Meet our Students: Cyrus Qiu
This interview features Cyrus Qiu, a Ph.D. student studying Japanese popular culture and modern literature
Meet our Students: Lovneet Aujla (Undergraduate Student)
Lovneet Aujla – Bachelors of Arts in Sociology, and Asian Studies
“BC is home to a large South Asian community, and having been apart of that community my entire life I had this inclination to learn about my surroundings and my community and I feel as though only a Punjabi Program in BC would be able to better connect me to my community.”
Meet our Students: Sukhwinder Gill
MA Student – Punjabi Studies
“It is important to explore this topic because they lays close to the hearts of the Sikhs and because the Varran have been called the key to the treasure chest (The main scripture of the Sikhs, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji). If this title holds true, then the Varran serve a far greater purpose than simply being poetry.”
Meet our Students: Julie Vig
This interview features Julie Vig who will be teaching Sikh Studies as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto this upcoming September.
Event Recap: the first UBC Cantonese Singing Contest
With a packed AMS Nest Lower Atrium, the historic inaugural UBC Cantonese Singing Contest was successfully held on March 9, 2018. The event began with a welcome message from President Santa Ono as well as Dr. Duanduan Li, the Associate Head of the Department of Asian Studies. The competition had three categories, Cantonese as First […]
Meet our Students: Casey Collins
Ph.D. Student – Modern Japanese & Korean Religion
I mainly study Japanese and Korean religions that emerged within the last one-hundred years or so, including modern Buddhist institutions.
Meet our Students: Scott Wells
Ph.D. Student – Korean Linguistics
“Imagine studying the transition in England from a traditional education in Latin and Greek to a modern education in English. I study a similar transition but in early twentieth century Korea, as Koreans developed a modern educational system that pushed Literary Chinese to the margins of their teaching and centered vernacular Korean as the primary medium of instruction.”
Meet our Students: Minami Orihara
This interview features PhD student Minami Orihara. Minami’s research focuses on Japanese Social History.
Meet our Students: Kiran Sunar
Ph.D. Student – Punjabi Cultural History/Literature
My research engages the study of gender, sexuality, and the fantastical looking at the multilingual cornucopia of literary traditions in the early modern period (15th to 17th century) and their interactions with each other.
Meet our Students: Peder Gedda
Ph.D. Student – Sikh History
My research is focused on translating, contextualising and analysing a series of Sikh etiquette manuals (rahitname) composed in the early 18th century in North India. I hope that my research can shed some light on this genre of literature as well as its period of composition, since both deserve more scholarly attention.


