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Global Asia 202 - Global Asia in Vancouver

Course syllabus & information
Yi Chien Jade Ho (she/they) | yichienh@sfu.ca

Class Date, Time & Location:

Every Tuesday, 12:30 - 3:20, BLU 10921, Burnaby Campus

Off-campus field visits will be indicated in the weekly schedule below

Student Hour:

Tuesdays, 11 - 12:10pm @ AQ 6007 or by appointment (phone, zoom, or in person)

Course Description:

This course will explore and learn from the efforts, experiences, and histories of community organizing,
social & environmental justice activism, and solidarity-building centering people of Asian descent in
Vancouver. In the introductory unit, we will lay the theoretical foundation of the course by examining the
interconnecting processes of Asian racialization/anti-Asian racism, settler colonialism, and Indigenous
dispossession. Then, we will examine how these historical processes manifest in the lives of people
racialized as Asian in the city now known as Vancouver, specifically in the areas of housing, labour,
(im)migration/border crossing, food security, and health. For each site of struggle, students will learn
about related social movement organization, their history, and their current efforts. This part of the course
will consist of guest speakers, walking tours, events participations, documentary films, and/or essays (op-
eds and academic articles). Students will be expected to prepare and conduct interviews, engage in
reflective writing, and compose a creative project in relation to place-based strategies, stories, and
organizing of a particular group or topic.

Course Materials:

All course materials are linked in this syllabus as well as posted in Canvas file. Course materials should
be read, listened to, or viewed prior to class on Tuesday (unless otherwise stated in the schedule).

Assignment Deadlines:

The deadlines are listed in the weekly schedule below, and are designed to facilitate your learning over
the course of the semester. I encourage you to try and meet them. But if you need to make other
arrangements, don’t be shy to get in touch.

Grading and Course Work

(see more details below from page 10 to 12):

Participation & Attendance 25%

With the interactive nature of the course, participation & attendance is crucial. It includes coming to class
and off-campus field visits and engaging in small or whole group discussion as well as preparing and
interviewing guest speakers and other class activities.

If you have any difficulty making it to the class, please make sure you let me know ahead of time, then
your absence won’t be counted against you. However, a pattern of absence may also affect your
participation.
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Reflective writing (4) 30%

~500 words of reflection on a topic covered during the course. With one larger piece of place-based
reflection on how and why one has arrived in so-called Vancouver (history of arrival), what they see their
relationship with this place is (sense of place), and what does land acknowledgement mean to them
(arriving in Indigenous land). This piece of reflection will be examined again at the end of the semester to
reflect how your relationship with place may have changed.
1 Statement of Arrival (2 parters, part 1: 10% & part 2: 10%)
2 on a week of your choice (10%)

Major Project 35%

A creative project (podcast, mini documentary, collage, academic or campaign poster, action campaign,
interactive website, graphic novel, zine, children’s storybook, board game, an app, etc.) that explores a
topic not covered in the course or an extension of a topic in the course. Choice of being in a group or
doing it individually. Projects will be archived on jade’s website.

Project Proposal (5%)

Creative Project (30%)
(includes the project, and a companion including references used)

Project Gallery (Presentation) 10%

A gallery style of presentation where everyone will be expected to ask and answer questions about the
projects.

Grading Scale
A+ 90-100 C+ 67-69
A 85-89 C 64-66
A- 80-84 C- 60-63
B+ 77-79 D 59-50
B 74-76 F 49 & below
B- 70-73

Due dates & Late Policy

In particular, do take note of assignment due dates. All assignments must be submitted on the date
specified. A late assignment will receive a mark deduction per day. A late penalty will also be considered
to assignments if a student demonstrates a pattern of late submissions (more than two late assignments).

However, I completely understand that various situations do happen in our lives that might interfere with
you completing work on time, so if you have any difficulty, please don’t be shy to let me know as far
ahead of the deadline as possible.

