KPU students awarded for their work in exploring greater equity and justice

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University students and faculty gathered for an afternoon of celebration on Oct. 1 to announce the winners of the English department’s third annual Intersectional Social Justice Essay Awards, an opportunity for students to work towards equity and justice. 

Ashlyn Figueras won the first-year prize for the essay “The May Voices of Home Fire,” which analyzes Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire and discusses the challenges British Muslims face in the days following a terrorist attack. 

In the second and third-year category, Kai Barcellos Luna was one of the winners for their essay “The Human Bridge From Slavery to Freedom: Nalo Hopkinson’s Critical Hope for Utopia in Midnight Robber,” which discusses how social justice must be faced for real social progress to happen. 

“Social justice issues are very dear to me. They give me an understanding of not only my place  in my workforce … but also my own identity as a Brazilian international student here in Canada,” they said. 

Swann Tsai was the other winner in the second and third-year category for her video essay “Body: Gender Performativity and Dance as Performance Art,” which delves into how dances from marginalized communities can challenge and free the body from gender-conforming expectations. 

In the fourth-year category, Ian Frayne was the winner for his essay “An Indigenous Perspective in the Anthropocene: A Spiralic Essay on Time,” which highlights how the continual reference to past Indigenous generations and the awareness of generations to come is essential to Truth and Reconciliation.  

“Social justice is really something that needs to be taken to the systemic level, something that can be taken as a personal journey and a public journey,” he said. 

Students Destiny Lang, Jaydene Van Eaton, and Anna Aalhus received honourable mentions. The winners and those with honourable mentions all received a $100 gift card for the KPU bookstore. Award winners also received $250 in prize money. Funding for the awards came from KPU’s Office of Vice President Equity and Inclusive Communities and the Office of Vice President External Affairs. 

Frayne received a research internship to work with Asma Sayed, vice-president of equity and inclusive communities at KPU and Canadian Research Chair in South Asian Literary and Cultural Studies, who helped develop the Intersectional Social Justice Essay Awards alongside faculty in the English department. 

“Each year, students come up with brilliant ideas. It’s amazing to see how … dedicated our students are to some of this work that they do here at KPU,” Sayed said. 

Tsai also received an internship from Jennifer Hardwick, the chair of policy studies at KPU, to work on the Indigenous Arts Project, which explores how Indigenous burlesque can play a part in First Nations’ knowledges and experiences. 

As a dancer herself, Tsai says the internship fits in with her essay’s focus on gender performance and “being able to manipulate gender and your identity, and break through that barrier.” 

For Tsai, making an essay in video form allowed her to use her artistry in a way that was authentic to the dance culture she’s part of. She drew inspiration from the Vancouver dance community for her essay, featuring them and their talent in her project. 

“I feel very grateful to be able to do [this project],” she says. “I’m very much about space, [recognizing] the space that I have, and being able to have the chance to dance, move my body, and share it with people.”