PRESENTERS

Get to know our keynotes and roundtable speakers, their interest, and their presentations

Keynotes Speakers

Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika
University of Alberta | Professor, Faculty of Arts - Women & Gender Studies

Dr. Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika is a full professor in Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Alberta. She is also Director of the $2.5 million SSHRC-funded Partnership on Research with African Newcomers and the Pan African Collaboration for Excellence (PACE), and the co-lead, Central Region, for the federal government’s $5 million Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub BEKH). Her research spans transnational, post-colonial, and intersectional feminist theories, and community-based participatory methodologies, and investigates gender and international migration, and gender and development in Africa. Among many awards, Dr. Okeke-Ihejirika is a Killam scholar, Carnegie fellow, a founding member of the College of Mentors for African Universities, and a collaborating researcher with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Joseph Mensah
York University |
Professor of Geography

Dr. Joseph Mensah is a Professor of Geography at York University, and a former Associate Director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migration of African Peoples at York University. His research focuses on globalization and culture; race, gender, and employment; and African development. Best known among his publications is his Black Canadians: History, Experience, and Social Conditions (Fernwood, 2002, with second edition in 2010). Originally from Ghana, Dr. Mensah is a founding member of the University of Ghana Pan African Doctoral Academy (PADA). Among many competitive awards and grants, Dr. Mensah was the recipient of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa’s (CODESRIA) Inaugural Diaspora Visiting Professor Fellowship at the University of Ghana.

Sophie Yohani
University of Alberta | Psychologist and Professor of Counselling Psychology

Dr. Sophie Yohani is a psychologist and professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Alberta. Her research and clinical interests are in critical multicultural issues in counselling psychology, participatory research methods, innovations in community-based mental health practice, and the intersections of migration and mental health. She is former co-director of the Division of Clinical Services at the University of Alberta, and has served as an expert consultant for non-profit and public sectors. Dr. Yohani is originally from Tanzania and held an adjunct visiting professorship at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania. Dr. Yohani is the recipient of the University of Alberta’s Killam Annual Professorship (2021) and Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (EMCN)’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2016), recognizing the achievement and contributions of an immigrant in education and health in Alberta.

Plenary:
"The Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (PRAN): Putting decolonization into practice"
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 09:15am - Maple Leaf Room

Using PRAN as a case study of decolonization, this keynote roundtable will explore the ways in which our multidisciplinary, intersectoral research partnership is using community-based, participatory research to challenge and remedy prevailing gaps and ill-fitting concepts in theory, research, policy, and practice related to newcomers to Canada from sub-Saharan Africa.

Awad Ibrahim
University of Ottawa | Professor. Vice-Provost, Equity, Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Holder, Air Canada Professorship on Anti-Racism 

Awad Ibrahim is full professor, Vice-Provost, Equity, Diversity and Inclusive Excellence and holder of the Air Canada Professorship on Anti-Racism in the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa (Canada). He is a curriculum theorist with special interest in cultural studies, Hip-Hop, youth and Black popular culture, social foundations of education, applied linguistics, social justice, diasporic and continental African identities. He has researched and published widely in these areas; with more than a 100-publications. Professor Ibrahim obtained his PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE), and has been with the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa since 2007. Before that, he taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (U.S.). Among his most recent books, Disruptive learning narrative framework: Analyzing race, power and privilege in post-secondary international service learning (2023); Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian academy: Teaching, learning, and researching while Black (2022).

Presentation:
"Decolonizing Blackness: Toward a Radical Decolonial Pan-African Curriculum Project"
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 01:30pm - Maple Leaf Room

Any project that aims to decolonize university curriculum, I am arguing, has to start by decolonizing the very category we are dealing with: Blackness. Only then, I will conclude, can it deserve to be described as ‘radical’ and ‘decolonial.’ This paper has three aims. First, I intend to enter the very category of Blackness and nuance, complicate and hence decolonize it from its colonial, univocal and unidimensional present context. Second, in the North American context, I will argue through a critical ethnographic study that Hip-Hop and Black pop culture can be a site of a critical and decolonial pan-African curriculum project. Third and finally, I will draw some conclusions on how this project can be implemented in a university context. WORD!