If you have any concerns about this late policy or anything in this syllabus, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

* You can find all the readings that are not linked in the weekly schedule in this Google folder.
Date & Topic
Week 1: May 9
Introduction &
Community Forming
Week 2: May 16
Radical Imagination &
Collective Organizing
Week 3: May 23
Immigrant Settler
Responsibility to Place
and Indigenous Land
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Weekly Schedule
(This may shift or change throughout the semester)
Readings or Other Materials Guest Speaker(s) and Location Assignment
Activit(ies)
Course syllabus Community guideline BLU 10921
Short film: Migration +
Resilience
Max Heaven & Alex Khasnabish. 2014. “SFU Activism Tour” BLU 10921
Select Pages in Introduction in The
Radical Imagination. Pp 2 - 8.
Nick Montgomery & carla bergman.
2017. Ch 1: Empire, Militancy, and Joy
in Joyful Milliancy: Building Thriving
Resistance in Toxic Times. Pp. 47 - 80.
Iyko Day. 2016. Select Pages in “Theatre of the BLU 10921 Statement of
Introduction in Alien Capital: Asian Oppressed” Arrival, Friday, May
Racialization and the Logic of Settler 26
Colonial Capitalism. Pp. 16 - 34 Statement of Arrival
(Place reflection)
Malissa Phung. 2019. Indigenous and
Asian Relation Making. In Settler
Colonial Studies, Asian Diaspora Roundtable
Questions. Verge: Studies in Global Discussion: “A
Asia. 5(1). Pp. 18 - 29 Hundred Years Later:
Asian Racialization
Nisha Toomey, Yi Chien Jade Ho, & and the Violence of
Deanna Del Vecchio with Eve Tuck. Inclusion”- Monday, 15
2021. Reconciliation through Kits and May 2023, 3-5pm@
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Tests?: Reconsidering Newcomer WCC 420 (Morris J.

Responsibilities on Indigenous Land. In Wosk Centre for
Indigenous Reconciliation and Dialogue, SFU
Decolonization: Narratives of Social Downtown Campus)
Justice and Community Engagement
edited by Ranjan Datta. Pp. 61 - 77 Chinatown
Community Council:
Recommended: Save 105 Keefer St.
Documentary Film: All Our Father’s Thu, May 25, at 4:30pm
Relations. On CBC Gem. 105 Keefer St.
Chinatown

105 Keefer St. Public

Hearing: Monday, May
29, 3pm, City Hall

Week 4: May 30 Anjali Gera Roy. 2017. Introduction. In “Insider & Outsider” BLU 10921
South Asian Struggle and Imperialism & Sikh Migration. Pp. 1 - 21
Anti-deportation Guest speaker:
Organizing Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Harjap Grewal
2008. Power to the Brown People.
Colorlines.
Indian Summer
Harsha Walia. 2013. Cartography of No Festival: July 6 - 16th
One is Illegal (NOII) in Undoing Border
Imperialism. Pp. 31 - 47 (online version).

Recommended:
Kasim Tirmizey. 2019. Remembering
the Ghadar Party: Resonances of radical,
anti-colonial struggle in our
contemporary moment. Jamhoor.

Resources:
History and Lives of South Asians in
Vancouver
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- Milan Singh, Naveen Girn &

Paneet Singh. The Nameless
Collective Podcast.

On South Asian Farm Worker

Organizing
- Documentary film: A Time to
Rise. 1982. Access through the
library.
- Anushay Malik. 2023. South
Asian Farmworker Rising. Our
Times.

Week 5: June 6 Documentary Film: The End of “Educational poster BLU 10921
Filipinx Migrant Worker Immigration? 2015. ($5 to rent, can be campaign”
Organizing reimbursed)
Guest speaker:
Harsha Walia. 2021. Selected Chapters Christopher Sorio,
In Border & Rule: Global Migration, Migrante BC
Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist
Nationalism.
- Introduction. Pp. 1 - 18.
- Ch 9: Permanently Temporary:
Managed Migration in Canada.
Pp. 155 - 168

