Diaspora

By – Anshu Gupta

Bienvenue. Swagat. The amount of languages I can say welcome in is pretty limited. I suppose I could peruse Dey Hall and find some abandoned 101 textbooks in search for more greetings but luckily for me, and definitely lucky for you, I am not the only contributor to this publication.

If you know any more languages, or really if you are interested in anything– you are an ideal candidate to write, draw, photograph, or edit for Diaspora. If you are curious please email me at anshu@unc.edu or the Assistant Editor, Dharmi Tailor at dharmi@email.unc.edu. We would be thrilled to have you be a part of our team. Granted it’s not as cool as say, the Men’s varsity basketball team, but in time we could reach celebrity status, at least of the journalistic world.

That was my mandatory call to arms, my latest, but definitely not my final plea to all of you potential contributors out there. For those of you wondering what it is that you are actually reading, you are reading Diaspora: UNC-Chapel Hill’s first and only South Asian publication. The term Diaspora refers to any population sharing common ethnic identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their settled territory, and became residents in areas often far removed from the former. So to sum it up, it defines us. Diaspora is sponsored by Sangam to promote South Asian awareness, but also acts as another media outlet for students to express themselves.

This is our inaugural issue, so I would like you to feel free to please let us know what you like and don’t like because after all this is your publication, and we want you to enjoy it.

As the South Asian community grows larger every year, I feel that it is increasingly important for not only South Asians but also those interested in South Asian issues to have a voice on campus and a publication that they can relate to.

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading the issue, and we hope to get it to you on a continual basis. Thank you.