ethnicity Archives | Research & Innovation

Interactive computer assessments may help foster health equity

fmaquito — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Through the use of interactive, computer-assisted health-assessments, Professor Farah Ahmad hopes to foster equity in health care, especially at the intersections of gender, ethnicity and migration. Ahmad will present her research and discuss how embracing eHealth innovations can boost community empowerment as part of the 91��ɫ eHealth Alliance Lecture Series.

The lecture, “eHealth Innovations to Address Health Inequities: A Case of Computer-Assisted Health-Assessment in Primary Care,” will take place Thursday, Feb. 16, from 3 to 4pm, at 402 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building.

Farah Ahmad

“Equity in health-care access is a key social determinant of population health,” says Ahmad, who is based in the Faculty of Health’s School of Health Policy & Management. “Fostering equity mechanisms is more salient today than ever before due to the challenges of economic recession and changing demographics.”

One way to embrace eHealth is by using interactive computer-assisted health-assessments in primary care for prevention and health promotion. Her recent research demonstrates that these kinds of assessments can enable patients to disclose socially stigmatized issues, such as partner violence and compromised mental health, as well as assist providers to offer needed care and referrals.

Ahmad’s action research on eHealth for psychosocial healthcare re-orientation takes place at the critical intersections of gender, ethnicity and migration. It is grounded in principles of social science includes quantitative and qualitative studies with inner city women, refugees and health-care providers. She will highlight the potential to develop integrated care models as an important pathway for simultaneous actions on the multiple health determinants that improve life conditions.

Ahmad is affiliated with the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael’s Hospital as an associate scientist and with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategic Training Initiatives on Health Research on Health, Care, Place & Technology as a mentor. She held several prestigious fellowships, including awards from the CIHR during her doctorate and post-doctorate.

For more information, visit the Faculty of Health website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Ananya Mukherjee-Reed: Rabindranath Tagore's teachings particularly relevant

fmaquito — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Although Rabindranath Tagore was a celebrated poet during his time – the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1913 – and a prominent figure in India’s struggle for independence and social justice, he is not well known outside of India today. With the 150th anniversary of his birth coming up this year, 91��ɫ political science Professor Ananya Mukherjee-Reed hopes to bring this influential intellectual to a wider audience.

To do this, Mukherjee-Reed, director of South Asian studies at 91��ɫ, became a core member of the Tagore Anniversary Celebrations Committee Toronto (TACCT), which will organize a series of events throughout the year to celebrate Tagore. The first is a tribute to Tagore in conjunction with the ’s (ROM) 3rd annual South Asia Heritage Day tomorrow. Mukherjee-Reed will deliver an introduction to Tagore at the ROM theatre.

“Our primary objective is to bring Tagore's work and his worldview into the mainstream, particularly in North America,” says Mukherjee-Reed. “His brilliant work and his profound philosophical worldviews based on equality, humanism and justice have much to offer to us today.”

Right: A photo of Rabindranath Tagore taken during his visit to Canada. Photo by John Vanderpant, Library and Archives Canada.

In addition to poetry, Tagore wrote novels, short stories, essays and plays, and composed music and became a painter in his late sixties. He was also a leading social philosopher and fought for equality and justice for all, striving to build ties beyond borders of race, class, caste, ethnicity and culture. “He had a profound influence on the making of modern India,” says Mukherjee-Reed. His ideas of de-colonization, local self-reliance and autonomy, and a cooperative way of life deeply inspired India’s anti-colonial struggle. His views have influenced Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mukherjee-Reed says as she watches the events in Egypt and Libya, she is reminded of Tagore's words. “No matter how mighty a power is and how much artillery it has at its disposal, if there is a collective will to challenge its illegitimacy, it eventually cannot endure." These thoughts permeate the vast repertoire of poetry and music that became household chants during India’s struggle for independence. "Tagore saw colonialism as one major impediment to equality, but also feared that nationalist, elitist visions of progress would be equally problematic,” she says.

Tagore had great faith in the power of youth and those who would challenge established norms. “One of our aims is to engage the young with Tagore’s ideas,” says Mukherjee-Reed. “Unleashing the creativity inherent in people, particularly the young, was something Tagore strongly advocated.”

Left: Ananya Mukherjee-Reed

His strong belief in the power of education saw him establish two universities in India. “We have a lot to learn from Tagore’s ideas of education,” says Mukherjee-Reed. The first, he named Visva-Bharati, a Sanskrit name meaning "where the whole world forms its one single nest". It brought scholars, artists and students from every part of the world together to create a community, and even touched the lives of ordinary people.

“Tagore’s objective was to break with the traditional model of the university where the elite pursued knowledge for its own sake. It was no accident that Visva-Bharati was located in a village and not in a city, not amidst the urban, British-schooled affluent classes,” says Mukherjee-Reed.

