Fiana Kawane

Fiana Kawane is an interdisciplinary scholar, educator, dance artist, and choreographer working from the unsurrendered territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, known as Vancouver, BC.

In 2024-25, Fiana is a Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellow in the Humanities at Simon Fraser University, hosted by the Global Asia Program and affiliated with the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. She has taught interdisciplinary courses on literary and scholarly approaches to modern Asia and the Americas at the UBC Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice. She is currently affiliated with the UBC Centre for Migration Studies and the UBC Global History of Anticolonial Thought Cluster.

She has an MA in English from the University of Toronto and is completing a PhD in English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on global Anglophone literature, environmental humanities, and Asian migration. 

Fiana trained in Kathak at Kadamb in Ahmedabad, India, a leading institute for modern choreography. She has performed independently and ensemble across the globe. Her current practice is local, public-engaged, and committed to fostering long-term artistic and interdisciplinary collaborations. She is exploring labouring bodies, waterways, and unmastery in her site-specific choreographies. Her art practice has been supported by the Dance Centre, Dance Victoria, New Works, Dance West, and BC Culture Days to name a few.

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