Shared Dishes is a fourth-year, university-level capstone project developed from academic and primary research. The project began with the question, "How can immersive digital experiences help viewers understand acculturation in second-generation Asian-Canadians?"
Shared Dishes explores the Asian-Canadian perspectives of the development of cultural identities. Through surveys and interviews that deepen the understanding of the impacts of acculturation. Shared Dishes delves into the shared narratives by serving the experiences as impactful and thought-provoking immersive 3D design.
I hope to bring awareness to the issues of acculturation and create an open conversation among people within the Asian-Canadian community to help others explore struggles involved in identifying as multicultural. I think issues among the Asian-Canadian community are often overlooked because of the notion of being “model minorities,” which leads many young Asian-Canadians to believe that how they feel is invalid, and in turn, makes acculturation amongst Asian-Canadians “normal.”
I interviewed three individuals who are from the Asian-Canadian community and asked them the same set of questions. I listened to their different perspectives and found similarities in their experiences despite the difference in how they identify ethnically or culturally.
In these differences and similarities, I found unique narratives of experiences that define the Asian-Canadian experience. I delved into these narratives using immersive 3D design and audio clippings from the interviews.
Shared Dishes is the first step of trying to understand and define the experiences of the Asian-Canadian community. The results of Shared Dishes are in personal development. I have taken the first steps to explore my perspective and challenge what I think I know by having conversations with others who share similar experiences.
I hope to continue to have open and meaningful conversations with others in the Asian-Canadian community, allowing myself and others to learn more about ourselves through other's perspectives and experiences.
