Moniyat Chowdhury

Moniyat’s proposal centers on developing a more resilient and grounded sense of identity through exploring the intersection of faith and community. Growing up as a Bangladeshi Muslim in post-9/11 America, she often felt pressure to separate and hide parts of her identity in order to belong, which left her feeling lost regards to faith, belonging, and self-definition. Through solo travel across the Balkans, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, she hopes to experience how different communities sustain identity under varying cultural and historical conditions, and through those experiences, better understand her own values, resilience, and sense of belonging.