Resource:
The Myth of Migration for Development

Week 6: June 13 Jane Shi. 2020. The Revolution Will be “Relationship to Meet at the Reflection #1, due
Language Politics Translated. Briarpatch. languages drawing & avocado mirror by Friday, June 16
group poem making” the pond
Introspection/ Arundhati Roy. 2018. What is the
Witnessing Morally Appropriate Language in which Week 2 -6 Reflection
to Think and to Write. Literary Hub.
Junk Food Potluck
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bell hooks. 1994. Ch 11 Language:

Teaching New Worlds/Words. In Red Umbrella March:
Teaching To Transgress: Education as Saturday, June 10
the Practice of Freedom. 11am Sign making
1pm Walk over to
1130 Jervis St.
2pm March starts

Week 7: June 20 Mackenzie and Ham. 2019. SWAN Kelly Go & Hayley Meet at SWAN
Asian Women Issues & Vancouver: Supporting Immigrant and Leung, SWAN 1101 Seymour St.
Migrant Sex Worker Migrant Women in the Sex Industry. Sex Vancouver #325
Organizing Work Activism in Canada, 104-117. 12:30 - 2:30
ARP Condom Packing Party
Then walk or bus to
Sophie Jean. 2021. Imperialism & HC 2202 for
Policing Asian Women’s Sexuality. The debriefing
Media Co-op. (If the link doesn’t work, 2:45 - 3:20
there is a pdf version in the reading
folder)

Kimberly Mackenzie & Alison Clancey.

2020. Im/migrant Sex Workers Myth &
Misconceptions.

Recommended:
Elem Lam. 2021. Anti-racism: Asian
Massage and Sex Workers Should Not be
Left Behind. Ricochet.

Resources:
Reading List and Resources
- Defend Asian Women, Defend
Sex Workers. 2021

Simulated Game
- Your Choose: Seek Justice as a
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Migrant Sex Worker Simulated

game created by SWAN
Vancouver.

Week 8: June 27 Rita Wong & Dorothy Christian. 2017. Rita Wong Kwekwecnewtxw: Project Proposal,
Asian-Indigenous Introduction. Downstream: reimaging Traditional Coast Due Friday, June 30
Environmental Justice water, pp. 1-25. Salish Watch
House
Janey Lew. 2017. Ch 18: Bodies of
Water: Asian Canadian In/Action with Mountain
Water. In Downstream: reimaging water. Protectors
Pp. 217 - 240 Facebook Page.

Rita Wong. 2019. Lessons from Prison: Google map

A Shackled Pipeline Protest Reflects. direction:
The Tyee. https://
maps.app.goo.gl/
Recommended: UVYqjkbroZQfCzt
Video: Interview with Rita Wong and bA
Land Defenders at the Watch House
Bus 136 (going
toward Lougheed
Station) takes us
directly outside of
the Watch House. It
leaves Holdem
SkyTrain Station at
12pm.

Week 9: July 4 Helen Hok-Sze Leung. 2017. Our city of “What does the scene BLU 10921
Asian Queer Feminist colours: queer/Asian publics in invoke in you” activity
Issues and Community transpacific Vancouver. Inter-Asia
Building Cultural Studies, 18(4), pp. 482 - 497
Yuan Wei & Siqi Xiao,
Kai Cheng Thom. 2019. Selected Unicome, Queer
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Chapters from I Hope We Choose Love: Feminist Comedy Group

A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the
World. Instagram:
- Rediscovering Identity at My @unicome.comedy
Grandfather’s Funeral: An
Ethnic Trans Story. Pp. 123 -
126.
- The Chinese Transsexual’s
Guide to Cheongsam. Pp. 128 -
130.
Recommended background reading:
Zheng Wang. 2021. Feminist Struggles
in a Changing China. In Feminism with
Chinese Characteristics. Pp. 140 - 156.

