SWRC Lunch and Learn: The Rise and Fall of Awareness of 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.

Yahan Yang is a PhD student at the University of Toronto and registered social worker whose research focuses on anti‑Asian racism, family communication, and resistance to systemic silencing.

Dr. Madeleine Mant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research program integrates bioarchaeology and medical anthropology to investigate the health experiences of people through time, with a focus upon trauma and infectious disease.

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.