South Asian Studies Institute
On May 5, 2026, Heritage BC celebrated its 45th anniversary with an awards ceremony at the Britannia Mine Museum. Among this year’s recipients was someone whose work has shaped this field in BC for over two decades. Dr. Satwinder Bains, a University of the Fraser Valley Professor Emeritusand founding director of SASI, received the 2026 … Read more
Devinder Kaur Johal, 89, a celebrated author and performer in Surrey, British Columbia, kept her passion for writing and singing a secret for decades. Born in 1936 in Punjab, India, Devinder left school after Grade 7 and spent her youth preparing for marriage—handcrafting items for a dowry and living under strict gender norms. “We believed … Read more
On April 1, 2026, UFV’s Research and Graduate Studies department hosted Student Research Day: an annual showcase where students share faculty-supervised research through poster presentations and two-minute micro-lectures. This year, 130 students participated in the poster presentation competition and 24 took on the challenge of distilling months of research into a snapshot micro-lecture. The event … Read more
On March 15-16, 2026, the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) was proud to support the Dr. Ambedkar Symposium on Emancipation (ASE 2026), hosted by the Chetna Association of Canada at the Simon Fraser University (SFU) and University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. The symposium brought together scholars, activists, and community members for critical dialogue … Read more
There is a specific kind of hum that fills a room just before a celebration begins, a mix of nervous energy, the rustle of traditional silk, and the low murmur of community members finding their seats. On Saturday, March 7, 2026, at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium in Abbotsford, that hum felt like an echo from … Read more
On Thursday, January 29, 2026, SASI hosted the first lecture of our Interfaith Lecture Series at the Sikh Heritage Museum in Abbotsford. A room full of people gathered for an afternoon with Dr. Asma Qadri, Research Associate at SASI and professor at the University of Punjab in Lahore, who guided us through the life and … Read more
The South Asian Studies Institute is pleased to welcome Raaynaa Madaan (she/her) as the new SASI Coordinator at UFV on January 22nd, 2026! Raaynaa completed her undergraduate studies at the University of the Fraser Valley in 2025, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Minor in Criminology. From her first year as a … Read more
Written by Amrit Sahota – Research Assistant at SASI On a cool Thursday evening, on November 13, attendees gathered at the third installment of the Fall Lecture Series hosted and organized by the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) at UFV. This lecture introduced Rizwaan Abbas, an archeologist, and the topic of the indentured labour system, … Read more
On October 30, 2025, the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) hosted the second event of its annual Fall Lecture Series: the official launch of the South Asian Canadian Muslims in British Columbia online exhibit. The evening marked a significant milestone for a project that has been in development since 2023 and represents years of research, … Read more
I have been working with the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) since fall 2022, working on various technical tasks like maintaining the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA)’s automating repetitive tasks to save time, updating and maintaining the research websites, and creating new digital exhibits. Continuing my passion for computer science, I attended Canada’s largest hackathon, … Read more