Belonging Matters
Videos and Case Studies
In these video testimonials and written case studies, marginalized students and faculty share what belonging truly means to them and what it feels like when it’s missing. Their stories offer honest insights into the challenges and hopes tied to creating inclusive classrooms and workplaces. As you engage with their experiences, consider how we can each help build environments where everyone feels seen, valued, and supported.
Being Part of the Circle – video
Reflection Questions
- How might unspoken assumptions or cultural references in networking settings unintentionally exclude others? What can you do to help create space for everyone to share their perspectives and feel valued?
- Think about a time when someone might have held back from participating in a group conversation. What subtle actions or behaviors could you use to help them feel more included and comfortable contributing?
Diversity is Our Strength – video
Reflection Questions
- What does it mean to create a space where people feel safe enough to bring their full selves and how can we actively contribute to building that kind of environment in our classrooms or workplaces?
- Dr. Candy Ho speaks about the courage to “get it wrong but willing to try again.” How can we shift our mindset to see mistakes in conversations about diversity and inclusion as opportunities for growth rather than something to avoid?
- When individuals feel they must hide parts of who they are to fit in, what do we as a community lose in terms of learning, innovation, and connection? How can we ensure that diverse perspectives are not only welcomed, but meaningfully valued?
I Don’t Feel at Home – video
Reflection Questions
What assumptions do we often make about people based on how they speak or if they take long pauses as shared in the video? What can you do to create spaces where international students and others who feel like outsiders are truly seen, heard, and supported without judgment?
Looks are more powerful than word – video
Reflection Questions
- Can you relate to Wajeeha’s words that “looks are more powerful than words and they say a lot more than what is truly said? She shares that someone’s body language or tone changes based on seeing her outward appearance. How might someone’s appearance such as race, clothing, or expression affect how they’re perceived or treated, and what can we do to ensure people feel genuinely included without feeling pressure to change who they are?
Brown Girls – Naaz’s story – poem
Naaz Sidhu graduated from KPU with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology. She is currently pursuing a Masters at the University of Glasgow exploring global migration and social justice. Naaz has been poet for eight years and uses art and academia in the pursuit for social justice and awareness.
Brown Girls by Naaz Sidhu
Click here to listen to Naaz narrate:
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins the second the doctor says, “It’s a girl’
My ami never told me that
I suppose there are some things that you have to learn on your own.
It took me a while to realize I was different, it wasn’t until I was grown but when I did,
I was never able to understand why my skin colour was only considered beautiful on a white body.
So I started to shower a little longer than necessary, hoping to wash away, not the colour, but the hate. The hate that they seemed to create.
the hate that I seem to create.
I’ve never been one to relate too
always been too white for the brown kids, too Brown for the whites. I came to a point where I didn’t really know what’s wrong or right, I don’t even know where I stand.
Can’t stand in front of a mirror, I can’t stand the way I look.
“Appne zindage vitch sakoon lehka ah Naaz, then only will you see true beauty”
my mother would tell me
When I define beauty, I define my mother. The beauty of the mind, heart, and soul, strong and resilient. She left everything behind in the Name of Love.
Came to a foreign place, the promised land they called it. A place to grow, herself and a family.
Stolen land that we would call home.
In this place, they fear those who are Divergent.
Fear works in mysterious ways, it’s crazy how something as simple as my skin, my culture, my higher power are be seen as something that was tied to violence and evil. Each thing that had brought me serenity, was looked at in such hatred by outsiders. To the world, my skin, the chunni on my mother’s head, prayer beads that dance in my Beeji’s fingers and dua I called to Khuda have always been seen as an act of War.
how are we are war? when one side is completely unarmed.
In biology, we are taught that snakes and spiders have spots and vibrant bodies if they are poisonous. In other words, in this dunya being of colour means danger, warning, ‘do not touch’.
Stay in fears of those of colour,
my skin and culture were plastered out in the world to be; A permanent warning sign
Young women of colour are constantly looking for a lighthouse as if we are lost fishing in troubled waters. Unable to see we are the lighthouse
An ultraviolet ray of power, potential, and promise, our colour is not a warning; it is a welcome
I was ashamed of my skin not knowing this was a fortune inherited from my ancestors People from a land of five rivers that run in the earth like fire
For them, I carry lineage on my backbone and history on my hips My curly hair, a crown for those whose privilege was striped away between the borders of two countries that were once one
For them, I carry pride in each breath, in each step I take
I will not wash away the melanin that drips from my skin like milk n’ honey,
My women are Warriors, we are lovers and fighters
We will always fight for what we love. And that starts with ourselves.
