Asian Pacific Islander Desi
Asian Pacific Islander Desi Resources
At UCSB, there isn’t currently an LGBTQIA+ specific APIDA organization, but if you are interested in restarting Queer Trans Asian Pacific Islander Desis (QTAPID), please email: qtapid.ucsb@gmail.com. Before the general groups of Asian/Asian American Pacific Islander Desi organizations at UCSB, the RCSGD and Trans* and Queer Commission are listed as general LGBTQIA+ organizations that can function as resources for QTAPID students. Specific positions that keep QTAPID empowerment in mind and programs are mentioned in their descriptions.
For a list of student organizations, please visit our APIDA Student Organizations page.
Cultural Centers
Asian Resource Center
Description: The mission of the Asian Resource Center (ARC) is to educate, promote, and encourage the interaction and dialogue among the diverse ethnic groups within the Asian American community at UCSB. The Center provides a supportive environment for students, staff, faculty, and community members to develop an appreciation for one's identity and to affirm an institutional commitment that recognizes one’s community.
Contact: sa-arc@ucsb.edu
Website: https://eop.sa.ucsb.edu/cultural-centers/asian-resource-center-arc
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/ucsb_arc/
https://www.facebook.com/UCSBAsianResourceCenter
Location: Within the SRB
East Asia Center
Description: The East Asia Center (EAC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara promotes interdisciplinary research and cultural events on East Asia. It brings together UCSB faculty, students, and the wider local public with leading scholars and other creative individuals from other institutions in order to create a critical and nurturing community for the study of East Asia. EAC strives to collaborate with a range of departments, individuals and other units in the Humanities, Social Sciences and beyond that are invested in education and public understanding of East Asia. EAC invests in relationships between UCSB and the East Asian region as well as the academy and the public. EAC is housed within the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER) at UC Santa Barbara.
Contact: Admin - admin@eastasian.ucsb.edu
To join listserv, email - lisamcallister@ucsb.edu
Website: https://www.eac.ucsb.edu/
Middle Eastern Resource Center
Description: The Middle Eastern Resource Center (MERC) promotes the cultural awareness and academic success of students of Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian (MENASA) heritage. It fosters dialogue, cross-cultural learning, and interaction among the diverse ethnic groups within our MENASA student communities and the campus-at-large. Through its programs, the MERC works to assist students to embrace their cultural identity, integrate into student life, promote an appreciation and celebration of diversity, and reinforce an affirmation of our institutional and educational commitment to leadership, achievement, collaboration, excellence, and community.
Contact: sa-MERC@ucsb.edu
Website: https://eop.sa.ucsb.edu/cultural-centers/middle-eastern-resource-center-merc
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/ucsbmerc/
https://www.facebook.com/ucsbmerc
MULTICULTURAL CENTER
This center offers various events including lectures, films and videos, panel discussions, readings, art exhibitions, and music, dance and dramatic performances, collaborations, and space in an effort to create cultural awareness.
Website: https://mcc.sa.ucsb.edu/
Location: UCEN, Room 1504
Phone: (805)-893-8411
Hours: M-Th 8a-10pm. F 8am-5pm
Off Campus Resources
Mental Health Hotlines
DeQH - 1-908-467-3374
DeQH is the first and only national Desi lgbtQ+ Helpline in the United States. We offer free, confidential, culturally sensitive peer support, information and resources for LGBTQ+ South Asian individuals, families and friends around the globe. We want to offer a safe and supportive ear for callers to share their concerns, questions, struggles or hopes through conversations with our trained South Asian peer support volunteers. We are a volunteer collective of South Asian queer and trans individuals across the United States.
Trained volunteers are available to talk between:
- Thursdays, 8-10 PM Eastern (5-7 PM Pacific)
- Sundays, 8-10 PM Eastern (5-7 PM Pacific)
Trikone - 1-908-367-3374
Trikone is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) people of South Asian descent, who trace their ethnicities to one of the following places: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet. Founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trikone is the oldest group of its kind in the world.
Asian LifeNet 24/7 Hotline - 1-877-990-8585
(Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Fujianese are offered)
Scholarships
APIQWTC (Asian and Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community)
An organization in the SanFrancisco Bay Area providing support and community for nearly 800 queer and trans Asian and Pacific Islander individuals. The APIQWTC scholarship supports queer Asian and Pacific Islander women and transgender people in their pursuit of technical/professional training or higher education. The scholarship recognizes those who are active in the community and encourages future leaders. APIQWTC will be awarding scholarships of $2500 each to two Asian/Pacific
Islander lesbian, bisexual, or queer women or transgender individuals pursuing technical/professional training or an undergraduate/graduate degree.
Prism Foundation is a grassroots philanthropic organization that provides funds and leverages resources to empower the Asian & Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ community. Under their program section, you can find a variety of scholarships, grants, a fellowship program, and a Covid-19 Relief fund.
Contact:
For scholarships, email scholarship@theprismfoundation.org
For grants, email grants@theprismfoundation.org
For marketing & media, email marketing@theprismfoundation.org
For Runway, email runway@theprismfoundation.org
For fundraising, sponsorships, or Community Connections, email development@theprismfoundation.org
For all other inquiries, email info@theprismfoundation.org
Website: https://theprismfoundation.org/
Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prismqtapi/
Media
Articles
Research Brief: Asian/Pacific Islander LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
This research brief from the Trevor Project unpacks the impact of intersectionality on mental health for LGBTQ+ API- identified folx.
'Model Minority' Myth Again Used As A Racial Wedge Between Asians And Blacks
The following articles touch on model minority myth and racialization, two phenomenons that prop Asian-Americans on a minority pedestal, and consequently weaponize their existence against other minority groups while subjecting Asian-Americans to the psychological pressure and stress of measuring up.
Personal memoir depicting the experiences of Viet Thanh Nguyen who was born in Vietnam and raised in America. His novel The Sympathizer won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as five other awards.
Movies
A List of Recommendations and Compiled Lists
Saving Face
The Half of It
Nina’s Heavenly Delights
Kapoor & Sons
Handmaiden
Fish & Elephant
Fire
Love/Juice
Blue
Sayew
Alifu, The Prince/ss
The Wedding Banquet