Below the Radar

SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement

Amplifying ideas that fly below the radar. We talk environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues with featured guests. This podcast is produced by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement as a part of our Knowledge Democracy Project @ 312 Main — encouraging the meaningful exchange of ideas and information across communities. Hosted and currently produced by: Am Johal Joey Malbon Julia Aoki Kathy Feng Samantha Walters Visit our website for archived audio and video recordings of our public events: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/library.html

  1. John Price

    Jun 19

    John Price

    In this episode, we are joined by Professor John Price (University of Victoria), who leads the Canada–China Focus project. We discuss how Canada–China relations are debated in ways that can intensify anti-Asian racism and Sinophobia, and how Canada–China Focus works to reframe public conversation. We use Price’s submission to the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference as a stand-alone case to think through how “security” discourse can produce racialized harm, and we close by reflecting on what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January 2026 visit to Beijing signals for the next phase of Canada–China relations—and what short- and long-term work is needed to sustain anti-racist public awareness alongside serious foreign-policy debate. Resources: John Price: https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/globalstudies/people/associate-fellows/pricejohn.php Canada-China Focus: https://www.canadachinafocus.ca/ Submission to the Honourable Marie-Josée Hogue, Commissioner of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.: https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/ccf/wp-content/uploads/sites/6776/2024/08/Hogue-Commission-JP.pdf Bio: John Price is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Studies. He retired in 2018 after teaching history at UVic for twenty-one years. He retains an active research and writing program, however, with special focus on Canada-China relations and Indigenous-settler relations in the Pacific Northwest. With faculty members Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton (HSD) and Christine O’Bonsawin (History), he was recently awarded a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant to promote Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with the environmental organization, Dogwood. His historical research spans the history of Japan, transpacific migrations, Asian Canadian histories, and Indigenous-Settler relations in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of Japan Works: Power and Paradox in Postwar Industrial Relations (Cornell, 1997), Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific (2011), and, with Ningping Yu, the biography A Woman in Between: Searching for Dr. Victoria Chung (2019). He is a co-author of the recent Challenging Racist “British Columbia”: 150 Years and Counting (2021) and co-editor of a special volume of BC Studies: Unsettling the Islands: Race, Indigeneity, and the Transpacific (204, Winter 2019/20). He is a founding member of Canada-China Focus and has recently published a series on Canada-China relations and another on Canada-US militarization of the Pacific. When not in the library or writing at home in Vancouver, he is looking after his three grandchildren, or on bike trips with his partner of forty-six years, Margaret McGregor.

    42 min
  2. Henry Yu

    Jun 19

    Henry Yu

    In this episode, we are joined by Professor Henry Yu from University of British Columbia. We discuss Vancouver’s Chinatown as a living archive of anti-Asian racism, and what it reveals about the persistence of racism after the acute pandemic period. We also use Yu’s essay “The white elephant in the room” to reflect on why naming white supremacy matters, and what coalition-building—including national forums on anti-Asian racism—can and cannot accomplish. Resources: Henry Yu: https://acam.arts.ubc.ca/henry-yu/ The white elephant in the room: anti-Asian racism in Canada: https://beyond.ubc.ca/henry-yu-white-elephant/ Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and Exoticism in Modern America: https://academic.oup.com/book/47996 Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia: http://www.cchsbc.ca/ Chinatown Reimagined: https://www.chinatownreimagined.ca/ Bio: Professor Henry Yu was born in Vancouver, B.C., and grew up in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. He received his BA in Honours History from UBC and an MA and PhD in History from Princeton University. After teaching at UCLA for a decade, Yu returned to UBC as an Associate Professor of History to help build programs focused on trans-Pacific Canada. Yu himself is both a second and fourth generation Canadian. His parents were first generation immigrants from China, joining a grandfather who had spent almost his entire life in Canada. His great-grandfather was also an early Chinese pioneer in British Columbia, part of a larger networks of migrants who left Zhongshan county in Guangdong province in South China and settled around the Pacific in places such as Australia, New Zealand, Hawai’i, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada. Prof. Yu’s book, Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and Exoticism in Modern America (Oxford University Press, 2001) won the Norris and Carol Hundley Prize as the Most Distinguished Book of 2001, and he is currently working on a book entitled How Tiger Woods Lost His Stripes: Finding Ourselves in History. Currently, he is the Director of the Initiative for Student Teaching and Research on Chinese Canadians (INSTRCC) and the Principal of St. John’s College at UBC, as well as a Board Member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC).

