This Roundtable is part of a digital humanities project focused on Asian American and Pacific Islander religious communities in Southern California, coordinated by Tammy Ho and SueJeanne Koh, and funded by the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI).

Using the community-based participatory research method of Photovoice, our collaborative multi-sited project focuses on faith-based communities, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islander diasporas. Student-researchers will present their work with community members to document stories and experiences related to religion and being Asian American and/or Pasifika in California. Our Roundtable will showcase how religious communities function as a site of cultivating not only community relationships, but also reciprocity, mutual aid, and resistance.

This Photovoice project aims to amplify voices and perspectives not often acknowledged within mainstream conversations about US religions and to better situate Asian American and Pasifika religious communities both geographically and historically. We aim to seed an archive of oral histories and images for future pedagogy and research; to develop students’ skills in community-based research and building good relations; and to enrich knowledge about Asian American and Pasifika faith communities.

In this Roundtable, undergraduate and graduate student researchers will share images, information, and reflections from their respective research sites in this collaborative community-based participatory research project and offer a preview of a photographic exhibit emerging from the APARRI Photovoice project’s collective endeavors.

Student presentations will be 10-12 minutes each, allowing ample time for questions and discussion with the audience.

Require projection for images/powerpoint and photo files.