TORONTO, January 9, 2003 -- York University’s Centre for Feminist Research (CFR) and the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) launch the new year with a speaker series showcasing the work of Asian-Canadian women scholars, starting Jan. 15.
The series begins with Memories of Internment: Reflections on Hearing and Presenting Japanese Canadian Nisei Women’s Life Stories, by Pamela Sugiman, associate professor of sociology at McMaster University. Sugiman’s research on second-generation Japanese-Canadian women interned during the Second World War is based on documents in the National Archives of Canada and interviews with 50-60 Nisei women. She questions the image of the silent and passive Japanese-Canadian woman that has dominated scholarly and journalistic writing about the internment.
Sugiman says Japanese Canadians have not been silent, nor have they tried to forget their cruel treatment during the war, contrary to prevailing mythology. "What was missing until recently was a public, collective remembrance, not personal memory, and certainly not a critique of the actions of the Canadian government," she says. Sugiman’s research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She will speak on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 2:30 p.m. in room 305 York Lanes, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St.
The speaker series continues with the following presentations:
Cinemas of the three Chinas, by Suzie Young, associate professor in the department of film and video in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, on Monday, Feb. 3. New cinematic images are generated in response to new historical circumstances. After the Cultural Revolution in China, Chinese cinema conceived a new relationship between aesthetics and politics. Prof. Young examines the image of the female body in the new cinemas of the three Chinas following the end of the Cultural Revolution (1976), the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration to repatriate Hong Kong to China (1984), and the termination of formal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Taiwan (1979).
The Economic Experiences of Chinese Immigrants in Toronto, by Lucia Lo, associate professor of geography in the Faculty of Arts at York University, on Wednesday, Mar. 12. Prof. Lo has published research on the settlement patterns of Toronto’s diverse Chinese immigrant community, and on issues of land use conflict with reference to Asian theme malls in suburban Toronto. She will present her latest study of how origins and period of arrival affect the economic experiences of various Chinese immigrant groups in Toronto. Lo has also found that Chinese female immigrant workers’ economic status and income performance are closer to that of their non-Chinese counterparts than Chinese males. Based on the 1996 census data, her research shows how selective immigration policies and international geopolitical changes can account for differences in economic adaptation and integration of immigrant groups.
-30-
For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Vijay Agnew | Prof. Peter Vandergeest | Susan Bigelow |
| Centre for Feminist Research | York Centre for Asian Research | Media Relations |
| York University | York University | York University |
| 416-736-5915 | 416-736-5784 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| vagnew@yorku.ca | slee@yorku.ca | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
YU/001/03