Week 10: July 11 Angela May & Nicole Yakashiro. 2023. “Mapping out the BLU 10921
Japanese Canadian Why We Say Powell Street and Not DTES”
Struggle and Community Japantown. In White Riots: The 1907
Building Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver by Henry Kathy Shimizu
Tsang. Excerpt posted in Montecristo Powell St. Festival
Magazine. Society

Powell St. Festival:

Aug 5 - 6th
Sign up to volunteer:
https://powellstreetfestiv
al.com/get-involved/vol
unteer/

Week 11: July 18 Jeffrey R. Masuda, Aaron Franks, Vincent Tao, VANDU BLU 10921 Reflection #2, due
Downtown Eastside and Audrey Kobayashi, & Trevor Wideman. Friday, July 21
Resisting Dispossession 2019. After Dispossession: An Urban
rights Praxis of Remaining in
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Environment and Planning. D, Society &
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Space, 38(2), 229–247.

Emily Luba & Sydney Jinjoe. 2023. Stop

the Sweeps: New Cycle of Displacement
and Colonial Dispossession. The
Mainlander.

Recommended:
Chinatown Victory at 105 Keefer:
VANDU interviews Vince Tao. 2018.
The Mainlander.

Week 12: July 25 Yi Chien Jade Ho. 2024. Aligning Anti- Nick Yung, SROC 12:30 - 2pm Statement of Arrival
Chinatown Housing racism Efforts with Decolonization: Collaborative Sun Wah Centre, part II, due Friday,
Justice & Indigenous Reflections from Organizing in 268 Keefer St. July 28
Solidarity Vancouver’s Chinatown. In Chinatown Site Visit
Decolonization in Practice: Reflective 2 - 3:20pm
Lessons from Cross-cultural Then walk over to
Perspectives, edited by Ranjan Datta. HC 2245

Nat Lowe. 2019. Class Struggle in

Chinatown: Ethnic Tourism, Planned
Gentrification, and Organizing for
Tenant Power. The Mainlander.

Recommended:
Nathan Crompton. 2012. The Persistence
of Anti-Asian Racism in Vancouver. Part
I, Part II, & Part III. The Mainlander.

Week 13: Aug 1 Everyone! BLU 10921 Project due Friday,

Project Gallery Aug 11

Assignment Details

Statement of Arrival Part I

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The statement of arrival is a place-based reflection on your relationship to the place you are in.
You will account and reflect on how and why you have arrived in so-called Vancouver (history of arrival), what you see your relationship with
this place is (sense of place), and what does land acknowledgement mean to you (arriving in Indigenous land). You can take inspiration from the
two readings in week 3 to see how those authors have considered their relationship to place and Indigenous land:

● Malissa Phung. 2019. Indigenous and Asian Relation Making. In Settler Colonial Studies, Asian Diaspora Questions. Verge: Studies
in Global Asia. 5(1). Pp. 18 - 29
● Nisha Toomey, Yi Chien Jade Ho, & Deanna Del Vecchio with Eve Tuck. 2021. Reconciliation through Kits and Tests?:
Reconsidering Newcomer Responsibilities on Indigenous Land. In Indigenous Reconciliation and Decolonization: Narratives of
Social Justice and Community Engagement edited by Ranjan Datta. Pp. 61 - 77
This piece of reflection will be examined again at the end of the semester to reflect how your relationship with place may have changed.
Minimum of 500 words.

Reflection 1&2
Throughout the semester, there will be two pieces of reflective writing covering topics visited in the course.
In the first reflection, you can choose just one or more than one topics from Week 2 to Week 6, and in the second reflection, you can choose from
Week 7 to 11. This piece is meant to be a critical and explorative reflection based on each week's materials, lecture, activity, and/or guest talks.
How you write these reflections is really your choice (you can be as creative as you want, such as incorporating poetry, graphics. Someone did a
graphic novel style for their reflection in one of the courses I TAed before), as long as they demonstrate a lively and critical interaction with the
topic or topics anchored in your exploration, learning, and reflection. Although there are no formal length requirements as we are looking for
quality over quantity, your reflection should be sufficiently long enough to give you room to develop your thoughts. I suggest a minimum of 500
words (two pages double space).
Note that these reflections are NOT summaries of how the week went. Write about what you learned that perhaps you didn't consider or think
about before and how that's going to impact the way you go forward when thinking about this particular issue and community organizing and
practice. Additionally, what was thought-provoking, gripping, resonant, confusing, or commendable in the week's topic. And why - why is the
author making this claim, or why did the community approach the issue in that way, why did it cause some thoughts in you? Do you find evidence
for and resonance with these claims in your own life, in your own experience? How are these concepts playing out in society? Are they being
reflected perhaps through current affairs and news items or in the lives of family and friends? What do they mean for a vision for our society, for
the future or present? What consequences flow from these concepts and observations? Follow the rabbit hole of your curiosity. Be specific by
referring to specific pages of the readings and including specific quotes that relate to your exploration either from the course materials or the guest
speakers.
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What I am looking for when I mark your reflection?

