South Asian Studies Institute
On July 1st, the Paldi Khalsa Diwan Society hosted a grand opening of the Paldi Historical Museum (located in the Paldi gurdwara) as part of the community’s annual Jor Mela. The museum space is in the Paldi gurdwara at 23 Paldi Road. The South Asian Canadian Digital Archive hosts multiple collections on Paldi: the Joan … Read more
The South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) received a $15,000 matching grant from the British Columbia History Digitization Centre Program. With the grant SASI aims to digitize, preserve, and provide open access to Dr. Norman Buchignani and Dr. Doreen Indra fonds in the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive. The fonds consists of 2.5 linear feet of … Read more
On Sunday, May 7th, the SASI team attended the opening reception of the Haq and History exhibition at the Port Moody Station Museum. Haq and History is a collaborative exhibition created by the Royal BC Museum and the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, as part of the South Asian … Read more
On April 13th, Honourable BC Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sports Lana Popham hosted a gathering of 120 community leaders and stakeholders to engage with them about the future of a South Asian Canadian Museum in BC. The first of its kind in Canada, the Museum will aim to reflect the diversity of the … Read more
On April 26th, the SASI was honoured to observe and celebrate Equality Day as part of the 2023 Dr. Ambedkar International Symposium on Emancipation and Equality Day Vancouver. This was the 20th year for the week-long International Dalit Conference held in Vancouver since 2003. In May 2023, people collected at a forum for academics and … Read more
To celebrate Sikh Heritage Month (2023), Historica Canada released a new Heritage Minute about the historic mill town of Paldi, BC. It is the first Heritage Minute to highlight a South Asian Canadian story as well as the first to be released in Punjabi (in addition to English and French). SASI Director Dr. Satwinder Bains … Read more
All of us at the South Asian Studies Institute welcome Alysha Mahil as the new Coordinator since March 1st, 2023. She is an Abbotsford born and raised heritage professional having graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2021 with a Major in Anthropology and a Minor in Archeological Anthropology. Most recently, Alysha worked at … Read more
Enactus is a School of Business student-led organization that is offered at universities worldwide. Enactus as a network of leaders is committed to using business as a catalyst for positive social and environmental impact. They seek to educate, inspire, and support young people to use innovation and entrepreneurship to solve the world’s biggest problems. Teams … Read more
The South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA) won the 2nd Runner Up at the Digital Humanities (DH) Awards 2022 under the Best DH Dataset category. The Digital Humanities Awards are a set of open annual awards run as a DH awareness-raising activity. Since 2012, awardees have been annually nominated and voted for entirely by the … Read more
In April, staff at the South Asian Studies Institute embarked on a trip to Alberta to connect with community members in Calgary and Edmonton and conduct research for current and upcoming projects. We started our trip by attending the Sikh Heritage Month Sikh Military exhibition opening ceremony at the Calgary Military Museums highlighting the contributions … Read more