University of Virginia student Asiya Malik (right) has been named a 2005 Canada-US Fulbright Fellow, a prestigious title reserved for a select few in Canada and the US. A doctoral student in anthropology, Malik will use her Fulbright award to research Canadian East African Asians and will conduct her research at York University.
Malik, who grew up as an Asian in Kenya, is keenly interested in how migrants define and perpetuate their East African Asian background in relation to other groups. As a Fulbright student, Malik will examine the ways in which marriage and kinship are central to the creation and reproduction of a distinctive East African Asian community in Toronto. Her project will involve research at the National Archives, followed by additional primary research in the East African Asian community in Toronto. With the support of York’s Department of Anthropology, Malik will immerse herself into the community in order to observe and interview members of the community, including religious and community leaders.
“A champion of diversity and opportunity, Ms. Malik represents everything positive about her generation and everything good about the Fulbright program,” said Michael Hawes, executive director of the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America.
“Asiya has already made important connections with the Muslim East African community here in Toronto,” said Prof. Naomi Adelson, Chair of York’s Department of Anthropology. “Expertise here at York University both in the Department of Anthropology and in our research centres (including the Canadian Centre of Excellence for Refugee and Immigration Studies) will provide Asiya welcome support with respect to her work on kinship, Islam, and north African Asian immigrants and refugees. We are delighted to have Ms. Malik in our midst and to be such an integral part of her research year.”
A contribution from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) contributes significantly to the ability of Canada-US Fulbright Program to support Malik in her studies.
Long regarded as the world’s premier academic exchange program, the Fulbright attracts exceptional scholars from more than 150 countries worldwide. Among the fastest growing of the bilateral exchanges is the Canada-US Fulbright Program.