York University Lauded for New Programs and Research in Black Studies

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: York University   Senator Wanda Elaine Thomas Bernard speaking at the launch of new programs and research in Black Studies at York University

Senator Wanda Elaine Thomas Bernard, one of the two black independent members in the Senate of Canada, says the fact that York University now has a program of Black Studies, which is pan-university in its approach, signals the significance and importance of this work.

The senator, who was the first Black Canadian to have an academic tenure position and become a full professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said in the 40-plus years that she was a student in university it is something that she “hoped for, worked and prayed for to have Black Studies research, scholarship and teaching in Black Studies seriously taken up by universities.”

She was speaking at the launch of -- the Black Canadian Studies Certificate Program, Black Studies and Theories of Race and Racism Graduate Stream, Black Child and Youth Studies Network, Network for the Advancement of Black Communities, and the Jean Augustine, Inez Elliston, and Beverley Salmon library fonds – at the university on October 18.

“To have our place in this country clearly identified by what you’re doing here it’s a signal, it’s a signal to the rest of the country,” Senator Bernard said, noting that she hopes that it also opens up opportunities for faculty.

“We have far too many educated professionals in our community, in the African Canadian community, who don’t have full time faculty positions. PhD-credential people who don’t have full time positions – that shouldn’t be, that shouldn’t be the case in this country. Programs like this create more opportunities for faculty members who want to teach in this area.”

Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor, said she was impressed by the uniqueness in many ways of what was being accomplished in the programs, “in terms of elevating Black Studies to a pan-university approach, not isolating Black Studies just in one particular department but really bringing together faculties from across the whole university.”

“I was impressed by the responsiveness to the student advocacy for having programs that reflected their lived experience, and so how within that context and within Canada how can we reflect on historical, social, cultural evidence and data within that context of Canada.”

 Lenton said she was also impressed by the way in which the programs are so embedded in the community.

“The program to bring together multiple universities across Ontario in creating a hub for research but there is such a strong commitment there to working with the communities that we serve, to working with black scholars, being responsive to our students, listening to those different groups and bringing them together in these programs and really creating and… reestablishing your work as a leader in the area of Black Studies,” she said.

Andrea Davis, a Jamaican and chair of the Department of Humanities, thanked Leslie Sanders who has mentored, supervised and guided most of them in the humanities, and who has worked in Black Studies, not only at York but across Canada.

The Black Canadian Studies Certificate launched in September and Davis said it is a seminal achievement but well overdue.

“It emerges from conversations and advocacy going back many years to the creation of a Centre for the Study of Black Cultures in Canada, co-founded by Leslie Sanders and Rinaldo Walcott in 2002.”

She said more recently student advocacy for a more diverse curriculum “provided the context for us to re-energize this vision.”

Photo credit: York University    Andrea Davis, Chair of the Department of Humanities, York University, left, and Christina Sharpe, Professor of African Diaspora Studies, Humanities, York University

The Black Canadian Studies Certificate provides an integrated examination of the historical, cultural and various expressive productions of people of African descent in the Americas through the lens of Black Canada and four specific humanities and fine arts approaches: cultural studies, history, literature and music.

Davis said the certificate is currently limited to students enrolled in degree programs at York and she has been getting many emails from other people who are interested in enrolling.

“So we are already working to expand it to include both a direct entry option and a major and minor.”

The Black Studies and Theories of Race and Racism Graduate Stream, also launched in September, is meant to prepare students to develop innovative scholarships that explores and analyzes the contributions of black intellectual, political and cultural productions nationally and internationally.

The Black Child and Youth Studies Network, led by the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora, brings together faculty and post-doctoral fellows from five Ontario universities: York, McMaster, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa and University of Windsor.

It is supported by the Ministry of Universities, Colleges and Training and the Ministry of Education.

The Network for the Advancement of Black Communities, also housed in the Jean Augustine Chair, serves as a coordinating entity for initiatives and programs providing services for children, youth and families. 

Funded by the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, the network coordinates and aligns programs and initiatives that address disparities in graduation rates, postsecondary education participation and youth employment.

In 2007, Jean Augustine donated her personal records to the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections at York University chronicling her four decades of public service and advocacy in women’s rights, urban education and with black youth.

The library recently extended its special collections to include the Inez Elliston and Beverley Salmon fonds.

“Together these five programs and initiatives signal York’s importance as a leader in Black Canadian Studies, both in research concentration and in the education of a new generation of scholars and graduates who can respond thoughtfully and purposefully to the rapidly changing world in which we live and ask critical questions to find bold solutions for the social and political problems of our time.”

The keynote lecture entitled “Still Here” was presented by Christina Sharpe, professor of African Diaspora Studies, Humanities at York University.

[Correction: An earlier version of this story noted that Senator Bernard is now the only black senator in the Senate of Canada. Senator Marie-Francoise Megie of Quebec, who was born in Haiti, was appointed an independent member by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Nov. 2, 2016. I regret the error.
This story was published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, Nov. 1-7, 2018.]