Library Guides: Asian Heritage Month: Home

Books

Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism by Xiaoping Li
Call Number: FC106.A75 L5 2007 (also available as an eBook)
This interdisciplinary inquiry examines Asian Canadian political and cultural activism around community building, identity making, racial equity, and social justice.
The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar by Hugh J. M. Johnston
Call Number: JV7285 .S54 J63 2014 (also available as an eBook)
In May 1914, nearly four hundred Punjabi passengers, who sought entry into Canada aboard the Komagata Maru, only to be chased away by a Canadian warship off the coast of British columbia. This story became a symbol of prejudicial immigration policies, which Canadians today reject, and served to fuel the emerging anti-British movement in India.
Too Asian?: Racism, Privilege, and Post-secondary Education by Jeet Heer (Editor); Michael Ma (Editor); Davina Bhandar (Editor); R. J. Gilmour (Editor)
Call Number: LC212.42.C3 T65 2012
This collection interrogates issues about race and representation on Canadian campuses and what it means for students and learning across the country.
Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility by Roland Sintos Coloma; Bonnie McElhinny; Ethel Tungohan; John Paul Catungal; Lisa M. Davidson
Call Number: FC106 .F4 F54 2012 (also available as an eBook)
This landmark book, the first wide-ranging edited collection on Filipinos in Canada, explores gender, migration and labour, youth spaces and subjectivities, representation and community resistance to certain representations.
Changing on the Fly : Hockey Through the Voices of South Asian Canadians by Courtney Szto
Call Number: eBook
This book examines the growing significance of hockey in Canada's South Asian communities. It encourages alternative and multiple narratives about hockey and cultural citizenship by asking which citizens are able to contribute to the webs of meaning that form the nation's cultural fabric.
Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture by Kyong Yoon
Call Number: eBook
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.
On a Collision Course by Masako Iino (Foreword by); Yasuo Sakata (Other); Kaoru Ueda (Editor)
Call Number: eBook
In five meticulously researched essays, Yasuo Sakata examines Japanese migration to the United States from an international and deeply historical perspective. Sakata argues the importance of using resources from both sides of the Pacific and taking a holistic view that incorporates US-Japanese diplomatic relationships, the mass media, the American view of Asian populations, and Japan's self-image as a modern, westernized nation.
Whiter: Asian American Women on Skin Color and Colorism by Nikki Khanna (Editor)
Call Number: eBook
In Whiter, thirty Asian American women provide first-hand accounts of their experiences with colorism in this collection of powerful, accessible, and brutally honest essays, edited by Nikki Khanna.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Call Number: PN6727.Y36 A65 2021
A tour-de-force by New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he's the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny's life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable.
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
Call Number: PS8615 .E75 S23 2017
Scarborough tells the story of a tight-knit neighbourhood under fire. Scarborough offers a raw yet empathetic glimpse into a troubled community that locates its dignity in unexpected places: a neighbourhood that refuses to be undone.
The Boat People by Sharon Bala
Call Number: PS8603 .A463 B63 2018
The Boat People is a spellbinding and timely novel that provokes a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis. Set in Vancouver, with riveting scenes in civil war-torn Sri Lanka, the novel asks difficult but necessary questions that will continue to be relevant as the world-wide crisis remains a reality for years to come.
Asianfail: Narratives of Disenchantment and the Model Minority by Eleanor Ty
Call Number: eBook
Eleanor Ty's bold exploration of literature, plays, and film reveals how young Asian Americans and Asian Canadians have struggled with the ethos of self-sacrifice preached by their parents.
Inscrutable Belongings by Stephen Hong Sohn
Call Number: eBook
Inscrutable Belongings brings together formalist and contextual modes of critique to consider narrative strategies that emerge in queer Asian North American literature.
Brown Girl in the Room by Priya Ramsingh
Call Number: PS8635 .A469 B76 2017
A young woman of South Asian descent tries to make her way in Toronto's ruthless corporate world.
You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. by Sheung-King
Call Number: PS8637.H48955 Y68 2020
Finalist for the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. is an intimate novel of memory and longing that challenges Western tropes and Orientalism.
The Fish Eyes Trilogy by Anita Majumdar; Maria Nguyen (Illustrator)
Call Number: eBook
Three coming-of-age solo shows that follow the lives of teenage girls who attend the same high school and process their real-life dilemmas through dance, while exploring the heartaches of youth and the meaning of heritage.
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
Call Number: PS8555.H67 A64 2005
Chinatown, Vancouver, in the late 1930s and 40s provides the setting for this poignant first novel, told through the vivid and intense reminiscences of the three younger children of an immigrant family.

