ACAM Dialogues Podcast

The Chinese Canadian Museum (CCM) opened in Vancouver’s Chinatown on July 1st 2023, 100 years after the passing of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act (also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act). Its feature exhibit The Paper Trail to the 1923 Exclusion Act holds the identity documents that individuals of Chinese descent were forced to carry and the personal stories behind them. 

This week’s ACAM Dialogues podcast episode is part 1 of a series of two mini-episodes where we do a deep dive into the behind-the-scenes of the Paper Trail exhibit. In part 1, we speak to Naomi Louie and Andrew Sandfort-Marchese, who worked as members of the Archival Biographies Team at CCM to explore the questions:  What goes into the planning of something like the Paper Trail exhibit? And why does it matter?

Our guest this week on the podcast is Emi Sasagawa, author and Director of Communications at UBC Faculty of Arts. We sat down for a chat about her debut novel Atomweight, writing with empathy, and intersectionality within queer Asian womanhood. 

Our guest this week on the podcast is Jocelle Refol, Events Coordinator and Campaign Lead at Sliced Mango Collective, as well as the previous Peer 2 Peer Summer Program Leader at Collingwood Neighbourhood House Society. We sat down with her to chat about strategies for community organizing, social media as a useful tool in advocacy, and the importance of accessible summer programs for youth.

Our guest this week on the podcast is Wendy Yip, University Ambassador at UBC since 2016, President of the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre - Museum of Migration Society, and longtime supporter of ACAM. Alongside her husband, outgoing UBC President Santa Ono, Wendy will be relocating to Michigan, marking the end of her role with UBC. We caught up with Wendy to get her reflections on her work as University Ambassador, her involvement with PCHC-MoM, and her experience with community advocacy work.

Our guest this week on the ACAM podcast is William Canero, organizer for the Joyce Street Action Network and board member for the Kathara Pilipino Indigenous Arts Collective Society & the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society. We discuss the Joyce-Collingwood food hub, public engagement in city planning and the role of Filipino businesses within the community.

The realities of being an indie musician, the conceptualization of queer sound and the use of music in building community, these are just *some* of the subjects we cover in episode 6 of the ACAM podcast! Our guest this week is Dr. Casey Mecija, musician, scholar of queer sound and Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at York University.

Maximalist design, banana ketchup and Filipino food's connection with resilience, these are just *some* of the subjects we cover in episode 5 of the ACAM podcast! Our guests this week are Fyonna Laddaran and Kin Chua, designers and students at Emily Carr. Their project, Bahay Natin will be on exhibit at the Emily Carr grad show from May 10 to May 24.

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Legal writing vs. creative writing, diasporic fusion foods, and ghost stories from Southeast Asia, these are just *some* of the subjects we cover in episode 4 of the ACAM podcast! Our guest this week is Jamie Chai Yun Liew, writer, lawyer, law professor and podcaster on Migration Conversations.

Our next guest for the ACAM podcast is Lindsay Wong, author of the #1 bestselling debut memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug-Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family. We sat down for an interview to chat about the memoir writing process, language learning, and immigrant ghost stories.

In January, ACAM launched a new mini-podcast series to accompany our ACAM Dialogues podcast "Flow of Thoughts". The mini-episodes encourage dialogue with people in the ACAM community to facilitate conversations of their past and present during this new era of working.

Our next guest is Jeanne Sakata, renowned actress and playwright. Our host, Leilan Wong, speaks with Jeanne about her family's migration story, the inspiration and relevance for her play, Hold These Truths as well as her new radio play produced during the pandemic, For Us All.

The UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) program is excited to announce a new podcast series to accompany our ACAM Dialogues podcast "Flow of Thoughts". The mini episodes encourage dialogue with the people of the ACAM community to facilitate conversations of their past and present during this new era of working.