“Very close to Visva-Bharati, Tagore established the Institute of Rural Reconstruction, yet another university designed specifically to serve the rural economy. The predicament of rural India was at the heart of Tagore’s work. His views on this remain very salient in today’s India where the benefits of ‘development’ still elude millions of its citizens.”

For more information or to hear Mukherjee-Reed’s discussion about Tagore on CBC Radio’s Fresh Air and CHRY Radio, visit the website.

For more information about the performances, live music, children’s activities and poetry readings during South Asia Heritage Day tomorrow at the ROM, visit the ’s website.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Haideh Moghissi edits new book on Muslim diaspora in the West

fmaquito — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

In her ongoing effort to illuminate the experience of Muslims in the West, 91��ɫ Professor Haideh Moghissi has recently produced her second book on the subject, .

Released in December, the volume of essays by scholars from both sides of the Atlantic explores issues of race and ethnicity, culture, media, gender and migration.

The collection is edited by , associate dean external of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Halleh Ghorashi, a professor at VU University Amsterdam.

In previews, London-based scholars say the essays “illuminate a rich mix of issues that shape and define the everyday experiences of diasporic Muslims,” address “some of the egregious stereotypes used about the Muslim diaspora” and show how “homogenization of diverse communities may serve political expediency but has a negative effect on the quest for meaningful integration.”

Moghissi, who teaches women’s and equity studies at 91��ɫ, has written the introduction and contributed one essay – “Changing spousal relations in diaspora: Muslims in Canada”. Other essays look at Muslim youth culture in Europe, radicalization of Muslims in Sweden, discrimination against young Muslim French women, and home and belonging for Moroccan-Dutch Muslims.

The essays grew out of a four-year international research project, "Muslim diasporas: Heightened Islamic identity, gender, and cultural resistance". Started in 2006, the project involved scholars in Canada, France, Sweden, Britain and the Netherlands and was funded by the Ford Foundation.

Moghissi is the author of , released in 1999 and still considered timely and relevant. It was translated and reprinted in 2010 by a South Korean publisher. In 2009, she published a monograph, , co-authored by 91��ɫ political science professors and .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ's Diabetes Prevention Program seeking volunteers for diabetes research study

fmaquito — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

In Canada, the Chinese, South Asian, African and African-Caribbean populations have a very high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness, leg amputation and kidney failure in Canada.

A team of researchers from the Physical Activity & Chronic Disease Unit in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health is working on a new research project investigating ways to prevent this disease and its complications from developing. The Pre-diabetes Detection & Physical Activity Intervention Delivery Project (PRE-PAID) is examining the effectiveness of community-based interventions on the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.

They are looking for Chinese, South Asian, African and African-Caribbean people who have pre-diabetes by screening members of these high-risk populations. 91��ɫ community members who are of these ethnicities are encouraged to take part in the project.

The project, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, is now working with the Black Creek Community Health Centre and other community organizations to recruit Chinese, South Asian, African and African-Caribbean people who are at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes based on their age (40 to 64 years old), risk factors (family history and weight) and a lack of physical activity.

Half of these people will take part in a six-month, supervised exercise program (free of charge) that will include a variety of fun activities, including dance activities such as socacize, Bollywood, line dancing and other physical activities. The other half of the participants will take part in a six-week educational workshop that provides hands-on instruction for diabetes prevention, including information about diet and physical activity education.

The goal of the program is to prevent people who are pre-diabetic from developing Type 2 diabetes. Previous research has shown that regular exercise and diet are the most effective ways to reduce Type 2 diabetes risk.

If successful, this program will lead to many more similar programs in other communities and prove that community-based interventions are possible and effective in the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.

The PRE-PAID team will be hosting pre-diabetes screening sessions every Monday morning on the Keele campus, from 7:45 to 11am, in 120 Norman Bethune College. Screening sessions will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

If you fit the above risk profile and are interested in becoming a participant in the project, contact Chip Rowan, PRE-PAID project coordinator, at 647-378-6777 or stopdiab@yorku.ca.

For more information, please visit the Diabetes Prevention Program Web site.

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Professors examining differences in how immigrant Torontonians speak English based on ethnicity

fmaquito — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Differences in the way Torontonians speak English may have more to do with how people express their ethnic identity than with any problems they are having learning to speak Canadian English perfectly, a study from 91��ɫ suggests.

Michol Hoffman and James Walker, professors of sociolinguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), studied individuals in Toronto's Chinese and Italian communities. They compared them with people of British and Irish descent to learn whether ethnic identification affects how they speak Canadian English and adopt ongoing changes to the language.

Shopping on Toronto's Spadina Avenue. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Rather than study the effects of ethnicity per se on language, they looked at the effects of ethnic orientation in the study, “Ethnolects and the City: Ethnic Orientation and Linguistic Variation in Toronto English”, which appears in the journal .

