Virsa & Kwantlen Partnership:
WHY?
Community Building through Culture & History using a strength-based approach:
(Rationale)
Forums such as those held at Tamanawis & Princess Margaret (VIRSA), and Abbotsford (Speak Out) have dealt with many of the challenges facing the community. There have been quite a high number of these community forums that talk about the problems with the community—gang violence, substance use and trafficking, domestic gender based violence and discrimination—both within community circles and under the intrigued eye of the mainstream media/public-at-large. These forums have consistently demonstrated a need for a more dynamic understanding of what South Asian cultures have been, are, and will become. It is important to note that this understanding, this gained knowledge of self and of community entails more active processes and seeks to go beyond the static form that has dominated many of the forums thus far.
Building on the idea of praxis (to know, to be, to do), this committee will be dedicated to a long-term holistic approach. Meaning that several issues will be discussed, exploring critical self-reflection—both as communities-at-large (linguistic, religious, and regional, as well as friendships/peer groups, families, workplaces, etc.) and as individuals (recognizing one’s own position in relation to all issues taken on in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, etc.)—as a guiding principle for how and which multiple histories will be told, and how they will be connected to the conditions of the present.
At this moment, I only have my own experiences and studies to build these rationales and believe that this will ultimately be a primary, ongoing dialogue with committee members and community allies/partners.
Mike