Shirley Anne Tate

CANCELLED
University of Alberta |
Professor, Faculty of Arts - Sociology Department

Her area of research is Black diaspora studies broadly and her research interests are institutional racism, the body, affect, beauty, hybridity, 'race' performativity  and Caribbean decolonial studies while paying attention to the intersections of 'race' and gender. Her current research project is on antiracism and decolonization in universities. She is Honorary Professor, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, and affiliated to CriSHET, and Visiting Professor in  CRED, Leeds Beckett University, UK.

Presentation:
"Anger's Erotic Politics: Antiracist Refusal as Decolonial Political Action"
Thursday, February 29th, 2024 - 08:30am - Maple Leaf Room

The discussion focuses on the refusal of implication and cooptation in anti-IBPOC racism’s silence and silencing. It draws on two autoethnographic examples as data in order to look at the uses of anger at a particular type of racist violence, that is, one to which we are witnesses and in which we are invited to participate when we are not seen to belong to the group being targeted. Using Audre Lorde’s work on anger and its erotic politics, the discussion draws out the antiracist politics which can be possible when we break the silence by refusing racism’s suffering even whilst we feel its pain within institutions. It is the pain of anger which is the catalyst for turning immobilizing grief into the grievance of antiracist refusal as decolonial political action. The talk thinks through decolonial antiracist solidarities and disinvestment in institutions as we work politically with and through difference.  

Toyin Falola 
University of Texas | Professor; Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities; University Distinguished Teaching Professor

Toyin Falola is a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, ExtraordinaryProfessor of Human Rights at the University of the Free State, Professor of African Studies, CapeTown University, Extraordinary Professor of Political Science, University of Pretoria, and Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, Lead City University. He is a recipient of 20 honorary doctorates and author/editor of almost 200 books.

Presentation:
"Decolonizing Higher Education for Sustainable Development"
Thursday, February 29th, 2024 - 09:35am - Maple Leaf Room

This lecture will first establish the link between education and education materials in the determination of African institutions and the general influence of the institutions in repositioning the African/Black image in global descriptions, politics, and references. It explores inferences and identities in Higher Education Curriculum that are locked around received colonized ideologies, philosophies, and worldviews and further stresses efforts that have been put in place since the independence of African countries as well as a check of the potency and sustainability of those efforts. If further expand on various tools and approaches to comprehensive and systemic decolonization of the curriculum by engaging the options of African History, Cultural Imperatives, and Cultural Exposure, adoption of Afrocentric pedagogy, refining conceptual subscriptions, research methodologies and scholarship to reflect information bedded on black epistemologies. It then succinctly establishes how a reviewed Curricula can cause transformational development and true independence in Africa. Lastly, the lecture would discuss the possible challenges and obstacles, especially from the vantage point of necessity and realities of cultural diffusion and globalism as well as internal inefficiencies.

Adekeye Adebajo
University of Pretoria | Professor, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, South Africa

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is a senior research fellow at the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (CAS). He was director of the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for five years, and executive director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town between 2003 and 2016. He is the author of nine books including Global Africa: Profiles in Courage, Creativity, and Cruelty; The Curse of Berlin: Africa after the Cold War; The Eagle and the Springbok: Essays on Nigeria and South Africa; and Thabo Mbeki: Africa’s Philosopher-King. He is the editor of 10 books including The Pan-African Pantheon: Prophets, Poets, and Philosophers; and Africa’s Peacemakers: Nobel Peace Laureates of African Descent. Professor Adebajo, a Rhodes Scholar,  holds a doctorate from Oxford University in England, and is a columnist for Business Day (South Africa), the Guardian (Nigeria), and the Gleaner (Jamaica).

