New Voices in Asian Research
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New Voices in Asian Research is a special occasional paper series published by the York Centre for Asian Research and featuring award-winning undergraduate research papers. For more information: https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research-fellowships-awards/undergraduate-asia-and-asian-diaspora-essay-awards/
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Item Open Access Views on the Model Minority Stereotype in a South Asian Canadian Context(2020) Warsi, SafaSafa’s study focused on the Model Minority Stereotype (MMS), which depicts Asians as scoring high in certain seemingly positive attributes (e.g., competence and achievement), whilst also scoring high in seemingly negative traits (e.g., unsociability and emotional reservation). Previous research on this topic has largely focused on East Asian American samples, finding that internalization of the MMS can have psychologically harmful effects on these individuals. Safa employed qualitative and quantitative methods to explore whether or not the MMS exists in South Asian Canadian populations. This essay was written for an independent study course in Psychology and received the 2019 Undergraduate Asian Disapora Essay Award.Item Open Access Understandings of Military Power, Intoxication and Love in Kashmir, India(2020) Bhandal, HarkitIn her essay, Harkit considers how patients at the Drug De-addiction Centre in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir reconfigure their relationship to substance abuse through the performance of alternate narratives that are embedded with understandings of romantic love, Sufi thought and nasha (intoxication) to resist the clinic’s ‘recovery’ techniques linked to the structures of military rule. This paper was written for the Making Sense of a Changing World: Anthropology Today (SAP/ANTH 1120) course and was awarded the 2019 Undergraduate Asia Essay Award.Item Open Access A Spell to Empower Women: Religion, Culture and Domestic Violence in Pakistan(2017-11-15) Behzad, WardahIn this essay, Behzad analyzes themes of gender, violence and nationalism in Rukhsana Ahmad’s short story, “The Spell and the Ever-Changing Moon.” The story is about a Pakistani woman, Nisa, who turns to black magic in an attempt to escape from an abusive relationship. Behzad traces the underlying commentary on women’s empowerment in the context of religio-political nationalism in Pakistan as it relates to gender roles and violence against women. An earlier version of this essay was produced for the course, South Asian Literature and Culture (HND 2700) at York University and was awarded the 2017 York Centre for Asian Research Undergraduate Essay Prize.Item Open Access From Roots to Rhizomes: Hybrid, Diasporic Identities in Hema and Kaushik(2017-07-20) Rahman, SrijoniRahman analyzes diasporic Indian characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. Focusing on two characters, Hema and Kaushik, Rahman draws out themes of displacement, genealogy and gender to demonstrate the conflicts that arise through hyphenated identities. An earlier version of this paper was produced for the course South Asian Literature and Culture (HND 2700) at York University and won the York Centre for Asian Research’s Undergraduate Asian Diaspora Essay Award.Item Open Access The Making of Bangladesh(2017-07-20) Alavi, FareehaIn this paper, Alavi brings together an interview and academic scholarship on the 1971 partition of East and West Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh. Throughout the paper, the author works through theories of nationalism to unpack how competing nationalist myths informed the events and aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. Alavi argues for the importance of oral narratives as a way of bearing witness to histories that are overshadowed by nationalist myths. An earlier version of this essay was produced for an oral history assignment for the course Introduction to South Asian Studies (SOSC 2435) at York University and was the winner of the York Centre for Asian Research’s 2016 Undergraduate Asia Essay Award.