In 2026, I wrote an article for the Okanagan’s Asian-Canadian community describing how oral history can be used as a tool for anti-racism. As part of an oral history community event hosted by Asian Heritage Okanagan, older community members told stories about their experiences survivng racism to younger generations. My article was a guide for the storytellers on how to help build resilience against discrimination in their listeners through storytelling and how to better engage younger audiences. I compressed psychology research and audience engagement strategies into a concise and easy-to-read article for older immigrants not fluent in English.
“When so many dominant stories teach the same worldview (the same values, beliefs, morals, traditions, and practices), they form a dominant cultural ideal that every person is expected to base their identity upon: how they should look, how they should speak, how they should act, and more.”
“Those who do not align with the cultural ideal will suffer feelings of isolation, lack of belonging, and invalidation, and they become more vulnerable to the belief that they are weak, undeserving, and worthless.”
The article was recieved well by the community. Asian Heritage Okanagan plans to split the article into three smaller documents that are more digestable for a general audience.
If you are interested in reading the article yourself, you can access it here (CC BY 4.0).