Association formed.

And in terms of academics, back then Davidson shifted from just an India program to Area Studies. So, the India program became Asian Studies, broadly. And then, in 2010 and 2011, Asian Studies broke up into East Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern Studies concentration, so it became different and separate rather than just one thing. So, from India to Asia to separate, and then these organizations kind of started to come up. And then I think the evidence of activism that we found was ExpectAsian in 2015 and 2016. And someone that we conducted an oral history with, even in 2015, was kind of saying that, in classes, they felt really exhausted, because they felt like they always had to advocate for themselves. And not just in classes, but even otherwise, they always felt like they were being cultural experts, because no one else was there to kind of speak about the culture or to bring in that awareness as well. And so even then, I think, within the Asian Cultural Awareness Association, there began to be like, what we were talking about earlier, these kinds of conflicts between having enough South Asian representation versus East Asian, versus South Asian Americans versus South Asian internationals, like these kinds of contentions also started emerging, I guess, because I think that everyone also wants to express their identity, you know, in a different way. And it means something different to everyone. And so, it's kind of unfair to put people into one big box. And then I guess, yeah, '16, '17. '18 is when I joined Davidson and SASA was emerging. And then we started the Asian American Initiative. But I guess also kind of relating to this is that, like the Asian American Initiative, we made it very clear that we weren't trying to compete with SASA and ACAA. We didn't want it to be another Asian student group, because you know, Asian student groups already existed. We were clear that we were an initiative because we had a specific agenda that we were trying to get, and we wanted to work together with the other Asian groups. It wasn't meant to be like another cultural group, I guess, the same way that SASA and ACAA were. So that's kind of like the long broad history of Asian identity and Asian activism on Davidson's campus.

Divya Aikat [34:00]
Yeah, thank you for giving that. I think that's a very expansive history of Asian American student activism and I think that it's really nice that you got to collect these stories and learn more about this and research that history. You spoke about thinking about intersectional organizing in the past and how students felt that they were the only ones in the room where they were burdened with these various expectations of representing the whole group. I think from the work that you've done, you've had a lot of different multidisciplinary foci. And you've had a very broad reach in your advocacy work. So thinking about that kind of intersectional solidarity or organizing or community building... what did that look like for you, either at Davidson, or currently?

Yashita Kandhari [34:59]
Yeah, I think that building solidarity with different groups was extremely important to us, because, like I mentioned, we were trying to garner student support, and we felt that it was important for all of us to work together. And especially I think that for different student groups, for students who belong to marginalized groups, it was even more important for us to have intergroup solidarity and show up for each other and stand up for each other. And that was also one of the things that we started out doing with AAI. So, once we released these demands, we took them to different student groups, essentially, on campus, and tried to kind of get their support. So, whether that was just directly through sending it to them. Or in other cases, I remember having meetings with leaders of different student groups as well. And I think that there were some disagreements and confusion as well. But that's why it was important for us to actually just meet and talk about it. Because we knew that when we were taking demands to the administration, we wanted to make sure that we had all student groups on board. That was definitely extremely important to us. So I think in terms of intersectionality, and showing up for other student groups,

I don't know if I can really speak to that at an AAI level and how we showed up for different groups versus, like, personally. But I guess personally, I think that everyone involved did try to make it a point to show up, whether it was for events or organizing different events on campus together. Like, for example, we did a collaborative showcase with the Davidson Microaggressions Project on different microaggressions experienced by Asian students on campus. So, I think that that dialogue was constantly ongoing or something that we did try to do. I don't think I can speak to how successful we were, and I'm sure that there's much more that we could have done, definitely. But I think that this was something that we were trying to be aware of and trying to do. And I think that also something that we had a lot of conversations about were like, you know, just because we are there on campus and we are saying a set of demands, it doesn't mean that we're trying to take away from anything that other students are also doing, or other DEI efforts on campus or resources from anyone else. It was very much like, oh, we're all in this together. I mean, I guess that was what we were trying to go for. Making sure that we're not taking away from anyone or trying not to take space away from people and other groups on campus. And again, I don't know how successful we were, but this is definitely something that we were thinking about and at least trying to achieve. So, I think that, yeah, that's what I can say to that. And I think that, in terms of intersectionality in the work that I'm doing now, I feel like that has definitely continued. It's something that I try to be intentional about in all my work and that I'm thinking about. So yeah, I don't know how successful we were, but it was definitely there at the back of our minds and the work that we were doing.