First, I want to give you all my appreciation and send you some courage for being open and vulnerable in doing this type of assignment. The
marks assigned to the assignment are never a reflection of who you are or your stories, rather the mark indicates if you have included the key
requirements of this assignment. So what am I looking for?

1. Robust interaction with the week's topic through course materials (readings and/or videos), lecture, class discussion, activity, and/or
guest talks. This can take the form of using direct quotes, incorporating paraphrases, and/or using examples from these materials.
2. Providing new learning, growth, excitement, or renewed or affirmed understanding about an issue or topic explored. You can do this
by connecting to your own personal experiences or examine your old understanding or consideration. Or you can explore a question
that comes up for you during interacting with the week's materials.
3. Unpacking any connection made or ideas and concepts raised in your reflection. Don't just mention them. Dig deep and tell us why.
4. Long enough to make meaningful reflection, critique, or exploration (minimum of 500 words).
5. Showing care in writing. This means careful editing, and crafting a succinct piece of writing with clear organization and structure.
○ Please do take advantages of writing support available to all of us at the Student Learning Commons:
■ access to writing resources, studying help, and language support: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-
depts/slc
■ book a consultation with a writing facilitator to provide feedbacks on your writing:
https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/offer/consultation-info
6. Good practice of citation. It doesn't matter which citation style you choose to use (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), but it's important to be
consistent and giving credit where credit is due.

○ Here is a good resource on various citation styles: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/resources.html

And of course, reach out to me (Jade, yichienh@sfu.ca) anytime if you have any question or need support with your assignment. Looking forward
to reading them!🌞

Statement of Arrival Part II/Whole Course Reflection

This piece is to re-examine and to reflect once again on what you've put down in your Statement of Arrival Part I.
In Statement of Arrival Part I, you reflected on how and why you have arrived in so-called Vancouver (history of arrival), what you see your
relationship with this place is (sense of place), and what does land acknowledgement mean to you (arriving in Indigenous land). And now you are
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going to revisit what you've written and see if your sense of place, sense of responsibility, and/or sense of taking action has changed. If differently,
how do you now see your relationship with the place you are living in right now; and what does being on Indigenous land mean to you? This is
also a chance to reflect on the course as a whole: what was most impactful for you during this course? what challenges and/or new perspectives
came up for you? what would you change in your life, your work, your practice as a result of learning in this course? What area of social change
would you want to get involved in and why? (and anything else you'd like to add).
Consider these guiding questions:

● What was impactful for you throughout the course?

● What was challenging for you?
● What perspectives have you developed as a result of participating in this course?
● What would you change in your life, work, and practice as a result of learning in this course?
● What area of social change would you want to get involved and why?
● Will you be able to make sense of your or your family's migration story differently as a result of this course? ..such as considering the
translational nature of your lives, the force of Western imperialism and border imperialism?
● Do you see your relationship with the place you are living right now different from the beginning of the term?
● What does living on Indigenous land mean to you now? And how can you make sense of your responsibility and your belonging being
on Indigenous land?
Minimum of 650 words.

