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 archival materials of the earliest key research work and primary sources related to social histories of South Asian Canadians, created, and collected by Dr. Buchignani and Dr. Indra and cover the period from 1898-1984.
SASI also received a $15,000 financial award from the Govt of BC by way of the BC Arts Council’s Public Museums and Indigenous Cultural Centres program. This will assist SASI with the development of a critically nuanced exhibit with the Del Monte collection on the history and impact of transnational marriages in South Asian Canadian communities in BC.
The City of Abbotsford provided $10,000 for research related to the role of Abbotsford in support of the legal challenge that the passengers of the Komagata Maru faced in June 1914. The City unveiled permanent exhibits at the Gur Sikh Temple on July 22 from 1-3 pm, 33089 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford and announced the double naming of a portion of South Fraser Way as Komagata Maru Way to commemorate the spirit of activism in 1914.
The SASI received the Explore Grant funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). With this grant, the project seeks to conduct a reinvestigation into existing archival records, identify missed or hidden connections in the secondary sources, collaborate with the South Asian Muslim community individuals and organizations to record oral histories, and create a dedicated archival collection and digital exhibit in the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (https://sacda.ca/).