Divya Aikat [38:53]
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I think often it can even just be an internal compass that every group member is aligned with and kind of organizing around. And I think that's also super important and necessary for this work to get done. Thinking about these different approaches that you all took for your advocacy work, you mentioned your list of student demands, the incredible turnout that you had with the student interest meeting, the speakers, the survey, and then also how your approach went beyond some of the things that ExpectAsian had done, for a broader approach. So, within these various strategies, did you see anything that specifically worked better than other things? Or that maybe hit harder? Or that worked maybe for faculty versus what worked for students? Could you tell us a little bit more about what you saw that had impact?

Yashita Kandhari [40:01]
Yeah, so I think definitely the work that we did with students, but just meeting people individually helped a lot. So we, amongst ourselves there was the five of us, and then we had a lot more people kind of like pitching in and helping out as well. I don't remember if we got to the STEM faculty, I can't remember. But we had a spreadsheet with all the different departments of the college and the chairs of each department. And we individually set up meetings with all of them to kind of talk to them about what Asian American Studies is, if they had space to hire an Asian Americanist within their department. So I think that was super important, because meeting people on a personal level and seeing where each department was at was very important. And then even when we were meeting faculty, we took the list of demands with us as well as the student survey showing that… say, if we were meeting someone in English, saying that people who are English majors are saying that would be interested in this. So, we weren't just coming to them saying something that we didn't already have evidence about. And I think the same goes for students and student groups, because there were students who didn't agree with us, who didn't agree with our approach, who felt like there were things that we were doing wrong. But I think even that was super helpful to just speak about, because I think that, you know, through communication, you kind of get a lot, like you've managed to resolve a lot of confusion. And I think it was helpful for us also to actually speak to as many student groups and student leaders as we could, because we could then adjust our own strategy and what we were doing accordingly as well, which was really important. And then finally, we managed to meet the President and the Dean of Faculty of the College. And we met them after having met most of the faculty members and the chairs of the different departments. So then, when we were going to them also, we kind of went with this idea of what people in different departments were looking for. And, of course, admin ultimately has the final say, rather than faculty, because in terms of the resources available, and priorities, and all of that. But I think that was good, because we just had so much evidence, and we also had a pretty good idea of like, you know, what things look like at all levels, whether it was admin, whether it was faculty, or students. So, I think that that was really helpful to kind of take that three-pronged approach.

And I think that after, for example, the History department hired, the English department hired. And I'm not saying that, obviously, it was just because of us. And of course, I mean, we owe ExpectAsian a lot, because they're the ones who kind of did the initial groundwork for us and really laid the- They created the framework, they created the blueprint for how we can go about things, which was amazing. For example, the English department already had that because of the work that ExpectAsian did. And I think, they had been like wanting to hire someone, an Asian Americanist, for a while. But it was good to actually meet to get our point across as well. And also just to get faculty support. And I think in that process, whether it was students or faculty or administration, in all of the three groups, we found so many mentors and we found so many supporters. Actually, just like everyone was just willing to help us and I think everyone was super honest about like, what's there, what's not there, in terms of resources, what is possible? And I think that was really helpful, as well, to just speak directly. I think that is what [laughs] worked, like just taking the time out. And I know that in my sophomore year, I remember, there was this one period which was just so chaotic, like all our calendars were just so full, because we were just running from one meeting to the other constantly. I just remember all of us being exhausted by the end of it. But it was definitely worth taking out that time for sure.

Divya Aikat [44:23]
Yeah.

Yashita Kandhari [44:24]
And also, sorry, just like one more thing to add.

Divya Aikat [44:26]
Go ahead.

Yashita Kandhari [44:29]
But I think like, apart from finding mentors, we also did speak to students at Duke who were organizing back then. And then I think NC State as well. And there was this Triangle-Area Asian American Studies Conference (TAASCON) that we attended, where we met other students. So I think even, apart from talking to alumni who had done similar work and learning from them, what also helped, I think… even though the contexts are very different, because I think liberal arts colleges have a different way of functioning than at a big university. Like the resources available, just that is completely different, the number of students is completely different. But it was helpful to talk to other organizers for sure. So that was nice as well.

Divya Aikat [45:16]
Yeah, it sounds like a very broad and organized approach, so that's really interesting to see. And then also, our Asian American student org, one of our goals for this year is to try to bring back TAASCON.

Yashita Kandhari [45:31]
Oh, wait, it doesn't happen anymore?

