This last semester at the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies was a bustling one as six UFV students engaged in a range of projects and research. Below is a profile on each student, and their experiences over the past four months (January-April, 2015).
MEENA BOLLA
Meena Bolla recently completed her Diploma in Social Work and Human Services and has been accepted into the Bachelor of Social Work Degree program at UFV. Meena worked on the Sikh Ethnic Food History Project: A Join Project by Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) and the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies (CICS) . The work involved interviewing, transcribing and narrating the stories of South Asian men who worked in the mill and wood working industry in the early, mid, and later 20th century, BC. The RBCM will then be taking the research collated to produce a future exhibition.
SUKHI BRAR
Sukhi is a student in the Bachelor of Kinesiology program (Exercise Science major, Extended Psychology minor) at UFV and also a member on the UFV Board of Governors. Sukhi also worked on the Sikh Ethnic Food History Project: A Join Project by Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) and the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies (CICS) . The work involved interviewing, transcribing and narrating the stories of South Asian men who worked in the mill and wood working industry in the early, mid, and later 20th century, BC. The RBCM will then be taking the research collated to produce a future exhibition. Sukhi presented her work and experience of interviewing South Asian millworkers at this year’s student micro-lecture series hosted by UFV’s Research, Engagement, and Graduate Studies Department: http://blogs.ufv.ca/indocanadianstudies/2015/04/21/showcasing-ufvs-undergraduate-researchers/.
ANISH BAHRI
Anish is in his final year of studies in the Department of Communications at UFV and completed his final practicum at the CICS. During his four month practicum, Anish assisted with two events: the launch of the Sikh Heritage Museum’s seventh exhibition, Canadian Sikhs in WWI: The Forgotten Story and the Ehsaas South Asian Readers and Writers Festival featuring Shauna Singh Baldwin. Anish engaged in the marketing and promotions for each event and also wrote two articles for the local Cascade UFV newspaper:
http://ufvcascade.ca/2015/02/27/ufv-students-raise-awareness-of-bone-marrow-donation-shortages/
To read Anish’s invitation letter for his final practicum presentation which he presented to CICS Faculty and Staff, please click on the link below:
Anecia Gill
Anecia, a Sociology Major at UFV has been working on creating the Komagata Maru Play Study Guide based on the CICS commissioned play that was performed on November, 2014. Anecia’s project is interdisciplinary in nature as she works with archival materials and ephemera, historical data, personal narratives, the script of a play, a video of the actual play to develop an interactive study guide for grade 8 students. The project will provide a useful and user-friendly (age appropriate) study guide about an important topic in Canadian history that has been omitted or barely studied in Social Studies in BC. The study guide is made up of four lesson plans/units that include in them accurately placed/culturally appropriate historical data, student led exercises, video-graphed vignettes from the play that speak to historical moments/law/discrimination and cultural bias, foundational text, ephemera, photographs, teacher’s notes, websites and resources. Anecia has produced a document that we will be approaching the Ministry of Education with for introduction into the school curriculum. Anecia also presented her work at the UFV Wide Professional Development Day on April 27, 2015.
Rishma Johal
Rishma Johal, a 2014 SFU MA Graduate and currently a Visual Arts student at UFV, is engaging in an extensive research project and literature review titled: A Space for Female Agency: Giddha Dancers in the Diaspora. This study will adopt a South Asian Canadian feminist lens to examine perceptions of giddha as a strictly female dance form among Punjabi-Canadian women in the diaspora and their opinions about culture and female agency through its performance. This paper will adopt a qualitative feminist methodological framework to examine women’s written or spoken words and observable experiences. Qualitative feminist methodology recognizes women’s experiences as fundamental to develop an understanding of women’s lives. In this study, qualitatative feminist methodology gives women’s voices precedence through in-depth interviews and focus groups. Feminists embrace subjectivity and the adoption of this framework provides a space for women’s voices to be heard on their terms as subjects.
Alisha Soni
Alisha, a Bachelor of Science Major at UFV has played a pivotal role in the Race and Anti-Racism (ufv.ca/ran) Postcards from the Margin campaign that looked at the occurrences of race-related incidents or experiences on campus. Alisha designed and disseminated the postcards and also collated all the data. The data produced will be used proactively to look for solutions on campus and will also be published by the CICS. The impetus for this campaign is to raise awareness about racial discrimination and provide a confidential, anonymous avenue for these stories/opinions/experiences to be heard and shared. RAN’s goal is to understand incidents of discrimination based on race that occur on campus with an objective to have these issues emerge in the postcards. These postcards are being conceived as a form of record for the often silenced/silent issues of racial discrimination on UFV’s campuses.