“Though the process of learning first intimidated me,” says Gurman, “I have come to gain confidence in my abilities and trust in my own competency.”Īligning personal experience with academic interestīeing able to contribute to an academic project that leverages a student researcher’s own lived experiences can be especially inspiring and cathartic, especially in research fields that ask students to separate themselves from intellectual pursuits in the name of academic rigor. Murphy has thoroughly trained us in the technical skills that this project requires,” says Gurman, for whom the interviewing process “has now become second nature with extensive practice and preparation.” “Our responsibility is to make the interviewee feel comfortable and safe to share their journey with us.”įor Ravleen, having to transition to online interviews due to COVID-19 was especially challenging, “I personally rely on the energy in the room to be fully engaged in conversations and not having that has been difficult.”įortunately, participating in research projects like the Punjabi Oral History Project as students and first-time researchers also means having lots of room to grow. “I want to do justice to these individuals’ stories, and make sure they feel comfortable and confident with me as their interviewer,” Noor adds. “Undergraduate students don’t usually have the opportunity to conduct primary research too often,” says Gurman, “I had to deal with some feelings of imposter syndrome.” Learning new skillsĬonducting interviews can be tricky even for seasoned professionals, and it can be intimidating for students doing it for the first time. The students interviewed teachers, writers, students, and other community members closely connected with the language’s development in BC. They were also responsible for filming, framing, and editing interview recordings. The students gathered data through conducting interviews in Punjabi and English, initially in person, then over Zoom due to the pandemic.
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In other words, the project is “a storybook,” says Noor, full of the stories of individuals whose perspectives have not always been heard or recorded. The Oral History project aims to “focus on recording the stories of Punjabi Canadians who have contributed to the creation and development of Punjabi literature and Punjabi education in spaces such as Gurdwaras and Sikh Schools,” says Ravleen. The Punjabi Oral History Project is closely tied to HIST 475 Documenting Punjabi in Canada, a Term 2 course taught by Dr. We spoke with them to understand the importance of the Punjabi Oral History Project, and why participating in community-based research projects can be incredibly rewarding for undergraduate students, particularly those from underrepresented communities and communities of colour. Anne Murphy of the UBC Department of History, the project documents the history of the Punjabi language in BC, as well as the lives and activities of those who speak it.Īs the project’s undergraduate assistants, student researchers Ravleen Kaur, Gurman Dhaliwal, and Noor Sandhawalia have been crucial to the project’s success.
The Punjabi Oral History Project was founded to address the need for support for Punjabi language in British Columbia, and to further develop the growing program in Punjabi Studies at UBC. Despite the vibrant literary community, robust Punjabi-language media sources, and the increasing availability of Punjabi language classes including at UBC, there has also been a marked loss of the language among Punjabi youth. According to the 2016 Census, Punjabi is the third most common immigrant language spoken at home in British Columbia.