Dhanya Addanki

Dhanya Addanki is a journalist, editor, photographer, and oral historian. She has spent her career mainly as an editor in religion and human rights journalism spaces, working  to equip journalists globally on the principles of liberation oriented, grassroots journalism. Her oral history work concentrates on South Asian American communities, particularly with Dalit identities, in the U.S. With this fellowship, Dhanya will cover the juxtaposing themes of belonging and isolation within Dalit communities in the Jackson Heights neighborhood — specifically in religious spaces. With multimedia pieces using audio, photo, and reporting, she plans to create stories that explore the time honored history of Dalit communities in the city that have been in existence for decades but are often deliberately ignored.Dhanya was born in South India and raised in South Texas and has split her time between Washington D.C. and Brooklyn for the past few years.