“We recognized that individuals may have different attitudes and orientation toward the values and characteristics that are associated with their ethnic group,” said Hoffman. “So we asked them a number of questions to measure how much they identify themselves as belonging to a certain group. For example: Do you watch TV in Italian or English? Did you grow up in a neighbourhood that was predominantly that ethnicity? Are most of your friends of that group?”

In addition to rating the survey participants’ ethnic orientation, the researchers took note of their ethnicity, generation and sex. First-generation Italian- and Chinese-Canadians, whose first language is Italian and Cantonese, respectively, scored highly on ethnic orientation, expressing stronger affiliation to their ethnic group. There was some transfer from the first languages in the first generation, but it does not appear to persist in the second and third generations: linguistically, younger Italian- and Chinese-Canadians who are native speakers of English appear to pattern after their British/Irish-Canadian cohorts.

“The biggest difference between ethnic groups is the rate at which they use linguistic features, such as dropping the 't' or 'd' from certain words, for example pronouncing 'told him' as 'tol’ him', and the degree to which they participate in an ongoing change in vowel pronunciation by Canadians, so 'bit' sounds more like 'bet', 'bet' sounds more like 'bat', and 'bat' sounds more like 'bot',” said Walker. “However, when we look beyond rates of use to the linguistic structure, we find more similarities than differences. Given that the differences we see among ethnic groups are more a question of degree than of kind, we think they may be strategically adopting them − or not adopting them − to express their values and identity.”

Whether these particular linguistic differences are introduced through transfer from other languages in the first generation or already exist in Canada when they arrive, there is evidence that second- and third-generation speakers adopt them and use them intentionally, Hoffman and Walker said. They are further testing this idea by examining other phonetic and grammatical features, as well as collecting further data from the Greek, Portuguese and Punjabi communities. The results of their research should inform public debate about the impact of ethnolinguistic diversity on Canadian English.

The study was covered in the; James Walker also spoke about the study on CBC Radio’s “Here & Now” program June 8.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Author Wayson Choy to deliver Asian Heritage Month Lecture at 91��ɫ on May 25

fmaquito — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Acclaimed author Wayson Choy will deliver this year’s Asian Heritage Month Lecture at 91��ɫ next Tuesday.

In his lecture, “Asian Identity: Becoming Canadian”, Choy will review his personal insights into life as an in-between citizen, living as a hyphenated Chinese-Canadian for most of his life. Choy – born in Canada in 1939 – will explore how he feels now that he has "become a Canadian." No more hyphens. He will expose the prejudices and racism that still prevent many people from feeling that they belong in Canada as full-fledged citizens. The irony is that these prejudices and racist attitudes are found from both inside and outside one's ethnicity and colour, Choy says.

The event, which will be held May 25, from 7 to 9:30pm in the McLean Performance Studio, 244 Accolade East Building, Keele campus, will be chaired by Vivienne Poy, Canadian senator and patron of Asian Heritage Month in Canada.

Right: Wayson Choy. Photo by Raymond Lum.

Choy, a member of the Order of Canada, has appeared as a subject in Wayson Choy: Unfolding the Butterfly, a full-length documentary film by Michael Glassbourg, and is featured on the co-produced China-Canada documentary . His latest book is and he is currently working on his third novel and fifth book. His other publications include , and , which was called one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history by the . His work has been translated into Hungarian, French, German and Dutch.

He is a professor emeritus of Humber College, where he is currently a faculty member for the Humber School for Writers Summer Program. In 2002, he was made companion of Fronteir College in recognition of his outstanding services for furthering literacy awareness.

The discussant for the Asian Heritage Month Lecture will be English Professor from 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

The lecture will be paired with a performance of OrienTik/Portrait, which features the intricate and mesmerizing choreography of former 91��ɫ student Alvin Erasga Tolentino and fellow dancer and 91��ɫ grad Andrea Nann (BFA Spec. Hons. '88). The pair will be joined by taiko drummer Jordy Riley and classical pianist Alison Nishihara.

Their performance will explore an Asian identity that is diverse in culture, creating a bridge between the identities of Canadians and the rest of the world. In OrientiTik/Portrait, sound and movements integrate and weave together in an enriching layer of moments in time. It highlights the experience, mediums and high artistry of each artist. Their aim is to capture the resonance and transparency with the meeting of two performing mediums.

The event is presented by the 91��ɫ Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) as a part of the 2010 Asian Heritage Month Festival with support from the following groups: 91��ɫ, the Office of the Vice-President Academic & Provost, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Graduate Program in Dance, the Asian Heritage Month Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc. (partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage), the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and community partner the .

Light refreshments will follow the event. Due to space restrictions, RSVPs are required. Contact YCAR at ycar@yorku.ca or call 416-736-5821. For more information, visit the YCAR Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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