University of Wisconsin students kicked off celebrations for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month at the Heritage Festival Saturday.
The APIDAHM Planning Committee, a group of students who helped plan this month’s celebrations with advisors from the APIDA Student Center, transformed the Multicultural Student Center into an indoor fairground for the come-and-go style heritage festival.
The festival introduced this year’s APIDA Heritage Month theme, “Voices Intertwined: Stories that Shape Us,”which highlights how heritage identities are shaped by the interweaving of different narratives within the APIDA community.
In the spirit of this theme, the heritage festival hosted community activities that spanned across three floors of the Multicultural Student Center. Attendees exploring the festival could participate in activities such as calligraphy, culture trivia, community loom weaving, self-portrait drawing, tea-making and tie-dye shirt making.
The festival also featured APIDA student organizations representing a diverse host of different Asian backgrounds. Organizations in attendance included the Chinese American, Hmong American, Asian American and Japanese Student Associations, as well as the Pacific Islander Student Alliance, the Multiracial Student Union and Sigma Psi Zeta, a multicultural sorority.
For UW sophomore attendee Anna Gaul, a particular highlight of the festival was the variety of food being offered.
“It’s very nice to have spaces where we can celebrate our culture,” Gaul said.
Guests at the festival could enjoy dishes such as mango lassi, fried gyozas, teriyaki chicken skewers, stuffed potato naan and vegetable samosas — each of which represented different Asian cuisines.
UW sophomore attendee Megha Pethari appreciated seeing her own culture represented in the festival’s atmosphere and foods.
“I feel like a lot of perspectives get narrowed to certain aspects of [Asia], and I think the best part about this event is that it wasn’t,” Pethari said. “If you talk to a lot of Indian students in general, we don’t call ourselves Asian a lot. You get so tired of not being represented and not seeing yourself, and other people telling you, ‘You’re not Asian.’”
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Pethari said that seeing mango pickle chutney at the festival was a particular sign of her culture being represented, as she considers it a standard food in many Desi households. She appreciated that the event was also welcoming to people without Asian heritage.
The APIDA Student Center has been focused on being more than just a platform that just serves Asian students for a night, according to Pethari.
“This is a space where people who aren’t Asian can understand the culture and appreciate it,” Pethari said.
Gaul and Pethari emphasized that the inclusivity of APIDA recognition on campus still has room for improvement but hope that this month’s events can help foster a sense of community.
Upcoming APIDAHM events to look forward to include the APIDA Art Gallery and Magazine Launch, “A-Speed-A” Dating Night, making mandalas at Wheelhouse Studios and others that are scheduled throughout April.
