From “Desi” History to Heritage: The Unique Challenges of South Asian American Representation Within AAPI Heritage

This article analyzes how South Asian American (SAA) histories partake in historic preservation in the United States. It begins with a look at the construction of the SAA identity, followed by an analysis of its evolution and place in the larger Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) category. The second section focuses on the history of the SAA community. Academic scholarship since the early 2000s has unearthed important, forgotten histories of SAA presence in the United States since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Instead of repeating that information, the article discusses place-based histories embedded in these larger narratives. The third section looks at the evolution of AAPI representation in historic preservation, noting key milestones and how they include (or omit) SAA histories, along with identification and analysis of the few SAA properties that have been designated at the national, state, and local levels in recent years. The concluding section summarizes how preservation efforts in SAA communities have benefited (and stand to continue to) from their solidarity with and inclusion in AAPI efforts, while noting key gaps and divergences.