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Since its founding in 2008, SAADA has enabled academics, artists, journalists, students, and community members to write books, create new content, and shape public understanding about the South Asian American community. SAADA is at the forefront of advancing a distributed, post-custodial community-driven approach to archival collecting, where archival work is done by and with the community, and not just for the community. Through the Archival Creators Fellowship Program, fellows will partner with SAADA to create archival collections that reflect the histories and perspectives of the most marginalized groups within the South Asian American community. These include, but are not limited to, communities that are working class, undocumented, LGBTQ+, Dalit, Muslim, Indo-Caribbean, or otherwise excluded or overlooked in mainstream South Asian American narratives.

This fellowship program is open to all US-based individuals who are themselves members of the community they will be archiving, or in which they otherwise have deep existing relationships. No formal archival training is necessary, but applicants should have a strong demonstrable interest and commitment to community memory and storytelling. Fellows are expected to dedicate approximately 8-10 hours/week to their project over the duration of the fellowship period from October 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (40 weeks).

Application Timeline
July 1, 2019: Call for fellowship applications is made available online
August 12, 2019: Fellowship application deadline
Late-August / Early-September 2019: Phone interviews with fellowship finalists
September 20, 2019: Fellows are announced to the public

Fellowship Timeline
October 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020: Fellowship period
October 12 & 13, 2019: Two-day workshop on digital archival practices and community relationship building in Philadelphia, PA.

During the fellowship period, Archival Creators Fellows will be responsible for:
• Participating in a two-day workshop on digital archival practices and community relationship building in Philadelphia, PA led by SAADA staff and advisors.
• Participating in bi-weekly videoconference meetings with SAADA staff to provide updates on their progress, ask questions, etc.
• Convening a community-based advisory group for your archival collection project.
• Identifying, digitizing, describing, and providing online access to at least 150 new archival items related to your collection area.
• Writing at least two new articles for Tides, SAADA’s online magazine, highlighting findings in these new archival collections.
• Regularly publishing blog posts detailing their process of building relationships and working within your community.
• Developing an online exhibit for the SAADA website highlighting a narrative thread in your newly created collection.
• Organizing an event launching your collection to the public and collecting community member stories and reflections.

Archival Creators Fellows will receive:
• Training on digital archival practices from SAADA staff and advisors, including appraisal, digitization, metadata creation, interviewing, and transcription, as well as relationship-building and event planning.
• Consistent support and guidance from SAADA staff and advisors throughout the duration of your project.
• A stipend of $8,000 (paid in three installments over the fellowship period).
• A budget of $2,000 to cover project costs, including honoraria for advisory group members, equipment costs (scanners, cameras, audio recorders, etc.), software (image or audio editing, etc.), local travel, and other expenses.
• An additional $1,000 budget for collection launch event, to cover the cost of event space rental, refreshments, documentation, equipment, local travel, and other expenses.

Please direct all questions and inquiries to fellowship@saada.org.

Opportunity Website

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