Presentation:
"A Griot's Tale of Curriculum Transformation Across Global Africa"
Thursday, February 29th, 2024 - 02:30pm - Maple Leaf Room

European colonial powers created universities in Africa mostly shortly before their departure from about 1948. Africa was thus forced to embark on the decolonization and Africanization of these institutions from the 1950s, replacing both foreign staff and Eurocentric curricula. There were efforts to build African nationalist historiographies to support nation-building and to challenge Eurocentric history through such initiatives as the Ibadan School of History, the Dakar School of Culture, and the Dar School of Political Economy. African-Americans also developed the Atlanta School of Sociology and the Howard School of International Affairs to challenge Eurocentric and sometimes racist mainstream perspectives in these areas. Combining the history of curriculum transformation in Global Africa with a personal intellectual odyssey. this lecture also examines the speaker’s efforts to promote curriculum transformation at four institutions in Africa and the US centred on issues of Pan-Africanism, Conflict Resolution, Africa and the World, Regional Integration, and Foreign Policy. 

Roundtable Speakers - Panels

PANEL 1 - Decolonizing the University Curriculum: Bringing in the Voices of the Subaltern
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 10:45am - Maple Leaf Room

Patsy Lewis is Research Professor, Department of Africana Studies, Brown University. She received her PhD and MPhil from Cambridge University (Trinity College) and BA from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. She specializes in the political economy and development challenges of the Caribbean. Her published work has focused on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), in particular the role of these regional integration arrangements in addressing the development challenges of Caribbean small states. Her publications include Caribbean Regional Integration: A Critical Development Approach, Routledge (2022); Caribbean Integration: Uncertainty in a Time of Global Fragmentation. Co-edited with Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts and Jessica Byron and which was also published in 2022 by the University of the West Indies Press; Pan Caribbean Integration: Beyond CARICOM co-edited with Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts and Jessica Byron (Routledge 2018); Grenada: Revolution and Invasion co-edited with Gary Williams and Peter Clegg (University of the West Indies Press 2015); and Surviving Small Size: Regional Integration in Caribbean Ministates (University of the West Indies Press 2002). She was Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Brown University (2019-2023). 

Decolonizing the University Curriculum: Exploring Inequities in the Construction of Quality and Legitimacy
Patsy Lewis (online) Brown University | Professor of Africana Studies. Watson Institute, International & Public Affairs 

My presentation goes beyond thinking of decolonizing the curriculum as representing diverse voices and perspectives, to exploring the broader framing of legitimacy in academia and how this excludes. It touches on the implications of hierarchy in publishing (journals and presses); how research is funded, and the framing of research agendas and questions, among others. The presentation's focus is on how these work to marginalize scholarship from the South.

Decolonizing the University Curriculum
Sewordor Toklo University of Alberta | Grad Teaching Assistantship, Faculty of Arts - Political Science Dept.

In my academic journey from Ghana to Russia and now Canada, I have noticed a lack of discussions on race, racism, and colonial and post-colonial scholarship in all my classes, where professors rarely touched on these crucial topics. This omission raises a vital question about the underrepresentation of non-white, especially Black, perspectives in academic scholarship. This gap extends beyond the classroom, perpetuating marginalization and neglect while ignoring the contributions of non-white scholars and the historical biases that have shaped academia.  Methodological whiteness further compounds the problem by treating Western perspectives as the default standard across various disciplines (Corces-Zimmerman & Guida, 2019), including security studies in international relations (Howell and Richter-Montpetit, 2020). This approach sidelines non-white perspectives and perpetuates a distorted worldview that sustains global inequalities. In this work, I aim to demonstrate the negative implications of these pervasive issues and explore decolonizing strategies for university curricula.

Sewordor Toklo earned his bachelor's degree in Political Studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and his master's degree in 'Politics, Economics, Philosophy' from the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Russia. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Alberta in Canada. His research interests involve African studies, elections, democracy, gender politics, comparative politics, voting behavior, corruption, and political violence.