    1h 14m
  3. Evaluating Community Engagement — with Lauren Wendling

    Mar 10

    Evaluating Community Engagement — with Lauren Wendling

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Lauren Wendling, Director of Institutional Success at Collaboratory. Together, they chat about community engagement in higher education, how she got involved in the work, and the evaluation and evolution of the field. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-lauren-wendling.html Resources: Collaboratory: https://cecollaboratory.com/ Carnegie Classification: https://cecollaboratory.com/carnegie/ Lauren’s website: https://laurenwendling.wixsite.com/laurenwendling Bio: Dr. Lauren A. Wendling is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on integrating community engagement, institutional policy, and data to drive cultural change in higher education. In her role at Collaboratory, she guides institutions in capturing and utilizing engagement data to inform assessment, institutional decision-making, and the broader institutionalization of community-engaged scholarship. Prior to joining Collaboratory, Lauren worked within the IU Indianapolis Office of Community Engagement, where she built structures to track collective impact and improve campus-wide reporting. Her scholarship focuses on the institutionalization of community engagement and the evaluation of faculty work across diverse campus contexts. Lauren earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University Bloomington, with a focus on urban education. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Evaluating Community Engagement — with Lauren Wendling.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 9, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-lauren-wendling.html.

    40 min
  4. I Am My Mother's Daughter — with Farheen Haq

    Feb 17

    I Am My Mother's Daughter — with Farheen Haq

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Farheen Haq, an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, textile, installation and performance to explore personal, familial, cultural and political reconciliations. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/farheen-haq Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/farheen-haq Resources: Farheen Haq: https://www.farheenhaq.com/ Hamara Badan: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/rhb-2/ Feast: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/feast/ Silsila: https://www.farheenhaq.com/#/silsila/ Bio: Farheen Haq (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working on unceded Lekwungen territory (Victoria, BC). She was born and raised on Haudenosanee territory (Niagara region, Ontario) amongst a tight-knit Muslim community. Her family roots are from Bihar, India and Karachi, Pakistan. Farheen works with video, textile, installation and performance to explore personal, familial, cultural and political reconciliations. Farheen’s current work is focused on the teachings of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb and how it can be applied to settler-Indigenous relationships on Turtle Island through culture making and ceremony. She has exhibited her work in galleries and festivals throughout Canada and internationally including New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, Lahore, Hungary, and Romania. Recent exhibitions include I am my mother’s daughter at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2023) and The Reach Gallery, Abbotsford (2024), Sentirse en Casa at Casa Cultura Gallery, Medellin Colombia (2018), Being Home at the Comox Valley Art Gallery (2015), Fashionality at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2012), Collected Resonance at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (2011), The Emperor’s New Clothes at the Talwar Gallery, New York (2009), and Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Miami (2008). Farheen received her BA in International Development (1998) from the University of Toronto, her BEd (2000) from the University of Ottawa and her MFA in Visual Arts (2005) from York University. In 2014, Farheen was nominated for Canada’s pre-eminent Sobey Art Award. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “I Am My Mother's Daughter — with Farheen Haq” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, February 16, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-farheen-haq.

    46 min
  5. What’s Fear Got To Do With It? — with Ivana Filipovich

    Feb 2

    What’s Fear Got To Do With It? — with Ivana Filipovich

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Ivana Filipovich, a Serbian-Canadian artist with a background in educational media, architecture, archaeology and design. We discuss her journey as an artist and her first graphic novel ‘What’s Fear Got To Do With It?’ Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich Resources: Ivana Filipovich: https://www.ivanafilipovich.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio What’s Fear Got To Do With It?: https://conundrumpress.com/product/whats-fear-got-to-do-with-it/ Bio: In 1999, Ivana Filipović/Ivana Filipovich/Ивана Филиповић, an architect, archaeologist, designer, cartoonist, and occasional procrastinator, became a literal escape artist, selling her beloved black lacquer piano for a one-way ticket to Vancouver. After a 20-year hiatus, during which she worked in educational media and communications at a Canadian university, she returned to cartooning. In the last few years, her comics were published in Sweden, Slovenia, and Serbia and were exhibited at the French Institute (L’Institut français) galleries in Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, and at the NOVA comic arts festival in Serbia. Deeply interested in psychology, her work aims predominantly to portray complex female characters and other underrepresented persons and groups. Mainly focused on slice-of-life stories, she occasionally ventures into other genres. Stylistically close to French and Italian cartooning, she uses both traditional and digital tools. Most recently, the Canada Council for the Arts has supported her exploration of 3D storyboarding. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “What’s Fear Got To Do With It? — with Ivana Filipovich” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, Feb 2, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-ivana-filipovich

