After Viola—Finding Shelter among Strangers in Overlapping Migrations
Lecture by Nayan Shah
Inspired by Rina Banerjee’s fierce and fantastic sculpture, Viola, from New Orleans-ah, an African Woman…, (2017), this talk explores the effects of overlapping migrations on individual lives more than a century ago. Banerjee’s muse was Viola Ida Lewis, an African American woman who married Joseph Abdin, a Bengali sailor and peddler, in 1906. Thousands of South Asian men married Black, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Mexican-American, and Eastern European women and worked alongside them in North American ports, lumber mills, orchards, and cotton fields. These unexpected unions linked immigrants of disparate origins, helped them overcome isolation and estrangement, and created new cultures. Free and open to all.
Nayan Shah is Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at USC. A reception will follow the talk.
This event is presented by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the UCLA Center for India and South Asian Studies (CISA).
Event Date: Sunday, Feb. 9, 2 p.m.
Venue: Fowler Museum
Price: Free
The Fowler Museum is located in North Campus.
Parking is available in lot 4 and the nearest ride-hailing pick up and drop off location is the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
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