Through audio diaries and interviews, former SSRC fellow Sienna Craig and her collaborators chronicled the experiences of Himalayan New Yorkers during the pandemic. Many Himalayans live in central Queens, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in New York City. This essay shares the many challenges faced by the Himalayan community, not least their struggle to be seen as a “community” with its own needs. But it also emphasizes the responses of Himalayans in terms of collective self-help and making claims on city government for attention and essential services.
Nawang Tsering Gurung
Nawang Tsering Gurung is a consultant, translator, speaker, and social entrepreneur originally from the Himalayan region of Mustang, Nepal, and now based in New York City. Gurung is the founder and coordinator of the oral history project Voices of the Himalayas: Language, Culture and Belonging in Immigrant New York, which has been documenting the languages, cultures, social histories, folklore, and community life of Himalayan New Yorkers, together with the Endangered Language Alliance and scholars Sienna Craig and Mark Turin. He is also founder and director of Yulha Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring sustainable livelihoods and improving access to education and healthcare in the Himalayan communities of Nepal. He serves on the advisory council of the Rubin Museum of Art.
Nawang served as a translator and assistant on the National Geographic documentaries Himalayan Megaquake and Cave People of the Himalayas. He also has extensive experience as a research collaborator with Craig, working in both Mustang and New York. He is the coauthor on several presentations and publications based on this work and coauthor of Dogyab: Rituel Tibetain de Conjuration du Mal (in French), a study of Bön religion in Nepal.
Nawang served as a translator and assistant on the National Geographic documentaries Himalayan Megaquake and Cave People of the Himalayas. He also has extensive experience as a research collaborator with Craig, working in both Mustang and New York. He is the coauthor on several presentations and publications based on this work and coauthor of Dogyab: Rituel Tibetain de Conjuration du Mal (in French), a study of Bön religion in Nepal.