    38 min
  6. Lost Days, Endless Nights — with Andrew Witt

    Jan 26

    Lost Days, Endless Nights — with Andrew Witt

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Andrew Witt, an art historian and critic who writes on contemporary art. We discuss Andrew’s new work Lost Days, Endless Nights, a critical study and artist's book on the history of photography and film from Los Angeles. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-andrew-witt Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-andrew-witt Resources: Andrew Witt: https://www.ici-berlin.org/people/witt/ Lost Days, Endless Nights: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049078/lost-days-endless-nights/ Bio: Andrew Witt is an art historian and critic who writes on contemporary art. He is currently the 2025–2026 PERICULUM Foundation for Contemporary Art Discourse Fellow. His book "Lost Days, Endless Nights: Photography and Film from Los Angeles" was recently published by MIT Press (2025). Andrew's writing has appeared in Camera Austria, History of Photography, Momus, Oxford Art Journal and Philosophy of Photography. Witt completed his PhD at University College London in 2017 and his MA at UCL in 2010. From 2018 to 2022 he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Lost Days, Endless Nights — with Andrew Witt” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 26, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-andrew-witt.

    31 min
  7. Of Memory and Association — with Philip Hoffman

    Jan 26

    Of Memory and Association — with Philip Hoffman

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, we’re joined by Philip Hoffman, a renowned experimental filmmaker. We discuss his journey as an artist, founding the Film Farm, and what it means to work with a focus on process and memory. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman Resources: Philip Hoffman: https://philiphoffman.ca/ Philip’s Films: https://philiphoffman.ca/filmography/ Film Farm: ​​https://philiphoffman.ca/film-farm/ Bio: Philip Hoffman has been making art and film for more than 40 years. His recent work explores plant processing of motion picture film. vulture (2019) received the Kodak Cinematic Award from Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Fugas Award at Documenta Madrid. Deep 1 received a Jury Award at Ann Arbor. He has been honored with more than a dozen retrospectives of his work, and the publication Landscape with Shipwreck: First Person Cinema and the Films of Philip Hoffman, comprising some 25 essays by academics and artists. In 2016 Hoffman was awarded the Governor General Award in Media Arts. He currently teaches Process Cinema in York University's MFA in Cinema and Media Arts. philiphoffman.ca Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Of Memory and Association — with Philip Hoffman” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 26, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-philip-hoffman.

    40 min
  8. No More Loopholes Act — with Kelsey Gallagher

    Jan 13

    No More Loopholes Act — with Kelsey Gallagher

    On this episode of the Below the Radar B-Sides, our host Am Johal is joined by Kelsey Gallagher, Senior Researcher with Project Ploughshares. They chat about Kelsey’s work with Ploughshares on Canadian arms export control policies, and Bill C-233, or the No More Loopholes Act. Bill C-233 is a private member’s bill put forward by MP Jenny Kwan to press Canada to abide by the Arms Trade Treaty that it signed in 2019. It is set to be voted on in Parliament at Second Reading in late-February 2026. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-kelsey-gallagher.html Resources: Kelsey Gallagher's work with Ploughshares: https://ploughshares.ca/author/kelsey-gallagher/ Ploughshares Report on Bill C-233: https://ploughshares.ca/situating-bill-c-233-within-canadas-arms-control-framework/ Parliamentary Petition on No More Loopholes Act: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6808&fbclid=IwY2xjawPSRrFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFKNndhNE1pV0tKTVhCQlRKc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHox9BGh-D98cXXqyy823e2-_3ehTWtk_u1bHQNbpF4E0PwvdRYLwV5BT2on__aem_1GUchewA_DmcwDwE2Gp0Iw Public Forum on January 30, 2026: https://events.sfu.ca/event/47169-the-no-more-loopholes-act-cleaning-up-the-canadian Bio: Kelsey Gallagher is a Senior Researcher with Project Ploughshares, where he focuses on conventional arms controls and the Canadian arms trade. He monitors exports of conventional weapons and their use in conflict abroad, as well as export control policy and transparency. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “No More Loopholes Act — with Kelsey Gallagher.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 12, 2026. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/btr-bsides-kelsey-gallagher.html.

    38 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Amplifying ideas that fly below the radar. We talk environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues with featured guests. This podcast is produced by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement as a part of our Knowledge Democracy Project @ 312 Main — encouraging the meaningful exchange of ideas and information across communities. Hosted and currently produced by: Am Johal Joey Malbon Julia Aoki Kathy Feng Samantha Walters Visit our website for archived audio and video recordings of our public events: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/library.html

Information

  • Creator
    SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    301
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Below the Radar

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