Major Project
For your final project in this course, you will be doing a creative project! This means you can unleash your creativity and present your exploration
in a creative form, for example: podcast, mini documentary, collage, academic or campaign poster, action campaign, interactive website, graphic
novel, zine, children’s storybook, board game, an app, etc. This project will touch on a topic not covered in the course or an extension of a topic in
the course. Is there a community organizing effort you want to explore? Is there a particular issue you want to learn and take action in? Do you
want to create a resource for a particular community, efforts, or issues?
You can choose to do this project in a group, in a pair, or by yourself (working in group is encouraged!). This project consists four parts: 1) project
proposal, 2) the project, 3) a project companion including references used, and lastly 4) a show and tell of your project (project gallery).
Project Proposal
Here, you are at step 1 of the project - Project Proposal.
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Project proposal is the space for you to dream up what you would like to do. Don't worry if your final project turns out to be different than what
you are thinking now, but you should be consider the following in as much detail as possible in your project proposal:
WHAT– what issue/topic, organizing effort, or community struggle you want to explore? (for example, South Asian farm worker organizing or
Japanese Indigenous art collaboration, etc.)
HOW–The form the project will take (podcast, mini documentary, collage, academic or campaign poster, action campaign, interactive website,
graphic novel, zine, children’s storybook, board game, an app, etc). Second, how you will explore this topic (interview, archival research,
academic references, participation in an organization, etc.). Lastly, if you are working in a group, how do you envision working together? How do
you want to divide up the work?
WHY –Explain why you chose this topic, why you think it’s important and why you chose the specific form for your project
CONNECT –What is the connection to something you learned in GA 202? What theoretical framework(s) will you be drawing from?
GOAL –what do you hope to achieve with this project? (is it a tool? a resource? an educational material?, for example), and who do you want to
make this project for?
Question (Optional) - It’s ok to include questions and areas of uncertainty that you haven’t figured out yet in the proposal for me.
*Group projects will hand in *one* proposal for all members.

Creative Project + Project Companion

Here you will submit: Your project + a written project companion
Everything should be uploaded here in Canvas, but it can be any form as long as I have access to all of your files. For example, you can submit a
google folder link that takes me to your project file and project companion. Or you can submit a single PDF. Let me know if you have doubts
about how to submit all your work for the final project.
In the creative project, I am looking for:

● How well does the project explore the issue/topic and highlight the community efforts?
● Creativity and care to crafting the project (well edited? for example). You don't need to be an expert in the form that you chose to do
and it's ok if at the end the project doesn't look what you would have hoped but it's important to put care into it.
● Does the project provide important insight and application? Does it reach the goal proposed?
● Well organized, clear structure, and citation where needed.
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*Note that videos/multimedia cannot exceed 15 minutes.

The project companion:
The project companion is a written piece that provides explanations and a more academic analysis of your project and topic. This companion is a
succinct piece of academic writing that should be well organized and clearly structured. It should discuss:

● the motivation for you to choose this particular topic;

● what is the issue you are highlighting and why this is an important issue?
● what organizing or community building efforts are happening around this issue?
● how does your project highlight, add to, showcase, be part of, explore, or argue for this issue (pull in details from your project).
● make sure your writing is backed up by credible sources and/or first hand accounts.
● the companion should have a reference list that include both consulted literature and literature used.
● 750 - 1500 words

Project Gallery
On Aug 1, our last day of class we will be holding a Project Gallery. Each of you or group will set up a station in the classroom and you will have
the opportunity to share your final project with the class. Don't worry if the project is not completely finished. Just come prepared to talk about
your project (what you have so far, the idea, connections), and tangibly show what you have created, whatever that looks like for you. Each of you
should also be prepared to pose questions to your classmates.
Examples of how you could share your project in the gallery:

● If your project is in audio format like a podcast, you may want to play some of the content to your peers - you can provide
headphones or offer people to use their own headphones if available.
● present a physical project like an academic poster, zine, children's book, collage, etc.
● Digital projects can be shown on your laptop, tablet, etc. The library lends out laptops if access to one is not available for you.
This presentation is worth 10% of your total grade and you will be marked on both how well you know and present your project, and how well you
participate in the gallery (posing questions, showing care, giving encouragement, etc.).