My Life: Growing up Asian in America by Coalition CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) (Editor); SuChin Pak (Introduction by)
Call Number: E184.A75 M9 2023
Through a series of essays, poems, and comics, thirty creators give voice to moments that defined them and shed light on the immense diversity and complexity of the Asian American identity.
Trace by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)
Call Number: eBook
"I support you when you need, so that you support me when I need." An elegant and sweeping story of a Chinese family's history, trace follows the footsteps of four generations as their homes and identities are challenged.
The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth: Personal Stories by Canadian Muslim Women by Saima S. Hussain (Editor)
Call Number: HQ1170 .M8491 2016 (also available as an eBook)
These twenty-one personal stories are told by women from practically all backgrounds and persuasions--devout and not-so devout, professionals and housewives, westernized and traditional, wearing jeans, hijab, or niqab, straight and gay, and originally from Africa, North America, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia--revealing in their own ways what it means to them to be a Muslim woman (a "Muslimah"). What we get is a complex of stories, all challenging conventions and stereotypes, and united by two ideas--Islam (or the Quran) and nationality (Canadian).
Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice by Roy Miki
Call Number: FC106.J3 M548 2004
This passionate and compelling book-a creative blend of memoir, documentary history and critical examination-explores the Japanese-Canadian redress movement of the late 20th century that resolved the violation of their citizenship rights during this mass expulsion.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Call Number: E184 .A75 H64 2020
Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America.
Witness to Loss: Race, Culpability, and Memory in the Dispossession of Japanese Canadians by Pamela Sugiman (Editor); Jordan Stanger-Ross (Editor)
Call Number: FC106 .J3 W58 2017 (also available as an eBook)
When the federal government uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians en masse in 1942, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended along with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of the property of Japanese Canadians in Vancouver during the Second World War, Kimura participated in the dispossession of his own community. In Witness to Loss, Kimura's previously unknown memoir--written in the last years of his life--is translated from Japanese to English and published for the first time.
The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family by Lindsay Wong
Call Number: RC512 .W65 2018 (also available as an eBook)
At once a witty and touching memoir about the Asian immigrant experience and a harrowing and honest depiction of the vagaries of mental illness, The Woo-Woo is a gut-wrenching and beguiling manual for surviving family, and oneself.
The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East (1978-1984) by Riad Sattouf
Call Number: NC1499 .S337 A2 2015
The Arab of the Future tells the unforgettable story of Riad Sattouf's childhood, spent in the shadows of 3 dictators--Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father. Brimming with life and dark humor, The Arab of the Future reveals the truth and texture of one eccentric family in an absurd Middle East, and also introduces a master cartoonist in a work destined to stand alongside Maus and Persepolis.
Being Kurdish in a Hostile World by Ayub Nuri
Call Number: eBook
A stringer for The Washington Post and The New York Times, Ayub Nuri's work on the front lines in Iraq has been portrayed in best-selling books by award winning journalists. Now he tells his own story and that of his people. He writes of growing up during the Iran-Iraq War, of Saddam Hussein's chemical attack killing 30 family members, of civil war, of living in refugee camps, and of years of starvation that followed the UN's sanctions.
Incorrigible by Velma Demerson
Call Number: eBook
On a May morning in 1939, eighteen-year-old Velma Demerson and her lover were having breakfast when two police officers arrived to take her away. Her crime was loving a Chinese man, a "crime" that was compounded by her pregnancy and subsequent mixed-race child. Incorrigible is a survivor's narrative. In a period that saw the rise of psychiatry, legislation against interracial marriage, and a populist movement that believed in eradicating disease and sin by improving the purity of Anglo-Saxon stock, Velma Demerson, like many young women, found herself confronted by powerful social forces. This is a history of some of those who fell through the cracks of the criminal code, told in a powerful first-person voice.
Bend, Not Break by Ping Fu; MeiMei Fox
Call Number: E184 .C5 F84 2013b
Born on the eve of China's Cultural Revolution, Ping Fu was separated from her family at the age of eight. She grew up fighting hunger and humiliation and shielding her younger sister from the teenagers in Mao's Red Guard. At twenty-five, she found her way to the United States; her only resources were $80 and a few phrases of English. Yet Ping persevered, and the hard-won lessons of her childhood guided her to success in her new homeland. Aided by her well-honed survival instincts, a few good friends, and the kindness of strangers, she grew into someone she never thought she'd be--a strong, independent, entrepreneurial leader

Anti-Asian Racism

Anti-Asian Racism Social Action Card and text by Centennial College's Innovation, Inclusion, Reconciliation and Healing Portfolio (IIRH).

Three things you can do

1. Educate

Consider what biases you have and how they are connected to a history of anti-Asian racism. Begin the process of unlearning those myths and challenge misinformation from media and your social networks.

