By Minal Singh
Northwest Asian Weekly
KUOW reporter Liz Jones conducting an interview in a farmers market in Hyderabad, India
“Two Indias: Near and Far,” follows Liz Jones, a Seattle reporter, who traveled to India last summer to record footage for stories that are airing now until November 25. It is sponsored by the Washington Center for the Book. The six-part radio series is produced by KUOW 94.4 Seattle and launched on Nov. 18.
The series features the originating narratives of Seattle’s emerging immigrant community demographic..
Jones traveled to South India for three weeks on an international reporting fellowship to explore the local immigration trend. Endorsed by the International Center for Journalists and the Ford Foundation, this collaboration between Jones and series editor, Carol Smith, produces video narratives of Indian immigrants reporting their struggles framed by the home they left behind in terms of the home they have found.
The series episodes include: “Hyderabad, India: Seattle’s tech sister of the East,” “The repatriates: A new generation returns to India,” “Visas put careers on hold for tech wives,” “Who will care for the parents of expat Indians?, “What it was like to be Redmond’s first Indian family,” and “Why did KUOW send a reporter to Hyderabad, India?”
Immigration and emerging communities are Jones’ expertise. She looks for “shifts in demographics, how things are growing or changing.” After working in Bellingham, she noted a lot of Punjabi farmers working in the Eastside when she was reporting on a story about Latino farmers. According to census reports, Washington is the 2nd of all states with the highest growth of Asian-Indians, states Jones, who conducted this research as inquiry of why and how this trend is occurring.
Attributing to this growth is the tech boom and Redmond’s software industry. Jones’ interest in immigration is at the heart of current U.S. affairs since Obama’s recent Address to the Nation on Immigration. (end)
Those interested in contributing to the discussion of Seattle immigration can post a message to the KUOW facebook page, or listen to narratives by visiting http://kuow.org/topic/two-indias-near-and-far.
Minal Singh can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.