South Asian Voices:
Oral Histories of South Asian Immigrants in Chapel Hill &Carrboro, North Carolina
Compiled & edited by Asian Voices
$19.95 paperback, 70 pages
Published: June 2002
ISBN 1880849-47-X

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To order by phone, call 866-942-8389

The immigration of people from South Asia to North Carolina has had a huge impact on the Research Triangle area in recent years. They come in search of higher education, with hopes of a better future, or to avoid political persecution back home. Many work as doctors, researchers and professors; others find work in restaurants, hotels and grocery stores. Some hope to return home, others know they never will. But all of them strive to maintain their own cultures, religions, and customs while embracing the best America has to offer and leaving an imprint of their own.

South Asian Voices tells the story of twelve such families now living in Chapel Hill and Carrboro—in their own words, with their own opinions. The stories of their assimilation into the local culture are as individual as the people themselves. Originally compiled as part of an oral history project at the University of North Carolina, these stories introduce us to "voices of both joy and sorrow, community and isolation."

These are the stories of people from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Their thoughts and dreams will strike a cord with members of other immigrant groups that have moved to the United States, or individuals who have tried to hold on to what they know while fitting in to a foreign culture.