PANEL 2 - Uncovering Hidden Ways of Knowing (Mettre au jour diverses façons de savoir)
PANEL IN FRENCH
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 10:45am - Prairie Room 

Dr. Natacha Louis is an assistant professor in Science & Technology Education at Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta. Dr. Louis’ research explores the underrepresentation of women and marginalized groups in STEM Education programs and curricula. She uses experiential learning approaches such as design thinking and transformative learning to promote critical thinking, social and cultural awareness in STEM talent development. 

Inductive Approaches and Cross-cultural Perspectives in Science Education (Démarches Inductives en St: Pour Un Rapport Au Savoir Plus Inclusif)
Natacha Louis University of Alberta | Assistant Professor, Campus Saint-Jean

In recent years, various research studies have highlighted the importance of implementing pedagogical approaches that put forward active and collaborative participation, facilitating the learning process, notably in Science Education. Inductive approaches such as Experiential learning (EL) (Kolb, 1984) allow students to take an active part in their learning process. By observing, experimenting, engaging and constructing scientific knowledge, students’ different perspectives and abilities are taken into account (Barak, 2017) as opposed to the traditional Western science approach that favors a more deductive and explicit way of learning (Yavuzcan & Gür, 2020). Moreover, given that contemporary problems such as environmental issues tend to require a different set of skills, thinking and capabilities that goes beyond what is taught in the classroom, educators, particularly, science educators have to integrate a broader perspective to science teaching that goes beyond the conventional Western approach to Science Education.
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Contrairement aux démarches scientifiques occidentales traditionnelles qui tendent vers des modes d'apprentissage plus déductif et explicite, depuis plusieurs années, les recherches soulignent l’importance de préconiser des approches pédagogiques qui mettent de l’avant la participation active et collaborative des apprenant·e·s, notamment en contexte d’enseignement des sciences et de la technologie (ST). Les approches inductives telles que l'apprentissage expérientiel et l’approche par résolution de problèmes ouverts permettent aux apprenant·e·s de s’engager pleinement dans leur processus d'apprentissage. Par l’observation, l’expérimentation et la collaboration, les différentes perspectives, habiletés et expériences des apprenant·e·s sont prises en compte. 

Acting on Cognitive Injustices Means Breaking out of the "Monoculture" and Ensuring Intellectual Self-Defence (Agir sur les injustices cognitives, c'est sortir de la “monoculture” et assurer son autodéfense intellectuelle)
Charlie Mballa University of Alberta | Assistant Professor, Campus Saint-Jean 

Following in the footsteps of authors such as Édouard Glissant, Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Jack Goody, the presentation is an apology for an emancipatory critical sociology based on the principles of relation, diversification and dialogue. The idea defended here is that the necessary dialogue between cultures is not only an ethical requirement for peaceful coexistence, but also and above all a method of opening up to social and epistemic diversity.
The message of the paper is that decolonizing thought means equipping culturally marginalized groups with the tools of intellectual self-defense, providing them with the codes to track down and unmask any rape or theft of history.
With this in mind, this paper is an invitation to create a reciprocal intelligibility that can weave multicolored bonds of understanding, recognition and mutual respect across all societies and all sources of knowledge, while helping to transform the way we look at others.
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Sur les traces des auteurs comme Édouard Glissant, Boaventura  de Sousa Santos et de Jack Goody, la présentation est une apologie d'une sociologie critique émancipatrice fondée sur les principes de la relation, la diversification et du dialogue. L'idée défendue ici est que le nécessaire dialogue entre les cultures est non seulement une exigence éthique pour la coexistence pacifique, mais aussi et surtout une méthode d'ouverture à la diversité sociale et épistémique.
Le message que la communication veut livrer est que la décolonisation de la pensée consiste à équiper les groupes culturellement marginalisés des outils de leur autodéfense intellectuelle, en mettant à leur disposition des codes leur permettant de traquer et de démasquer tout viol et tout vol de l'histoire.
Dans cette perspective, la communication est une invitation à la création d'une intelligibilité réciproque susceptible de tisser des liens multicolores de compréhension, de reconnaissance et de respect mutuel du à toutes les sociétés et à toutes les sources de savoirs et de connaissances, tout en contribuant à transformer notre regard sur l'autre.

Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta's Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ), where he has taught since 2017, Charlie Mballa holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Panthéon - Assas - Paris II. He previously worked at the École Nationale d'administration Publique du Québec, as a postdoctoral fellow (in foreign policy administration), lecturer and research professional. He also holds a degree in public law from the University of Yaoundé. A member of UQAM's Centre d'études sur l'intégration et la mondialisation, where he directs the Centre d'analyse et de prospective sur les Afriques (Cap-Afriques), his research focuses on the Global South / Francophone Africa. Co-director of the CSJ's Groupe de recherche sur les Afriques et l'Amérique latine (GRAAL), he heads the scientific committee of the Symposium international des cultures africaines et d'ascendance africaine (SICAAF). A member of the Réseau francophone international en conseil scientifique (RFICS), his interests in the following areas have contributed to the enrichment of knowledge in his field: (i) Paradiplomacy; (ii) negotiation techniques in the context of multilateral climate diplomacy; (iii) Canadian foreign policy and Africa; (iv) Innovative mechanisms of political legitimacy; (v) regional integration processes in Africa.

He edits the collective L'État dans les Afriques. État des lieux and is co-author of Nouvelle politique étrangère (PUQ, 2016) and La politique étrangère en bons termes. Guide lexical (PUQ, 2016).

PANEL 3 - Cancelled

PANEL 4 - The Paucity of Black Studies in Canada
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 2:35pm - Maple Leaf Room

Gina is a first generation Congolese Canadian who graduated from the University of Alberta in 2023 with a major in English Honors and a double minor in Philosophy and Political Science. In her final year, she was both the President of the university’s Black Students’ Association (UABSA) and the President of the English and Film Studies Undergraduate Association (EFSUN). In May 2023, she co-founded the BSAAN organization, an alumni branch of the UABSA dedicated to supporting the professional development of Black postgraduates by bringing awareness to the lack of resources afforded to them in sectors of employment and social services. Her commitment to leading community initiatives led her to be awarded the “Violet King Award for Black Student Leadership & Involvement” by the Students’ Union this past November. Currently, she is a Policy Researcher at 1834 Global, a highly competitive international relations program that increases the future capacity of Black youths working towards careers in diplomacy and global affairs. 

A Step Towards Transformative Learning:  Acknowledging the Importance of  Black Authorship in Post-Secondary Curricula
Gina Malaba University of Alberta | English Honours Postgraduate Student

In accordance with the Symposium’s efforts to decolonize academia, it would be beneficial to expand on why the English (EFS) and Philosophy departments at the University of Alberta are two spaces that would benefit from implementing curriculums less rooted in eurocentrism and more proactive in dismantling anti-Black racism. By advocating for more English and Philosophy classes focused on the study of African authorships, the University would be creating an unprecedented platform for students to learn about the underrepresented contributions and histories of  Black thinkers, cultures and knowledge systems. 

Capturing the Dignity of the Human Condition: Reflections on the Universality and Particularity that are Black Studies as Canadian Studies and Even as the Studies of the Wider Americas
Cecil Foster University at Buffalo | Professor, Department of Africana and American Studies. College of Arts and Sciences

Returning to categories of knowing and living  presented in my earlier book, Blackness and Modernity: The Color of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom (2007), I will attempt to seize the phenomenon of Black Studies in a Canadian and North American context. I will search for a holistic understanding of the human “essence” in our place and time through the examination of Blackness in multicultural Canada.

Cecil Foster is an acclaimed  author, academic and public intellectual. He is a professor  of transnational studies at the University at Buffalo and he resides in Buffalo and Toronto.