2. Check your behaviour

Consider the content you share and choose your words thoughtfully as it is incorrect to refer to COVID-19 as a “Chinese virus”. These behaviours can have consequences that can be harmful.

3. Speak up
The job of speaking out against racism is often left to people who are targeted. This is unfair. Call out acts of racism and ask groups you are part of to denounce anti-Asian racism. Acts motivated by racial prejudice are in violation of the College’s policies and commitment to equity and inclusion. These acts should be reported to a College representative.

What is Asian Heritage Month?

Canadian Heritage: "May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, a time to reflect on and recognize the many contributions that Canadians of Asian heritage have made and continue to make to Canada.

Asian Heritage Month has been celebrated since the 1990s. In December 2001, the Senate of Canada adopted a motion proposed by Senator Vivienne Poy [Canada's first Chinese-Canadian senator] to officially designate May as Asian Heritage Month in Canada. In May 2002, the Government of Canada signed an official declaration to announce May as Asian Heritage Month." (links added).

Regions in Asia

Did you know Asia is home to 60% of the world's population with approximately 4.5 billion people (UN DESA, 2022)? The United Nations Statistical Commission identifies five different regions within the continent:

Central Asia	Western Asia	Southern Asia	Southeastern Asia	Eastern Asia
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan	Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen	Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka	Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam	China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan

Unwanted Soldiers (1999) available via NFB

In this documentary, filmmaker Jari Osborne documents her father's involvement in World War II and uncovers a legacy of discrimination and racism against British Columbia's Chinese-Canadian community. Sworn to secrecy for decades, Osborne's father and his war buddies now vividly recall their top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia. Theirs is a tale of young men proudly fighting for a country that had mistreated them.

Welcome to Canada (1989) available via NFB

This feature drama tells the story of the illegal landing of a boatload of Southeast Asians on Canada's east coast in 1986. The film follows 8 Sri Lankan Tamils who find temporary sanctuary in an isolated outport in Newfoundland after being rescued from certain death at sea by a group of fishermen.

In the Shadow of Gold Mountain (2004) available via NFB

Filmmaker Karen Cho travels from Montreal to Vancouver to uncover stories from the last survivors of the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, a set of laws imposed to single out the Chinese as unwanted immigrants to Canada from 1885 to 1947.

Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story (2002) available via NFB

This feature-length documentary tells the story of the Asahi baseball team. In pre-World War II Vancouver, the team was unbeatable, winning the Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were sent to internment camps. The former Asahi members survived by playing ball. Their passion was contagious and soon other players joined in, among them RCMP officials and local townspeople. As a result, the games helped break down racial and cultural barriers.

A Magical Substance Flows Into Me (2016) via Academic Video Online (AVON)

Robert Lachmann was a German-Jewish ethnomusicologist. In the 1930s, his radio show "Oriental Music" explored the musical traditions of Palestine and included regular live performances by musicians from different ethnic and religious groups.

Water (2005) available via Criterion on Demand

Set in the 1930s during the rise of the independence struggles against British colonial rule, the film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from a lower caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

Online resources

Organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of Asian culture in Canada

Act2endracism
ACT or Asian Canadians Together is a coalition of citizens and community groups concerned about rising and escalating anti-Asian sentiment. We are committed to providing support to the community and addressing Covid-19 related racism by providing recommendations to institutions on how to tackle systemic racism.
#Elimin8hate
OUR MISSION: To provide an anonymous and safe reporting environment for Canadians of Asian ancestry experiencing anti-Asian attacks. To consolidate public resources in an accessible format to victims. To utilize reported data for actionable change.
project 1907
We are a grassroots group made up of Asian women.
We aim to elevate Asian voices that are underrepresented and undervalued in mainstream political, social and cultural discourse, including amplifying the voices of women. Our work is led entirely by volunteer community organizers.
Sticky Rice Magazine
Launched in 2020, the Sticky Rice project is a new Tio'Tia:ke (Montreal)-based E-Zine and a non-profit organization that is hosting an online platform that aims to promote interculturalism by bringing the experience of Canadians of Asian descent to the forefront, opening a conversation around what it means to be Asian-Canadian

Additional resources, organizations, and information from the web

IIRH's Anti-Asian Racism Social Action Card
National Association of Japanese Canadians
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Asian Heritage Month
Official Government of Canada information page
Significant events in history of Canadians of Asian heritage (Government of Canada)

Attribution

An early version of this guide was created by Senior Library Technician, Toni Stockton. It is currently maintained by School of English and Liberal Studies Librarian, Stephanie Power. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the guide, contact Stephanie at spower@centennialcollege.ca.