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about us
Project I.S.L.A.N.D. (Introducing Sri Lankan American Narratives in the Diaspora) is an interactive digital archive and oral history collective of memories and media from and by Sri Lankan American immigrants. "Diaspora" is defined as a group of people who live outside of their ancestral homelands, and the diaspora of Sri Lankans living in the United States have a unqiue history of nearly 100 years.
our vision
With our collective yet personal histories, Sri Lankan Americans offer dynamic perspectives of migration and cultural resiliency. The vision of Project ISLAND aims to share these narratives to preserve our experiences of navigating cultural belonging and to accomplish the following goals:
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Complicate the notion of a homogeneous Sri Lankan American experience
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Expand on collective histories and discourse of South Asian Americans
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Alleviate ethnic and religious tensions within Sri Lanka and the diaspora
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Establish the existence and resilience of Sri Lankans in America
our mission
Project ISLAND's mission to accomplish our vision requires a concerted effort and participation among Sri Lankan Americans. This evolving archive offers any Sri Lankan American the opportunity to be an archivist by contributing their own experiences through oral history, written history, photographs, videos, art, and other artifacts or narrative mediums. We encourage submissions that reveal the nuances of "Sri Lankan-ness" through other intersectional identities such as race, gender, religion, sexuality, class, ability, occupation, migrational purpose or status, etc. The context of submissions are up to the discretion of the participants and will be reviewed by the Lead Curator. However, we emphasize the value of offering both significant and mundane moments of Sri Lankan American history to preserve and empower generations of immigrants to come.
our values
Inspired by the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), Project ISLAND underscores the need to present and preserve the experiences of historically underrepresented communities to alleviate prevailing racial tensions in American society. At a time of heightened social-political conflict exacerbated by our ongoing pandemic, it is crucial to
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