Asian Canadian Studies

Why were British Columbians - and many Canadians from outside the province - historically so opposed to Asian immigration? Drawing on contemporary press and government reports, and individual correspondence and memoirs, Roy shows how British Columbians consolidated a "white man's province" from 1914 to 1941 by securing a virtual end to Asian immigration and placing stringent legal restrictions on Asian competition in the major industries of lumber and fishing.

In this companion volume to The Oriental Question, Patricia E. Roy examines the climax of antipathy to Asians in Canada: the removal of all Japanese Canadians from the BC coast in 1942. Their free return was not allowed until 1949. Yet the war also brought increased respect for Chinese Canadians; they were enfranchised in 1947 and the federal government softened its ban on Chinese immigration.

This book is a definitive history of Chinatowns in Canada. From instant Chinatowns in gold- and coal-mining communities, to new Chinatowns which have sprung up in city neighbourhoods and suburbs since World War II, it portrays the changing landscapes and images of Chinatowns from the late 19th to the late 20th century. It also includes a detailed case study of Victoria's Chinatown, the earliest such settlement in Canada.

Chinese restaurants in small town Canada are at once everywhere, and yet they are conspicuously absent in critical discussions of Chinese diasporic culture or even in popular writing about Chinese food. In Eating Chinese, Lily Cho examines Chinese restaurants as spaces that define, for those both inside and outside the community, what it means to be Chinese and what it means to be Chinese Canadian.

This book describes Chinese migration and life in Canada according to the four periods of Canada's policies on Chinese immigration, ranging from Free Entry to Exclusion. It is also the story of Canada's changing relationship with China, both for Chinese migrants and for other Canadians.

This book celebrates a community whose legacy can be found as physical traces in the landscape and in the social and economic transformations that have occurred over the decades in the larger society. By focusing on individual stories, the book's intention is to illustrate and contextualize the development and history of Chinese Canadians.

William Dere’s Being Chinese in Canada is the first book to explore the work of the head tax redress movement and to give voice to the generations of Chinese Canadians involved. Dere explores the many obstacles in the Chinese Canadian community’s fight for justice, the lasting effects of state-legislated racism and the unique struggle of being Chinese in Quebec.

Collection of ten transcribed interviews with residents of Steveston, town and fishing community on the Fraser River that was once home to Canada’s second-largest Japanese settlement.

Ken Adachi's historical study of racism in Canada towards those of Japanese ancestry spans almost a century, from 1877 to 1975. He focuses on Japanese immigration, the Japanese Canadian community organization, and the forced evacuation and relocation during WWII.

This passionate and important book, part memoir, part critical examination, explores the Japanese Canadian redress movement of the late 20th century, which sought compensation from the federal government for the internment of citizens of Japanese descent during World War II.

Challenging the notion that Nikkei individuals before and during World War II were helpless pawns manipulated by forces beyond their control, the diverse essays in this rich collection focus on the theme of resistance within Japanese American and Japanese Canadian communities to 20th-century political, cultural and legal discrimination.

Canada's early participation in the Asia-Pacific region was hindered by "contradictory impulses." For over half a century, racist restrictions curtailed immigration from Japan, even as Canadian entrepreneurs, missionaries and diplomats manoeuvred for access to the Orient. Since then, Canada's relations with Japan have changed profoundly, and the two countries' political, economic and diplomatic interests are now more closely aligned.

This study describes and documents the musical behaviour and heritage of the Koreans in Korea and in Metropolitan Toronto. Korean-Canadian folksongs and instrumental pieces are discussed and analyzed in detail.

This book uncovers the unique and largely undocumented experiences of Korean women in Canada. The anthology features a compelling collection of fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, poetry and art by both newly emerging and established Korean Canadian women artists, writers, activists and educators.

This open access book examines the lived experiences of diasporic Korean youth in light of the transnational flows of South Korean popular culture, known as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Korean Canadian youth and their engagement with the Korean Wave, the book proposes a critical understanding of the interactions between diasporic youth audiences and popular culture.

Water from Dragon's Well explores the connection between the Korean Christian community and the Canadian church and its missionaries from the 1890s to the present. Upon the arrival of Canadian missionaries, Korean Christian churches were already voicing nationalist aspirations; by the mid-20th century, they were demanding independence from Canadian missionary oversight and were participating in a wider democratic movement within South Korea.

Covering over 30 years of artistic practice, this book celebrates the complex yet highly distilled photographs of Korean-born, Vancouver-based Jin-me Yoon's dynamic vision. The book reveals how Yoon uses the inherent mobility of images and the forces of diasporic thinking to bring disparate worlds together in poetic relation.

This ground-breaking collection of new interviews, critical essays and commentary explores South Asian identity and culture. Sensitive to the false homogeneity implied by "South Asian," "diaspora," "postcolonial," and "Asian American," the contributors attempt to unpack these terms. By examining the social, economic and historical particularities of people who live "between the lines"--on and between borders--they reinstate questions of power and privilege, agency and resistance.

Dreaming in Canadian turns the spotlight on the role of Bollywood cinema in the production of cultural, religious and national identities among South Asian youth, particularly Muslims, in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa. Young people share their thoughts on how Bollywood shapes and reflects their perceptions of themselves, how they practice their faith and interpret cultural values, and whether they view themselves as hyphenated Canadians.

In Jewels of the Qila, Hugh Johnston draws on memoirs and interviews, newspaper articles and photographs, to tell the story of three generations of a remarkable Sikh family and the communities they lived in and supported in both Canada and India. The Siddoos are the heart of the story, but their history tells a larger tale of an immigrant community's triumphs and tribulations.

In this richly detailed study, Kamala Nayar documents the social and cultural transformation of the Punjabi community in BC. From initial settlement in the rural Skeena region, to the communities that later developed in larger urban centres, the book illustrates complex and diverse experiences of an immigrant community, and explores themes of gender, employment, rural and urban migrant life, and relationships between the Punjabis and surrounding First Nations.

From the leader of Canada's New Democratic Party--Jagmeet Singh--comes a personal and heartfelt story about family and overcoming adversity. We are invited to walk with him through childhood to adulthood as he learns powerful, moving, and sometimes traumatic lessons about hardship, addiction and the impact of not belonging. This is not a political memoir, but a story of how strengthening the connection between us all is the way to building a better world.

First of its kind, as it includes histories not only of Indians, the largest South Asian community in Canada, but also of other groups such as Fijians, Sri Lankans, Afghans, Bhutanese, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Telling the stories of struggles, intense racism, many hard-fought successes and resilience of British Columbians of South Asian descent.