Divya Aikat [45:35]
No, since the pandemic, it hasn't happened.

Yashita Kandhari [45:39]
Oh, no. Yeah, it was amazing. We got to meet so many people through that. And it was really cool. So, I hope that you manage- I mean, yeah, fingers crossed, I hope it comes back.

Divya Aikat [45:51]
Yeah, me too [both laugh]. I also, I wanted to ask, going through this whole organizing process, and a lot of this advocacy, what were your most challenging moments and your most rewarding moments of this process?

Yashita Kandhari [46:12]
I think that most challenging moments were definitely- I think just on a personal level, it was definitely quite exhausting. Of course, it was rewarding in that we were managing to get our point across and speaking to all these people, but at the same time, even though we were really hopeful, there was always a fear that this was just going to go nowhere, and result in nothing. So, I think just that, like trying to keep our hopes up and trying to hope that this would go somewhere. That was one of the things. And also, I think, of course, which is the case no matter what you do, but I guess dealing with people who disagreed or differing opinions, and I think learning how to deal with that as well, and to have conversations and sort out conflict, I think that that was probably definitely challenging, and a big learning as well.

And also, I guess, for example, when we put out our demands, we wanted to stick them all over campus. And we went at night, and we did it. And this was maybe about 11, it was a weekday. And the next morning, I think they were all taken down. A And we made sure that we used tape that wouldn't leave a mark as well [laughs], like it was masking tape. So, we made sure to even do that. So that it wouldn't actually leave a mark or actually destroy anything. So I think like, learning how to deal with that feedback was definitely challenging for sure. And then I think also, from students, kind of getting people who didn't necessarily understand the need for Asian American Studies or felt like it was not important. So I think learning how to deal with that definitely, but also while making space for everyone's opinions. I think that was one thing.

And in terms of rewards, I mean, this has been rewarding, like so, so rewarding in that I feel like we did manage to build community just amongst ourselves, which was great. And then besides that, also, it was community amongst ourselves, but also alumni. Like there's now an Asian and Pacific Islander alumni network, which never existed before. That was one of our demands, and something that we were advocating for. It wasn't just our work, of course, it was a lot of other things on campus that came together and a lot of other people that actually established this. So, I'm not saying that we're- I don't want to take credit for it, because it's not just ours to take, but it's definitely something that kind of emerged after our efforts as well. So, I think even just having that now, it's been rewarding. And the fact that there have been more Asian American faculty on campus and seeing that has also been really great. So, I think there have been good things to come out of the work that we did. And I just wish that the pandemic hadn't happened, I mean, like for many- but I just wonder sometimes how things would have turned out if it hadn't happened when it did and if we hadn't lost momentum in the way that we did, like how things would have panned out, for sure.

Divya Aikat [49:46]
Right, I think that the pandemic is such a disrupting factor, especially in this organizing work that really relies on community and gathering. And those are the things most fractured by a virtual space. I also wanted to ask, kind of related to the pandemic, and this constant sense of burnout that people in this activism work feel, how did you navigate that sustainability? Both within the group and then in your personal life, on continuing work, even when you have so many other responsibilities and so many things going on in your life?

Yashita Kandhari [50:29]
Yeah, I think while we were on campus and while we were all together, it was definitely a priority for us all. So, I think being just really intentional about meeting and checking in. And I think it also helped that while doing this work, all of us who were involved in it just became close. So, we were also each other's support system. So, I think just finding support in each other, in just incredible professors. Like, just finding support in each other, I think was the biggest- Like, I think we really helped each other get through it together. So I think that was one of the main things that got us through. And then, I think, even when the pandemic happened, we did try to shift gears and shift our efforts. So I think I was also quite removed from this, because I was back in India during the pandemic, and I didn't go back to campus at all, because I felt like it didn't make sense for me. So on campus, also, there was still work going on.

One of the things that we did was we recorded podcast episodes. I don't even remember what happened to them, whether we released them or not, or all of them. But we had podcast episodes, also talking about the rise in hate crimes and hate incidences of hate speech against Asian Americans, specifically East Asian Americans and Chinese Americans during the pandemic. And of course, like the uprisings that took place during the pandemic as well. So, I think we had a few episodes kind of dealing with that. We did an open call for people to submit art, I think, and poetry and things about how they were dealing with the pandemic. But again, my memory is really blurry about what kind of came out of that, I just remember that we did this. We were in some ways trying to keep the momentum going. And then apart from that, on campus, if I'm not mistaken, there was a revised set of demands that were posted as well in different places. But again, I think because I wasn't there, I'm not exactly sure about what came out of that. Yeah, it was just different because it was the pandemic and we couldn't gather students and garner support the same way. So yeah.

