2024 – ACAM 320B student submissions

August 1, 2024August 1, 2024

ASD in Asian Diasporic Children

A practitioner assessing an Asian child for ASD must be culturally sensitive

Creator:
Rue Adler (she/they)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a range of manifestations of neurodivergence, for which there seems to be a lot of cultural variability in terms of diagnostic and prevalence rates. While the reasons for this might be highly varied, one issue that warrants special attention is whether the diagnostic criteria for ASD are sufficiently culturally sensitive. In other words, the criteria for ASD were created in a Western cultural context, with particular cultural assumptions baked in; but those cultural assumptions might not hold in other cultures, like Asian cultures. Rue’s paper delves into some cultural issues that may pertain to the differential diagnostic rates of ASD, specifically involving Asian diaspora. What kinds of cultural differences do you think may interfere with current diagnostic efforts of ASD among Asian diasporic communities?

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

Let’s Get Screened

Acknowledging that there tare cultural narratives around sex is critical

Creator:
Aysan Dehghani (she/hers)

One of the most important public health issues facing a country with a significant immigrant population is addressing sexual health among immigrant women, particularly those from more sexually conservative cultures. Such cultural conservatism, and an overarching cultural environment that treats public health in a culture-blind way, create access barriers for such immigrant women. This severely jeopardizes their sexual health specifically, and overall health more generally. Many cultures within Asian cultural spheres embody such forms of conservatism, which poses challenges for immigrant women from those cultures to have sufficient agency over their own health, especially when cultural perspectives significantly overlap with religious perspectives. Aysan takes on the specific issue of cervical screening and increasing health challenges facing Asian immigrant women in Canada by examining the cultural factors at play. If you were a medical healthcare worker, how might you try to help such patients address their concerns so they can have greater agency over their own health?

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

Asian Girls in Western Worlds

“Ni hao”

Creator:
Rachel Leong (she/hers)

Growing up as racialized diaspora almost certainly means being subject to particular experiences, including not being assumed that you are born domestically (despite being a multi-generational Canadian), or having people assume that you speak Mandarin because you look Chinese (if your face is remotely East Asian-coded), among others. It is only in the recent decade that there has been a proliferation of media from Asian diasporic filmmakers who have been able to unironically poke fun at such racist tropes that Asian diaspora faces to a mainstream audience, not just camp movies that stay within diasporic communities. Rachel analyzes the film, White Elephant from filmmaker Andrew Chung, to discuss portrayals of constant “otheredness” that diaspora experience – a film that, as of the writing of this description, is featured on the mainstream platform CBC Gem. Are these experiences that you have had if you belong to a racialized diasporic group?

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

Emotional Damage – EEAAO

The model minority myth adds another layer of complexity to our understanding of intergenerational trauma

Creator:
Meagan Ng 吳曦琳 (she/hers)

Media representation is an important factor for how people understand themselves – who they are, what their identity is, and how to think about their experiences. For cultural minorities in society, they are often left with stereotyped roles that both leave a small space within which individuals can imagine themselves, and never really accurately portray their cultural experiences. Throughout Asian Canadian/American history, few media productions have been able to do justice to Asian diasporic experiences; but Everything, Everywhere, All At Once shattered barriers and allowed the Asian diaspora to really see themselves and their experiences be portrayed effectively in Hollywood. In her paper, Meagan delves into how the movie deftly portrays the cultural nuances of sensitive themes like intergenerational trauma and mental health stigma. If you’ve watched the movie, how did you feel about the movie’s portrayal of cultural themes?