SWRC Lunch and Learn: Community organizing and activism for addressing anti-Asian racism

Host: Dr. Kedi Zhao is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina. His research interests include decolonization of mental health services, cross-cultural experiences, anti-Asian racism, and (im)migration.

Patricia Quan is a PhD student in the School of Social Work at York University. Her research focuses on migration, international education, and the governance of mobility, with particular attention to high school international students in Canada. Patricia is also a co- chair of Project Anchor, a Toronto-based grassroots initiative supporting high school international students through peer support, advocacy, and community-based research.

Dr. Izumi Sakamoto is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and an Academic Fellow at the Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research. A registered social worker in both Ontario and Japan, her research focuses on immigration, anti-oppression, anti-Asian racism, gender, empowerment, and arts-informed methods. She has led numerous community–university collaborations, including a recent study on anti-Asian racism with the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter. As Principal Investigator of the Japanese Canadian Arts and Activism Project (JCAAP), she uses arts-based approaches to decolonize research and amplify voices and knowledge that have been historically marginalized.