Divya Aikat [53:13]
Yeah, and kind of talking about these preliminary steps and then continuing to sustain yourself, how would you recommend that current or future students in institutions that don't have programs begin this work? And then continue it?

Yashita Kandhari [53:34]
Yeah, I think that- just learning from experience, the first step would be to see if anything similar has been done before. So I would say, look in your archive, talk to like any alumni in case there's an alumni network, to kind of see what's already been done before. I think that would be good. And I think the other most important thing is to find support within the faculty and within administration, because I think it's there. As students, you're not alone. And especially because faculty are around for much, much longer than students. I mean, we graduate out every four years and it's really hard to kind of keep the pace and momentum going, and even preserve memory. I think the faculty and admin who are around, they're the ones who actually have the most institutional memory. And of course, even just have more power to do things on campus and to bring about change, and they have a say. And, of course, students have a say, but obviously not as much. So I think that finding faculty support, even if it's one or two faculty members, who you know you can kind of reach out to, who can guide you. I think that's really important.

And then I think that the other thing would be definitely, I would say, focusing on student support, garnering student interest, making sure that there's a strong student community, because this kind of work is really exhausting to do just by yourself, or only for a few people. So definitely the more students the better. And I think that's something that I wish that, you know, we could have done differently is the sustainability. It only happens when there are younger students who join in as well. And I think that in our case, because of the pandemic, again, and just like not being on campus, and yeah other reasons, probably. So two people, two of us who were sophomores, when we started initially, graduated out in 2021. And then the three of us remaining graduated in 2022. And then, there weren't other people, I guess, who were at the same level of involvement in organizing, who were in other classes, I feel. So, I think that having that and having that built into the initiative or organization, I think is super, super helpful. I mean, similar to how student organizations kind of have students in leadership roles, and then there's transfer of like- I don't know, I was gonna say transfer of power, I don't know if that's like the right way- responsibility-

Divya Aikat [56:32]
Like, passing the torch on?

Yashita Kandhari [56:34]
Yeah, passing the torch on. That sounds too- like, transferring power, it's not power, [both laugh] it's just, yeah, passing the torch on, or people to pass responsibility to. I feel like, in student organizations, there's usually some system that's put in place. And I think often, what student organizations at Davidson even did was that, I think, if you're a senior, for your last semester, seniors can't be president, and juniors have to take on that role. So you have the seniors around as well to still be there and take on a mentoring role. So I think something like that is important, because like the memory has to pass on.

And the other thing I would say is document everything. Like meeting notes, if you've had events, whether it's on Instagram or a website or Google Drive, like I think having detailed documentation is super, super important. Even so that, I don't know, [maybe] you don't even think it's important and the work doesn't continue and then years later, you have a student group who is wanting to do similar work that can really benefit from all your notes and everything that you've done, which was there in our case.

So I feel like yeah, that would kind of be my advice. And then I think also, this is something that I feel like I heard a lot from our mentors, was that change is really, really slow, especially within academia and within academic institutions. So it's really easy to burn out just because you feel like you're not doing anything. But I think it's important just to know that even if things don't change in your time at college, you're still changing the institution for the better and change is still happening and other students will benefit. So I think it's just important to keep that in mind and even to just celebrate the small wins is super important. I mean, maybe there won't be a department in a year, but maybe it'll be there in five years, and that's still a win and your work contributing to those efforts is still super important. And I think that people just need to remember that, to avoid burnout and to avoid just feeling like everything is gloom and doom and nothing will come out of it. I just don't think that's true. So yeah.

Divya Aikat [58:53]
Yeah, I think that's some really wonderful advice. And I think a lot of things that- especially the documentation, I think, is such a good one. And, yeah, my my mom always jokes that – because she works at the university – and she says another name for the university is molasses, because it just moves so slowly. And so, kind of thinking about Davidson's Asian American Studies program. So where was Asian American Studies by the time that you graduated? And then do you feel like the amount of progress you might have had was affected by- In what ways was it affected by the institutional response?

