My Experience Living as a south Asian (M.E.L.A)

M E L A : d e s i   g a t h e r i n g
My Experience Living as a south Asian (M.E.L.A)

As young South Asians, we find ourselves faced with particular realities, challenges, and questions about our histories, our cultures, and our identities. Our objective in organizing this mela is to facilitate a platform in which to empower and inspire South Asian youth to dialogue on and explore community social issues through self-expression, education, and arts & culture.

The mela will include a variety of mediums through which young South Asians express themselves and communicate through- visual art and photography, films, dance such as classical dance and bhangra, performances of hip-hop/tabla/ Asian underground/spoken word & poetry and other musical performances, discussion groups, workshops, popular theatre, and educational panels.

In the mela, young South Asians will be able to exchange, debate, critique, and explore different issues such as: what it means to be a south asian youth, our experiences in the educational system, family and peer pressures, the influence of popular culture in our lives, how we are represented in the media, reclaiming cultural traditions, our ability to access culturally-relevant services such as for women’s health, religion in our personal lives and as a political reality, our roles and realities in the labour force, sexuality, cultural taboos, violence, inter-community prejudices, immigration, race, social/economic/political histories of the subcontinent, globalization, caste, environmental sustainability, civil rights in the post 9/11 climate, migration history of the South Asian community, peace in the subcontinent, and much more.

We also hope to empower young South Asians through skills training in media, web design, radio production, film making, writing, public speaking, and performance art which will encourage young South Asian youth to advocate for themselves.

Our community is diverse, culturally rich, and maintains strong ties to South Asia, as well as diasporic ties across the world. We envision that through the mela we will strengthen our ties across different religions, regions and nationalities and define and create new political, cultural and social spaces for young South Asians.

The cost of this gathering is pay what you can afford ($0-$20). Food and snacks will be provided for free, free childcare will be available, and there will be multilingual presentations with translation available.

Organized by a diverse group of young South Asians with the support of community partners and organizations.

[desi -- desi (de 'see), n. [Sanskrit des' ] 1. some one with south-asian ancestry; of any one of the indic peoples; people of south asian ancestry 2. people who share a common history with origins in nepal, bhutan, sri lanka, bangladesh, pakistan, guyana, trinidad, india and the diaspora.]

OBJECTIVE OF GATHERING

To facilitate a platform in which to empower and inspire South Asian youth to dialogue on and explore community social issues through self-expression, education, and arts & culture.

PROGRAMMING

==> WORKSHOPS  (tentative list)
1.        What it means to be a south asian youth: South Asian identity/ subjectivity
2.        Racism in the educational system, media, popular culture & reclaiming cultural traditions, identities, representation
3.        Cultural taboos and family/peer pressures
4.        women’s health/
5.        South Asian gang violence:
6.        Power and privilege workshop
7.        Homophobia/sexuality/queer caucus
8.        Patriarchy and Violence against women (closed discussion for women)/Discussion of violence including young men of colour (socialization, racialization etc)
9.        Castism/Dalit issues
10.       Religion: liberation and oppression (religious fanaticism, secularism)/ interfaith dialogue
11.        Labour and working experiences (training wage, mills, schooling, migration, class aspirations)
12.        Comprehensive histories (social/economic/political) of the subcontinent
13.        Migration history of the South Asian community and links to other community histories (eg Chinese migration, indigenous histories)
14.        War and Peace (Nuclear proliferation, Kashmir etc)
15.        War on terrorism and profiling in post 9/11 climate
16.        Anti-globalization struggles/ environmental racism

Community Building through Culture & History: Rationale

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