American Identity
Six photojournalism students at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and me spent fall 2009 tapping into some distinct immigrant populations in the Bay Area, resulting in this documentary photo book.
In American Identity, Huda Ahmed explores how Iraqi refugees are making peace with their new lives in the East Bay. Digging deep into San Francisco’s Tenderloin, Andreas Lindbaeck reveals the past and present tensions in the Vietnamese American community. Daniella Maor accesses the private and public aspects of Ethiopian American society, while Steve Saldivar documents Quinceaneras in Oakland’s Fruitvale District to uncover the fine lines between Mexican womanhood and American girlhood. Angela J. Bass examines how and why so many Filipino Americans have flocked to hip hop culture since the early 1980s. And I, Floraine Grabler, capture the spice and color of Indian family life in Fremont and Berkeley.