South Asian Studies Institute
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
We are excited to announce that Rails, Jails, and Trolleys, a SASI-produced film, has been selected by the Feedback Female Film Festival (FFFF). The FFFF is dedicated to showcasing the best of female talent in the film industry. The film Rails, Jails and Trolleys documents history’s largest farmers’ protest and the Canadian diaspora’s response to … Read more
To bring awareness to the realities of human trafficking, the SASI was invited to partner with Dr. Rita Dhungel of the UFV School of Social Work and Human Services (SWHS), PEARL, Ally Global Foundation, the Race and Antiracism Network (RAN), and the UFV Student Social Work Association (SSWA) to host an event that invited panellists … Read more
The South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) presented an opportunity to museums and cultural centres across BC to travel the successful Haq and History exhibit to their communities. In return the museums will create an addition to the exhibit; stories of their local history of South Asian Canadians, giving visitors a chance to see and learn … Read more