Alejandro Yoshizawa, a filmmaker and instructor at UBC. | Photo courtesy of Alejandro Yoshizawhwa

University of British Columbia (UBC) students can explore topics like their family roots through a new minor program that focuses on Asian migration to Canada. In February 2014, the UBC Senate approved a new multidisciplinary minor program, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, in the Faculty of Arts. According to UBC, the minor delves into the history, culture and contemporary development of Asian communities in Canada as well as Asian migrations outside of Asia.

Joanna Yang is one of the students in a course called Asian Canadian Film Production, taught by filmmaker Alejandro Yoshizawa. In the course, students learn the technical aspects of video production and how to research and write for their films. Some of the works will be chosen for a discussion forum this month. Yang wanted to learn more about Asian migration to the Americas (specifically, Vancouver and Canada) because of its relevance to her family’s history.

“Like other historical narratives, such as those pertaining to Indigenous peoples in Canada, Asian migration is framed as less significant than the dominant story of Canada’s construction,” says Yang, who majors in human geography. She thinks that seeing this knowledge gap made her want to pursue more courses at UBC, such as a film production course with an Asian studies theme.

“As a geographer, I study how patterns of migration affect the urban morphology of places, communities and cities and indeed, Asian migration has and continues to shape our communities today. I love bringing creativity, film production and elements of my degree together in Al’s [Alejandro Yoshizawa] class,” says the 23-year-old student.

Joanna Yang, UBC student. | Photo by Jomar Santos

Yang’s project, with her partner Stephanie Fun, investigates five queer Asian-Canadian youths’ coming out stories and learn about how they find their identity. Yang feels that the effort she has invested in this film will be putting her undergraduate degree to good use.

“The power of film lies in its ability to educate and enlighten the average person in an engaging aesthetic. Disseminating knowledge cannot be limited to the world of books and journal articles,” says Yang.

Introduction to film through academics

Yoshizawa, the instructor of the film course, studied physics at UBC and obtained a master’s degree in history at Concordia. He didn’t start filmmaking until he took Professor Henry Yu’s history course at UBC. The final project was to produce a film instead of a term paper. Yoshizawa interviewed his family about his grandfather as the subject of his film, and his family loved it.

“I learned a lot from my first film. I wanted to do more. Making a film was much more powerful than writing a paper. I saw how the film affected people,” says Yoshizawa.

Germ of an idea

The Asian Migration Minor studies’ seeds were planted about 10 years ago by Prof. Henry Yu when he returned to UBC from UCLA.

“If you want to create new knowledge, if you want to popularize it, then it needs to be put on TV or video,” says Yu.

He acknowledges that Canadian-born Asians are likely not aware of their family history.

“If you grew up here, and parents grew up elsewhere, you know very little of your own history,” he says.

Yu thinks it’s very important that students research their own history and community. Immediately, they have something to give back to the community.

“That’s why we have film and media for preserving history. You see, and hear, get the personality, not just the words. You preserve the person’s life story. You hear their emotions in the stories,” says Yu.

Future focus of film

Ying Wang is one of the founders of Cinevolution Media Arts Society and the Your Kontinent: Richmond Int’l Film and Media Arts Festival. She feels there are a lot of interesting stories about Asian-Canadian history that have yet to be told.

“However, I believe to tell the history is not the ending, but should only be a starting point.”