by Yasmine Cowan
The University of Maryland’s South Asian Student Association hosted an interfaith discussion Thursday to talk about religious identities and spirituality within the South Asian community on campus.
The discussion at Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center included representatives from numerous South Asian religions.
“We want to make sure that all religions are represented; I feel like there is always a disconnect between the religious communities sometimes, so we really want to talk about their issues and experiences,” said Anish Kakarla, the president of the South Asian Student Association and a senior bioengineering major.
The event included panelists from the Hindu Students Council, the Muslim Students’ Association, the Design Movement at UMD and the Sikh Student Association to discuss the numerous foundations of religious identities within other South Asian cultures at UMD.
Sruthi Srinivasan, SASA’s vice president of internal affairs, emphasized the importance of creating a community in developing the event.
“I think this was a really good panel to have; SASA’s mission is to create a collective Brown community for the Brown identities that are present on campus,” said Srinivasan, a junior cell biology and genetics major.
She said it was really interesting to see how distinct identities were able to connect with their faith, even if their faith is different.
SASA provided a platform for South Asian students to talk about their experiences growing up within their culture.
“I’m from Prince George’s County and there’s not many Indians, Hindus, or anyone from my culture. In college I felt a little lost, so I felt like this organization helped me find more Brown people and helped me know more about my own culture,” Kakarla said.
Kakarla said that he didn’t know a lot about the issues from other identities, but SASA has allowed him to learn more about them.
“We’re promoting South Asian culture, and people forget that there are so many different languages, religions, and different ethnicities, so we’re just trying to have everyone’s voices heard,” said Nahida Islam, the vice president of administration for SASA and a junior government and politics major.
Islam said it’s important that religious organizations on campus promote their own cultural events so they can have full control over their own religion.
“There is no superiority from where you come from; there are no preferences, you can be proud of wherever you come from,” Islam said. “Some students have asked us to hold a Diwali event, which we would redirect over to the Hindu Student Council because we don’t want to promote Hindu religion — that’s their individual religion.”
Featured image: Nahida Islam, Anish Kakarla and Sruthi Srinivasan pose for a photo. Photo by Yasmine Cowan.