Gurnoor Powar is a second generation South Asian born in Canada. She is currently entering into her fourth year of her bachelor program, majoring in English literature with a minor in ACAM. After hearing about the ACAM program, Gurnoor decided to switch her major in her third year. Since then she has been a part of the Tributaries: UBC ACAM student journal team of editors and a member of ACAM Dialogues. She hopes to continue being a part of ACAM as she finishes her degree.
Program: Bachelor of Arts, English Literature (Minor: Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies)
Cohort: Building Anti-Racism on Campus (2021/2)
Gurnoor’s experience with ACAM Dialogues:
Before ACAM dialogues I had a lot of anxiety when speaking in front of anyone. I stayed silent even when I had a question or point to add to the discussion. And that’s the way I began when I started ACAM dialogues. But by the end, I felt a lot more comfortable speaking about things I was passionate about. And I think that really translated beyond this group as I started taking up more extracurriculars outside of classes that I never would have had the confidence to before, and began speaking a lot more in classes.
With ACAM dialogues I also learned a lot more about the roots and presence of Asians in the history of Canada—history I never learned until I started my minor in ACAM. I’ve also gone through a lot of my own self-reflection as I went through ACAM dialogues with peers who were doing the same, motivated to learn more about my own ancestral history and the story that brought my family here. But even going beyond that, putting my family’s history in a broader Asian-Canadian history and realizing that my own family’s experience coincides with so many others is really illuminating.
I really would recommend ACAM dialogues to anyone even remotely interested. Besides becoming friends with a friendly and warm group of like-minded people, it’s genuinely a fun group to be a part of. It was really a stress-free environment for me, which was a relief for me.