Faculty of Art
Kaitlyn Lee is a second generation Chinese Canadian settler born and raised on the traditional unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her family has roots in Hong Kong and Indonesia. Taking an ACAM minor has enriched her degree in Sociology – connecting her learnings to local and diasporic histories as well as questions of cultural identity in Canada. After travelling to Asia through the ACAM 390A course in the summer of 2023, Kaitlyn became more involved in ACAM, including joining the ACAM staff team as a Multimedia producer for the ACAM Dialogues Podcast as well as a research assistant for UBC INSTRCC. Outside of school, Kaitlyn loves to cook, sketch & paint, thrift, and play cozy video games.
Why did you declare a minor in ACAM? What drew you to the program?
In 2021 and 2022, I was really interested in exploring storytelling through film and entered a filmmaking contest put on by the Vancouver Asian Film Festival with my brother. It was an incredible experience that not only allowed me to try my hand at writing and directing, but also connected me to the amazing Asian Canadian film community in Vancouver. It was through the community that I learned about ACAM, and was recommended several ACAM courses by former ACAM alum. From there, I took my first ACAM course – ACAM 300 taught by Dr. Laura Ishiguro – which uniquely explored why Asian Canadian histories matter in the context of settler colonialism, present-day anti-Asian racism, community resistance work, and more. It stood out to me because it grounded our learnings in real stories and local community work, which is the core of the ACAM program as a whole. After taking Laura’s class, I made the (easy) decision of declaring a minor in ACAM!
What connections and ideas were you able to foster through ACAM?
In the summer of 2023, I had the privilege of being part of the ACAM 390A Go Global Seminar Course taught by Dr. Henry Yu. Over a period of three weeks, a group of around 10 of us travelled to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore – exploring questions of cultural preservation, public space, and community building. This was one of the most unforgettable experiences from my time at UBC, and I was able to meet and learn with wonderful people.
