## Notes from 25 April 2025 [[2025-04-24|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2025-04-26|Next note →]] Today I remembered [Vidushi (Mishti) Sharma](https://maildropbymishti.substack.com/). I found her work on [Twitter](https://x.com/m1shti), where she was discussing communities with surprising ethnic and religious combinations, She's started a research project she calls "documenting cultural cross-sections and collision points". The goal is to explore groups that blend identities in unexpected ways. The examples she gave really caught my eye: she mentioned things like Indian and Chinese Jews, Republican yogis, and even female truckers as types of these cultural crossovers she wants to document. As it was on a better omoment of twitter, the comments suggested sobre crosseovers that are intensily weird/funny/interesting/. Examples: - African slaves that converted to aymara culture to get out of the mines during colonial times in Bolivia - India's Parsi community originated from Farsi-ethnic Zoroastrians who sought refuge in Gujarat in the 6th century, fleeing the Arab conquest and Islamization of Persia. - West Virginia Hare Krishnas - Chinese house church movement - Coptic Australians - Yazidi community in Lincoln, Nebraska - Black Hebrew Israelites - Mitra worship in Roman Britain - The Barmakid family during the Islamic Golden Age - Greek courtesans in Classical India - Maga Brahmins Nandivarman II - The Pallava emperor born in Vietnam She called it the "essay/video series of my dreams" and apparently collects more examples on a [Notion page](https://www.notion.so/mishti/Crossing-cultural-divides-3688203838fd4cec98f53c325f98ffe4?pvs=4&cookie_sync_completed=true). I saw someone on Twitter suggest she apply for the [O'Shaughnessy Fellowship](https://www.osv.llc/oshaughnessy-fellowships) to fund this. It's a $100,000 grant from O'Shaughnessy Ventures for ambitious projects, open to anyone regardless of age, location or field.