Yashita Kandhari [59:46]
Yeah, okay. So I feel like by the time we graduated, we had some visiting professors in Asian American Studies. But I think that we definitely wanted, I think, at least someone who was hired on a tenure track position, or someone who was there in a more permanent role, and I don't know if that was achieved by the time that we graduated. But if I'm not mistaken, there was a tenure track professor in the English department who was going to be hired, who I think was hired the year after. And there was not Asian American Studies, but in South Asian Studies, there was a South Asian historian who was also hired for the year after. So in that sense, I guess there was a delayed reward or a delayed achievement, in that sense.

And I think that, in terms of the institution, I feel like we did get a lot of support from faculty who were always on our side and who were always ready to advocate for us, who showed up for events, who kind of give us a space to speak and to share about Asian American Studies, who put forward requests to hire faculty, or proposals to hire faculty within their respective departments who specialized in Asian American Studies. So I feel like we did get a lot of support from the institution, I guess, in that sense, or people within the institution, in that sense. But then, of course, everyone's priorities are not the same. And you know, people's priorities are different. And that's something that we heard from the institution as well, that, you know, there's the lack of resources, different priorities, different departments have different demands.I think that what I like to focus on more now, like looking back, is all the people who did support us and the people who did show up for us and who were there. I think that was what stayed with me a lot more.

Divya Aikat [1:01:55]
Yeah, thank you. I think that's a wonderful answer. And I think that the work that you guys did during your time at the Asian American Initiative was so impressive and such- like you were talking about how ExpectAsian helped set up that work, you guys have set up such a wide span of resources and had actionable results to help move this Asian American Studies push forward. And so, I have a final question to ask you, but before that, I wanted to check in. Is there anything else that you wanted to share about advice or about your experiences. Or if there's anything you didn't get to mention, I wanted to give you space to do that.

Yashita Kandhari [1:02:42]
I don't know if this is- I mean, it's not really advice, but, I don't know, it's just something that I'm- I don't really know what my thoughts are on this as yet. But I think in terms of what we were talking about earlier, like in terms of pan-Asian solidarity. By the time that I left Davidson, there were so many different Asian student groups. So firstly, the Asian Cultural Awareness Association rebranded to become PASA, which was the Pan-Asian Student Association, because they felt like it was much more representative of the work that they wanted to do. But then we had SASA, the South Asian Student Association, we had the Korean Student Association, we had the Chinese Culture Club, and then of course, there was AAI. But I think that within the Asian community itself, there were so many different offshoots and different groups. And, within these groups there were, of course, different ideas.

Because there's just so much. Even within these groups, there's just so much- there's still so many differences as well. And just figuring out how to navigate identity in these spaces is so difficult, because everyone has such a different relationship to it. So just figuring out the balance between making sure that everyone has space versus also cultivating a sense of pan-Asian solidarity, I think is just super important. And it's not- I don't have advice or even a full thought on this. But I think I just wanted to just acknowledge the difficulty, I guess, or how confusing- Or not difficulty, I should say, but rather the complexity of it, and hold space for that. And I think that even while we were trying to do work in AAI, and through the Asian American Initiative, that was something that we were grappling with as well, like trying to find our space on campus. And we did hear that, "Oh, there are already cultural associations. What is the need for Asian American?" Within SASA, for example, as I was saying there are different countries who are not represented. But then also, I think, being Indian American versus being Indian and Indian from India, and the differences in that, and trying to again somehow represent that as well. And at the same time, whether it was through AAI, or whether it was through these Asian associations, trying to find our space and cultivate community amongst ourselves, and have events like Diwali, but then also, you know, we were kind of representing our culture and identity for others on campus. And what that means to suddenly become the representative of your culture or your identity. So yeah, it's just very complex and tricky.

But I think within all of that, what helped the most or what got us through was just like keeping this idea that we need to have solidarity and we need to stick together, I feel like, is what kind of got us through. But yeah, just acknowledging the complexity, and I think that that sometimes adds like another layer of difficulty when trying to organize for something like Asian American Studies, perhaps, is that there's this- Yeah, it's very complex, but yeah. [laughs]

Divya Aikat [1:06:25]
Yeah, I think that's so important to note. There's just a lot of nuance and so many layers that go into this work. And there's so much to consider at once. This brought up- before I ask my last question, this brought up a quick other question for me. I was wondering- I think one thing that I personally noticed with my group at UNC, is that our group is mostly made up of women and nonbinary people. Like the involvement that we were getting from men and that want to be in a more niche activism space was very low. And that was something that we were always noting and keeping track of. And so I was wondering if that showed up at all for you in AAI and what that kind of looked like.