Reflection Questions
- How does the experience of being “too white for the brown kids, too brown for the whites” reflect the complexities of identity and belonging—and how can we create spaces where people don’t feel pressured to choose or justify who they are?
- What role do cultural symbols—like prayer beads, traditional clothing, language, and skin tone—play in shaping one’s sense of belonging, and how can educators honour these expressions rather than treat them as “other”?
- How can we shift the narrative from seeing difference as danger to recognizing it as beauty, strength, and history—and what actions can we take to make our classrooms and campuses places of welcome rather than warning?
Mina’s Story – an educator’s perspective
Mina’s Story
Hindu.
Paki.
Go home.
Go back where you came from.
Where are you from?
Why is your skin that color?
Are you going to have to marry a stranger?
Does your family eat meat?
Do your parents hate you because you’re a girl?
Why can’t you speak your own language?
Why are all your friends white?
Brown kids aren’t good enough for you?
White washed.
Coconut.
Token.
Don’t play the gender card Mina.
Don’t play the race card Mina.
Difficult.
Rude.
Problematic.
It’s January 20, 2024. I’ve spent hours trying to build a presentation slide deck for an upcoming doctoral presentation, and this particular slide has me feeling all kinds of feelings.
First there’s the adorable picture of me circa 1984 that looks so much like both my boys when they were about toddler aged. I love her soft smile and the big, curious eyes that probably saw the world around her as a place of wonder. I imagine what it must have been like for her before she experienced racism for the first time.
As I begin to write my story, the words that pour out of me are hard to read, and I find my vision blurring. Hot tears flow down my cheeks as quickly as the words appear on my laptop. I feel like both have been released from a tightly sealed vault, I can’t stop them now. You see, these tears and words reflect my experience of being too brown as a child, too white as a teen, confused as a young adult, and too difficult when I finally found the words to talk about my lived experiences of racism as a second-generation, South Asian, Canadian woman. Being born brown in a white dominant Canada marked me as an ‘other’ long before I had a chance to be anyone else.
There are thousands of stories like mine waiting to be shared. And like me, Canadian-born, South Asian women have held their stories close to their hearts. For some these stories remain untold due to the fear of ripping open old wounds, fear of judgement and fear of being looked upon as victims. For others, these stories are buried so deep within us, that it will take incredible courage to look within and begin to explore the ways in which racism shaped our lives as brown-skinned Canadians.
Audre Lorde (2012) wrote “While we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.” Perhaps through sharing my story I might inspire others to find their voices and join me in the healing journey ahead.
Why does my story matter?
As educators, we hold the incredible opportunity to help students be seen, and heard. Sometimes the classroom is the first place where students from diverse lived experiences gain the platform to share their stories. The formidable bell hooks taught us that the classroom as we know it was not designed for or by the diverse learners and educators who occupy academic spaces today. However, hooks writes that the classroom remains a place for hope, a place where educators and students together can write a new way of learning together. In sharing my story, I invite educators and students to turn inwards and reflect upon their journey, and on the incredible opportunity to reshape the classroom and workplaces.
Mina is a proud 2008 KPU alumni, and a current faculty member in the KPU Melville School of Business, teaching in the Human Resources Management faculty. Mina holds a Master of Arts in Leadership studies and is currently a doctoral student at Royal Roads University. Mina’s doctoral work is focused on exploring the stories of workplace inclusion and belonging for Canadian-born, South Asian women.
Inclusive Communities and Courses – video
“The sense of community and being accepted by your community is what makes you feel like a person. That sense of not being a person comes from either not feeling like you have a community or having a community that actively pushes you out and others you which is like the worst feeling in the world”
Reflection Questions
After watching this interview clip, consider the role that belonging plays in shaping our experiences in learning and working spaces and what happens when that sense of belonging is denied.
- What does “community” mean to you, and how have you experienced it – or the absence of it – in your academic or professional life? How did it impact your sense of self or participation?
- Why is it important for institutions like universities or workplaces to actively create and support spaces for equity, diversity, and inclusion? What role do student clubs, EDI committees, or peer networks play in this?
- What are the subtle or overt ways a community might unintentionally push someone out or make them feel “othered”? Have you ever witnessed this and what could have been done differently?
- How can you personally contribute to creating a more welcoming and affirming community in your classroom, club, or workplace? What small or large actions can make a meaningful difference?
Media Attributions
- Naaz © Naaz Sidhu is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license
- Mina © Mina is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license
