Food & Cultural Center, A New Model for Toronto's Shopping Center - A place for collective memories and un-heard stories of South Asian Immigrants & their future generations in Canada

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Date

2022-09-27

Authors

Gupta, Maulshree

Advisor

Rynnimeri, Val

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Publisher

University of Waterloo

Abstract

With the increase in global migration, the notion of cultural identity is now no longer attached to a single place or time and is a continuous process of re-making. This thesis investigates the role of art, craft, and food in preserving the cultural identity of South Asian Immigrants and their future generations in Canada. Building on the existing research on dissipating cultural identities of immigrants, this thesis documents the unheard stories of South Asian Immigrants and food recipes that remind them of home to create a passage of embracement. It focuses on the South Asian community settled in Thorncliffe Park, Toronto, known as the ‘Arrival City’. The thesis also envisions ways to collectively re-make their sociocultural identity through the medium of food, craft, and art, and create a place of opportunity. The research begins with collecting an archival collection of authentic recipes, stories, food traditions, and community initiatives as a medium to be seen and heard through storytelling platforms that will contribute to developing the un-heard narrative of this design-based thesis. This design-based thesis will take the steps toward creating a South Asian community recreational space in Thorncliffe Park, a source, and a resource to preserve their food traditions, and community-sensitive building language, and hence, create better revenue generation opportunities.

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Keywords

Immigration, Food, South Asian Culture, Identity reservation, Shopping center

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