The Richard Charles Lee Asian Pathways Research Lab (RCL-APRL) is a hub for student experiential learning at the Asian Institute.
In their future careers, our students will navigate a knowledge economy shaped by globalization that requires fluency across cultural, business, social, and political spheres. In order to develop this fluency, the RCL-APRL convenes dynamic research creation and knowledge mobilization activities and offers support and mentorship to a thriving range of student initiatives.
Activities
Through professional development opportunities and training in qualitative research methods, the RCL-APRL serves as a launchpad for transformative scholarly and professional pursuits while facilitating meaningful social networks that support students well beyond their graduation.
The RCL-APRL supports the following student initiatives housed at the Asian Institute:
- Insights through Asia Challenge (ITAC)
- Asian Institute Mentorship Program (AIM)
- Contemporary Asian Studies Student Union (CASSU)
- Synergy: The Journal of Contemporary Asian Studies
- Re:Locations: Journal of the Asia Pacific World
- Taiwan Gazette
- Asian Institute Graduate Student Association
The RCL-APRL also supports several partner activities, including:
- Asian Alliance Forum
- OtherWise Magazine
Past projects
The 2022 Anti-Racism International Youth Writing Contest
An initiative of two Contemporary Asian Studies students, the 2022 Anti-Racism International Youth Writing Contest offered youth around the world the opportunity to define and lead conversations about racism at a personal and political level.
Digital Pedagogy, Asian Pathways: Interrogating geospatial approaches to conflict in the Philippines
Led by Dr. Joseph McQuade, the 2020-2021 RCL Asian Pathways Research Lab trained a team of Research Interns to use digitized archival sources and geospatial tools to research, track, and visualize data related to conflict and environmental insecurity on Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines.
Educational Pathways at the University: International students’ wellness
The 2019-20 project investigated the experiences of international students from mainland China and Taiwan at U of T, exploring the intersection of international students’ mobilities, education and wellness. These stories reveal some of the hardest truths of the experience of being an international student. The results of this project’s findings are feeding into policy recommendations aimed at continuing to improve international student life at the University of Toronto. CN Tower image credit to interviewee.
The Grandparent Project: Inter-generational conversations about family, mobility and identity
Conducted in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, this project collected oral mobility histories from, between and within Asia and Canada. Students who worked on this project were encouraged to investigate mobility histories and practices within their own families as well as to reflect on how their own pathways are both similar and different from those of older generations. The project promoted self-reflection on the part of the student researcher and a context for new kinds of inter-generational conversations about the changing meanings of home, belonging, mobility, identity, diaspora, and citizenship for each generation in distinct contexts. By allowing family members to share their own life experiences and pathways, a clearer picture of the entangled trajectories of multiple generations emerged and formed the basis of analysis for student papers and projects. The final projects were published in the RCL-APRL magazine, Pathways.
CONTACT US
SHANNON GARDEN-SMITH
Research Coordinator, Asian Institute
ai.coordinator@utoronto.ca