The York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) has launched a new website and is pursuing new research initiatives that focus on research and scholarship in Asia and Asian diasporas.
The saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and YCAR’s new website springs from that mindset.
YCAR had been considering a major update to its website in order to – among other things – align it better with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act standards, adopt York University visual branding and make it easier to navigate.
When the YCAR website was unfortunately hacked a few years ago, a challenging time led to an opportunity, as the centre seized the chance to create a fresh start for their web presence.
Among the key changes was addressing some elements that were missing from YCAR’s previous site. “The biggest things that were missing was the ability to easily find information regarding our associates, their projects and the centre’s latest research groups,” says Professor Shubhra Gururani, YCAR director, of the cumulative offerings of a community made up of 200 associate researchers and over 25 ongoing research projects that delve into a range of subjects regarding Asian society, culture, history, politics, economy and ecology.
Now, the new website has streamlined access to all of YCAR’s information – including access to news, events and funding opportunities.
YCAR’s revamped website also coincides with other new initiatives, notably a new research theme, which is focused on climate change in Asia. “The threat of climate change is impacting lives and livelihoods throughout Asia. In the western mediasphere especially, Asian countries’ struggles against climate change is often underreported, despite many countries, such as Philippines, India and Pakistan, facing a dire future in the near decades,” says Gururani.“Two seminars related to this topic last academic year, with guests speakers from institutions of other countries, really gave us the kick-start to shift this into second gear and gain more interest as we not only tackle the environmental side of things but also the cultural and political issues that are deeply interwoven within the countries.”
Its desire to encompass a broad cross-section of subjects pertaining to Asia also applies to a recent expansion of the regional and thematic research clusters that YCAR hosts. To date, those clusters include the Philippine Studies Group, Korea Studies (Korean Office for Research & Education), the South Asian Studies Group and the Southeast Asia Group. Now, it has added a new research cluster – the China Studies Group – which will host lectures and events in 2024-25.
Collectively, the new website, research theme and clusters represent YCAR’s efforts to continually advance its mandate. “With these new additions, we hope to better serve the community of York U and all those in Toronto who wishes to engage in interesting research topics relating to Asia” says Gururani, “and to raise more awareness of the many ongoing events concerning the many Asian countries and its diaspora.”