Yashita Kandhari [1:07:14]
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we had pretty much the same. I mean, we were all mostly like women and nonbinary people. There were, I think, comparatively very few men, I guess, who were involved and were part of the- I mean, there were a lot of men who showed up for events and things like that. But in terms of the actual organizing work, it was also similar to your case, I would say women and nonbinary people. Yeah, in our case as well.

Divya Aikat [1:07:56]
Okay, that's interesting, yeah. I think we've just seen that come up a lot. And so it brings up questions of like, why are certain people doing this work? Yeah, so, I think that's interesting.

Yashita Kandhari [1:08:09]
Yeah. Okay, this is so fascinating. I mean, if this is something that you're kind of writing about, or if it comes up in other oral- This is just from a personal- But please, I would love to read about it. Because before you said this, I didn't even think about it. I think this is something that we would – not joke about – but I don't know, just take for granted that it was mostly like women and nonbinary, I don't know. But like, that's so interesting that you mention it being a pattern across different colleges. You know, that's really interesting. So, I would love to read more, if people said anything else about this.

Divya Aikat [1:08:53]
Yeah, I'll totally share with you. I'm currently trying to create a toolkit / how to organize for Asian American Studies, where I'm bringing up common themes in the oral histories. So once that's finished, I'll definitely send it your way.

Yashita Kandhari [1:09:08]
I would love to read it. Yeah, that's amazing that you're putting this together. This is so, so cool. Because I was saying that it's nice for us to have spoken to alumni from our college. But the fact that you do have this toolkit that you're building, it's going to be so useful for so many people, because you're getting so many experiences, I'm sure, from this project. That's such cool work!

Divya Aikat [1:09:27]
Yeah, that's the goal. Thank you.

Yashita Kandhari [1:09:33]
I wish we had this!

Divya Aikat [1:09:35]
I know, that's what I'm thinking too. Every time I hear one of these oral histories, I'm like, oh, wow, I wish that there was some type of a combined resource happening.

Yashita Kandhari [1:09:45]
Yeah, that's so cool. Of course, like, we did have faculty and people helping us out and ExpectAsian but we were still pretty much just doing whatever. [both laugh] You know, as in, we were just trying things and hoping for the best and seeing what worked. There wasn't a blueprint that was set up for us already. So that's so, so cool that you're doing this work. Like yeah, incredible.

Divya Aikat [1:10:13]
Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm so excited to add your story to the collection too and note all of the Davidson history. Moving on to my last question, kind of zooming out of all of these details [and] interpersonal interactions, what does it mean to you to be a part of this Asian American Studies movement as a whole?

Yashita Kandhari [1:10:41]
I feel like being a part of this really shaped my time at Davidson, because for most of the time that I was at Davidson, I was doing this work. And so, I feel like it taught me so much about myself, about organizing, about community, about identity, I think I learned so much just doing this work. So I mean, I can't imagine what my college experience would have been like without it really. And I just feel very grateful for having learned so much and I think that even just hopefully having made a little bit of a difference in the institution or even the work that we did kind of like collecting oral histories- So like apart, so more context to that also, I guess, was that there was a Stories (Yet) To Be Told Mellon grant that we received. And there was a larger effort going on at the college archives, trying to diversify and trying to get more diverse student voices, as well. So I think that even the efforts that we made trying to preserve the memory of Asian and Asian American students who had come before us: their experiences on campus, their struggles, their organizing work done. I'm really glad that I got to do that and then hopefully become a part of that history, I guess, as part of that, as well. And it's been nice, like as an alumni, I think, looking back, I wish that I was more involved and maybe if I was still in the US, I would be a little bit more connected to campus. Like, there was a reunion event, for example. And I obviously couldn't attend, because I was all the way here in Mumbai. So I think that I wish that I could maybe still be more involved. But I'm glad to see this work in community and solidarity continue, even now. And so I'm happy that I had a small part, like a really small part, to play in it.

But yeah, and I think also I should have done this at the beginning. But I really want to acknowledge the other people who were in AAI because I feel like I was just there, like learning from them. I think that I learned so much just from my peers, from the other founders of the initiative, and all the other people who kind of helped out. I think that my role really feels like- I mean I was – it doesn't just feel like – mostly learning from them. And so, I think just getting to know such amazing other individuals who were also involved was really special as part of this work.

Divya Aikat [1:13:55]
That's wonderful. That sounds really special and meaningful. Okay, well, that's everything. Thank you so much for sitting down with me and telling me so much about your amazing work that you've done and this organizing history at Davidson.