“As a pan-ethnic and pan-national noun or racial adjective, Blackness at one level speaks of the affirmation and acknowledgment of Black and African people’s lives, cultures, and histories.... Blackness speaks also of the courage to resist/combat racism for self and others, to confront fear, to name their betrayal as a betrayal of humanity, and to aspire for what ought to be.”1 Professor Dei’s question and elaboration is an apt starting point for our thinking about this year’s Black History Month here at the Faculty of Education. Black excellence, achievements, and contributions, as well as historical and contemporary injustices and resistances, will all be part of conversations happening during February. We invite members of the University community and the public to join us for this month-long exchange of ideas and celebration of the Black diaspora in Canada and beyond. Reserve your place for these events today.
February 9 | 5:30 - 7:00 PM | LMX 203
An anti-racist and decolonial conversation
A panel discussion on the state of the art on anti-racism and de/post/anti-colonialism with Faculty of Education professors Tricia McGuire-Adams, Timothy Stanley, Phyllis Dalley and Lerona Dana Lewis. This event is hosted by Professor Awad Ibrahim, holder of the Air Canada Professorship on Anti-Racism.
February 14 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM | FSS 4007
APUO Panel Discussion: Racism, Anti-Racism, and the Role of Unions
This event, hosted by the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO), will feature presentations by Professor Awad Ibrahim, holder of the Air Canada Professorship on Anti-Racism, and Professor Gertrude Mianda, from York University. Register by February 2nd.
February 15 | 12:30 - 13:30 PM | LMX 203
We keep telling them, but do they listen? Anti-Black racism in education from kindergarten to university
Professor Lerona Dana Lewis, along with graduate researchers and the Teacher Candidates of Colour Collective, will host this round-table discussion led by Karine Coen-Sanchez, doctoral candidate in sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences.
February 16 | 12:30 - 1:30 PM | LMX 203 & Zoom
June Girvan, founder of the J’Nikira Dinqinesh Education Centre (JDEC), Arley N. Salimbi Gill, Chairman of the Grenada National Reparations Committee and Lerona Dana Lewis, professor in the Faculty of Education, will discuss the association between slavery and colonisation in the Caribbean and Canada.
February 16 | 5:30 - 7:00 PM | LMX 203
The legacies of colonisation will be the focus of this event, organized by Professor Lerona Dana Lewis, along with graduate researchers and the Teacher Candidates of Colour Collective. Arley N. Salimbi Gill, Chairman of the Grenada National Reparations Committee, will present the work of the CARICOM Reparations Committee.
February 21 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Online
Anti-racism - What everyone should know about it
We have all heard about anti-racism. But what is it? Do we have a comprehensive definition of it? The presentation is an answer to this question. It will speak to what Professor Awad Ibrahim would call "basic principles of anti-racism" and link these principles to medicine, especially the doctor-patient relationship. This event is hosted by the Faculty of Medicine.
February 23 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM | Zoom
Black History Month, yes but what’s next?
Join the members of Les Chantiers d’actions et de recherches pour des Ffrancophonies inclusives(CARFfI) for this discussion organized by le Groupe d'action contre le racisme antinoirEs (GaCran) on rethinking Black History Month; featuring Faculty of Education speakers Jacques Touré, Director of the Formation à l’enseignement program, and Awad Ibrahim, holder of the Air Canada Professorship on Anti-racism.
February 27 | 5:30 - 7:00 PM | MRT 219
Speakers Donatille Mujawamariya, Nathalie Sirois, Elie Ndala, and Amal Boultif will engage broad questions on diversity and la Francophonie Canadienne.
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1 George J. Sefa Dei, “Commentary on Part One: Why the Study of Blackness Is Critical at This Historical Juncture,” in Nuances of blackness in the Canadian academy: teaching, learning, and researching while Black, ed. Awad Ibrahim, Tamari Kitossa, Malinda S. Smith and Handel K. Wright (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022), 17.