Outreach

Educational Outreach

Providing educators at all levels with resources and guidance for curriculum development is at the heart of our Center’s mission. As part of this mission, we design and conduct teacher-training workshops and summer institutes for educators at the elementary, high school, community college and college levels.

Many of our programs and activities focus on developing better education materials and resources for teachers in Chicagoland. The Outreach office offers for loan a large range of educational materials, including books on a wide variety of topics, slide sets, curriculum units, comics and interactive teaching kits. We regularly bring experts on South Asia’s cultures, histories, languages and politics to K-12 classrooms. Our staff is composed of specialists in South Asia who are able to answer questions and to help teachers and other interested individuals locate resources outside our office. We are constantly working to acquire new, quality resources and update our existing materials. For anybody interested in finding out more about the region, publicizing South Asia-related events, or gaining access to the University of Chicago’s excellent resources and expertise, South Asia Outreach is a valuable point of contact.

Community Service

South Asia Outreach recently embarked on an new project to advance service opportunities for K-12 and post-secondary students in partnership with communities from Hyde Park to Hyderabad. Our model of service-learning is the idea that students can reinforce what they learn in the classroom with hands-on service experiences, and that their involvement in community life can help them apply the knowledge they build at school.

We strive to integrate service into curricula and student activities, from local citizenship tutoring and oral history projects to global human rights advocacy. We place students at Chicago-based and international non-profit organizations, advance student opportunities for international experience and raise awareness of human rights concerns across the street and across oceans. Our goal is to foster knowledge of South Asia by engaging with its communities, both homegrown and diasporic.

 

Please call our Outreach office, at (773) 702-8635 if you would like assistance, have an idea for collaboration, or just want to learn more about South Asia Outreach.

Two young women walking by a storefront while looking at the window advertisements.

Photo Credit: Curran Singh

Arts and Culture

South Asia Outreach sponsors a variety of cultural events in Chicago, from dance shows to plays and film screenings. We host timely lectures, seminars and conferences on significant South Asian news. Our goal is to create art that educates those who experience it about South Asia.

Soundscapes/Devon: An Aural Map of an Immigrant Neighborhood

Once heavily populated by Russian Orthodox Jewish families and now the center of the Chicago’s South Asian community, the stretch of Devon Avenue between Western Avenue and California Avenue is peppered with storefronts like Kashmir Sweets, Jerusalem Kosher Restaurant, Bombay Video Palace, Bismillah Bakery, and Delhi Darbar Kabob House. Walking the street, the pulse of music from the latest Tamil film fuses strangely with the honeyed waft of Shabbat challah bread, and both are interrupted by the hip beats of OJ Rekha hoppin’ off a passerby’s P2P device.

In 2009, South Asia Outreach partnered with this community to aurally capture the vitality of its cultures. The University of Chicago was uniquely positioned to offer technical and artistic expertise to drive a creative endeavor in collaboration with youth and community organizations who offered local competency. South Asia Outreach, the Department of Music, and the Arts Council at the University of Chicago teamed up with the Indo-American Center, the Indo-American Heritage Museum, and students of Mather and Lane Tech High Schools to create a bank of audio recordings. This audio bank, termed Soundscapes/Devon, includes oral histories, conversations, and ambient sounds that document and interpret the cultural vitality of Devon Avenue, one of North America’s largest immigrant neighborhoods.

Special thanks go to Ritwik Banerji, Karishma Desai, Kristina Wood, Lily Wohl, Monica Mays, Eric Usner, Kaley Mason, Sravan Kannan, and Eliza Wilson.

(1) W. Devon Ave. & N. Washtenaw Ave.

A sound mélange of street sounds, music heard in the neighborhood, the azan (Islamic call to prayer), and conversations with a 58-year-old Indian man and the owner of a Jewish bookstore.

(2) W. Devon Ave. & N. Talman Ave.

A conversation with a longtime Russian resident of Devon who enjoys people-watching along the street.

(3) W. Devon Ave. & N. Talman Ave.

Two of the youth recount in translation the interview with the Indian man from the first track. He works at Patel Brothers, a popular grocery store where South Asians from the greater Chicago area come to shop for familiar foods.

(4) W. Devon Ave. & N. Rockwell St.

A conversation with a manager of Sahil, a designer South Asian clothing store. Many wealthy South Asians in Chicago purchase their wedding attire in this one-of-a-kind store. A conversation with a manager of Sahil, a designer South Asian clothing store. Many wealthy South Asians in Chicago purchase their wedding attire in this one-of-a-kind store.

(5) W. Devon Ave. & N. Maplewood Ave.

An Indian Christian man is interviewed about what he likes on Devon. He says he enjoys the community of “desis,” or South Asians, and that he can find everything he needs on the street.

(6) W. Devon Ave. & N. Campbell Ave.

Several of the youth explore Jamia Masjid, the largest local mosque. On Friday afternoons, residents empty the streets for a special day of prayer. Several of the youth explore Jamia Masjid, the largest local mosque. On Friday afternoons, residents empty the streets for a special day of prayer.

(7) W. Devon Ave. & N. Artesian Ave.

One of the youth plays a game of Caram with his family at home. The game is similar to billiards, but played on a small, flat surface with one's fingers. Sinking the Queen is similar to sinking the 8 ball.

(8) W. Devon Ave. & N. Western Ave.

A news report about an accident at Western Avenue and Devon Avenue.