Committing Sociology Symposium- Beyond Pain and Outrage: Understanding and Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Canada (original) (raw)
Related papers
Building solidarity: The founding of the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) black caucus
Canadian Review of Sociology, 2022
Blackness is a diasporic identity and exists globally in the power of community-building and organizing. Blackness transcends nationalism and internationalism with a strength derived from solidarity rooted in a shared social-political consciousness. Yet, despite the popularity of Black organizational spaces globally, the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) had no such group before 2020. Most mainstream Canadian scholarly associations did not have such a group either. Sociology, one of the disciplines charged with the theorization of race and ethnicity in society, had no collective voice for Black scholars in Canada. We changed that. We are building upon the work of Black sociologists W.E.B. du Bois, Ruth D. Peterson, C.L.R. James and that of Canadians such as Agnes Calliste, and Wilson Head. This essay presents the mandate for the CSA Black Caucus, its history and foundational moments, and its goals for the future of Black sociology in Canada. A series of national and international events have led to the creation of the CSA Black Caucus.
Pioneering Racism in Post-Racial Canada
In our conversations on racism, when we acknowledge the dozens of black youth slain in the streets of America, we must too acknowledge the hundreds of Canadian Indigenous women that are murdered and missing in the same breath. Aside from the emotional distress and physical removal of Aboriginal peoples, tar sands and the consequent environmental pollution they cause have led to the mass destruction of Aboriginal communities, promising nothing short of steadily climbing cancer rates. How can we as Canadians, who so proudly beat our chests upon hearing terms like “post-racial” and “multiculturalism”, wade through the ignorance which drowns our own people?
Awakening to White Privilege and Power in Canada
Policy Futures in Education, 2011
In this article two narratives are used to illustrate how self-awareness of ‘White’ as skin colour reveals associated subtle aspects of power and privilege and with that, an ethic of personal and professional responsibility. The narratives connect experience and action with the conceptual framework of a third, liminal space, demonstrating an opportunity for the respectful expression of multiple interpretations of experiences and thus, positive personal and institutional change. John Dewey's classic work and recent research and writing by scholars such as Melanie Bush, Paul Carr and Darren Lund, Benedicta Egbo, and Maxine Greene offer additional insight and directions for exploration. The conclusion of the article suggests that beyond the initial experience of awareness and reflection, an ethical response demands a presence and collaborative action. It is hoped that this research will provoke invitations for dialogue across and within boundaries that have been less visible.
"""Please hold the dates - Friday, 17 October to Sunday 19 October 2014 at the University of Alberta. We are setting up our digital profile and working on keynotes and plenary speakers.... We are delighted that confirmed RACE2014 speakers include: Sara Ahmed (Goldsmiths, U of London), Sirma Bilge (Université de Montréal), Jin K. Haritaworn (York University), Karma R. Chávez (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Gisèle Yasmeen, former VP (2007-14), partnerships of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada The RACE2014 conference will put a spotlight on Indigenous people and racialized scholars and scholarship, comparative settler colonialism, on new forms of racisms in an ostensibly colorbling and post-racial era; on difficult conversations, and on subaltern knowledges and decolonial praxis in the academy. We invite special memorial panels engaging the scholarship of: Patricia Monture, Geeta Chowdhry and Stuart Hall. Hold the dates, watch for the CFPs, and plan to be in Edmonton! In the meantime, enjoy the Smilebox retrospective on RACE2010 created by the talented RACE Network photographer Fatima Jaffer. Malinda S. Smith, University of Alberta 2014 Race Conference Convenor http://www.criticalracenetwork.com/
The Birth of a Nation in Canada: Black Protest and White Denialism across Canada's Color Lines
Film History, 2020
This study investigates how The Birth of a Nation’s Canadian exhibition and reception shaped Canada’s racial formation during a decisive period of nation building. The notoriously racist film took Canada by storm despite national mythologies founded on principles of equality and compassion. While Black Canadians grounded their protests against the film in patriotic ideals, white Canadians brandished those ideals as evidence of the protests’ redundancy. Analyzing historical discourse in mainstream newspapers, the Black press, trade publications, and censorship documents, I investigate how seemingly benevolent, Canadian modalities of racism enabled this white-supremacist film to triumph north of the border.
Ghosts and Shadows: A History of Racism in Canada
A history of racism reinforces discrimination and exploitation of racialized immigrants in general and African-Canadians in particular. My paper contends that historically institutionalized structures are the ideological fulcrum from which ongoing socio-economic inequalities derive and retain their legitimacy. Specifically, I argue that the historically institutionalized system of slavery and ensuing systemic structures of racial discrimination negatively influence the incorporation of racialized immigrants into the Canadian labour market. A historically racially segmented labour market continues to uphold colour coded social and economic hierarchies. Although Canada's point system ensures that immigrants are primarily selected on the basis of their skills and qualifications, many professionally trained and experienced racialized immigrants endure perpetual socio-economic constraints, characterized primarily by low-end, precarious forms of employment. While not intended to serve as an exhaustive chronology, this essay draws on three historical periods of Black migration and experience in Canada: the first spans early sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth-century, the second dates from the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, and the third extends from mid-twentieth century to the present. The following historical timeline traces the prevalence and enduring nature of systemic structures and substantiates Abigail suggestion that both "racism and a culture of hegemonic whiteness were and remain endemic to the Canadian state" (p. 6).