Description

SHOW NOTES

Episode Summary:

How do we remain global in our worldview yet locally rooted in our day-to-day lives? For those of us who live between cultures, an enduring questions is how to shape our lives in a way where we draw upon our multiplicities and varied experiences. For many of us this has also meant adapting to new homelands and cultures and for others it has meant engaging with the world through periods of travel and education, allowing these experiences to broaden one’s understanding of home and the world.

This episode’s guest is Dr. Vishakha N. Desai whose work and life embodies how education, culture, and migration fuse together to create a truly global outlook. Dr. Desai is perhaps known most for having been the President and CEO of the Asia Society, a global nonprofit that forges closer ties between Asia and the West through arts, education, policy, and business. Dr. Desai currently serves as Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to President Lee Bollinger of Columbia University; Department Chair of the Committee on Global Thought; and is Senior Research Scholar in Global Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs. Trained in Indian classical dance, Dr. Desai is a noted scholar of South Asian Art and history and is well known for her leadership in presenting contemporary Asian art to American audiences and in developing innovative approaches to the relationship between culture and foreign policy in Asia.

This episode is based on her new book, World as Family: A Journey of Multi-rooted Belongings, which is both a deeply personal narrative of her life but is also filled with wisdom that many of us can use as we negotiate the idea of identity and being global.

Episode Themes:

• How to develop a deeply rooted sense of belonging, yet remain global in one’s orientation and actions
• The multilayered, shifting, and hybrid identities of immigrants
• Being Asian American in the U.S. today
• Navigating leadership as a woman, an Asian, and an immigrant
• The role of the arts in fostering global dialogue and understanding
• The important role of cultural and educational exchanges, and how one such organization—AFS—has navigated the pandemic

Links to resources from this episode:

Vishakha Desai’s book: World as Family: A Journey of Multi-rooted Belongings

Vishakha Desai’s website: www.vishakhadesai.com

AFS Intercultural Programs: https://afs.org

Be sure to check out these other resources!

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

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