Professor Selwyn R. Cudjoe, is a professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, was born in Trinidad, West Indies.  He studied at Fordham University where received his B.A. and M.A. and Cornell University where he received his doctoral degree.  He has taught at Fordham, Cornell, Brown and Harvard universities.  He has published, Resistance and Caribbean Literature; Beyond Boundaries, The Intellectual Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago; V.S. Naipaul: A Materialist Reading; and The Slave Master of Trinidad, among other works.  He has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New Left Review, Freedomways Magazine, and many other publications.  At the present time he writes a weekly column for the Sunday Express in Trinidad.     

Decolonizing the Curriculum: A Necessary Preoccupation.
Selwyn R. Cudjoe Wellesley College | Professor of Africana Studies

A vision towards decolonization of the curriculum from different points of view.

PANEL 5 - Including the Black Community Lived Experiences into Academic Pedagogies
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 2:35pm - Prairie Room

Professor Bukola Salami currently holds the rank of Full Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine,  University of Calgary. Professor Salami’s research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrant health as well as Black people’s health. She has been involved in over 80 funded studies totalling over $230 million. She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from four continents. She co-founded the Institute for Intersectional Research and Learning at the University of Alberta. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program. Her work on Black youth mental health informed the creation of the first mental health clinic for Black Canadians in Western Canada. She has presented her work to policy makers (including twice to the Prime Minister of Canada and once to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health). Her work has contributed to policy change, including that related to Black people’s well-being. She is an Editor for the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research and Associate Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). She is an advisory board member of the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health and the Government of Canada Scientific Advisory Committee on Global Health.

Decolonizing Health Science Curriculum in Canada: Infusing African Scholarship and Anti-racist Approaches into Health Science Curriculum
Bukola Salami University of Calgary | Professor. Department of Medicine - Department of Community Health Sciences. Healthy Children, Families & Communities Program

Health inequities exist in Canada, especially for people of African descent. Racism, including in the healthcare system, contribute to these health disparities. Many of the approaches in current health professional practices and curriculum are situated on Eurocentric models and also racist ideals. Indicators of this include a focus on self management in chronic disease care and also skin assessment. Students of African descent also continue to experience racism in the health education system. This presentation will argue for the need to further integrate afro-centric and anti-racist approaches in health professional curriculum to address inequities faced by people of African descent in Canada.

Removing the Academic Gatekeeping Signs at Intersections of Race and Career Progression
Samira ElAtia University of Alberta | Professor, Campus Saint-Jean - Recherches et Études Supérieurs (Graduate)

At the admission process, students from Francophone African countries face systemic barriers when applying at higher education institutions: from language requirement to showing academic credentials and excellence, these students face hurdles, checkpoints and verifications that other students do not have to deal with. We view these practices as gatekeeping signs that hinder the progress within academic circles. Moreover, these same practices are reflected at the hiring stages when these same students graduate. 

Dr. Samira ElAtia is Professor of education and the Associate Dean- Research and Graduate Studies at the bilingual Faculté Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta.  She is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Intersectionality Studies. She specializes in the evaluation of competencies and language assessment. Her research interest focuses on issues of bias and fairness in assessment, especially in bilingual contexts. She is past president of the Canadian Association of Language Assessment. She has led several research projects on the integration of Francophone newcomers to educational and work life in Alberta and the intersection of gender and race in K-12 educational leadership across the province. Dr. is the author two books-- L’éducation supérieure et dualité linguistique dans l’Ouest canadien : défis et réalités (Presses de l’Université Laval) and Data Mining and Learning Analytics in Educational Research (Wiley & Blackwell). She has published more than fifty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MA from Illinois State University, USA. 

Nathan Andrews is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University, Canada. One aspect of Dr. Andrews’ research focuses on the global political economy/ecology of natural resource extraction and development. Publications on this topic have appeared in journals such as International Affairs, Resources Policy, World Development, Energy Research & Social Science, Africa Today, Business & Society Review, and Globalizations among others and including books such as Gold Mining and the Discourses of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana (Palgrave, 2019) and Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? (University of Toronto Press, 2022). A second aspect of his research revolves around the scholarship of teaching and learning, in particular critical international relations, epistemic hegemony, racism and whiteness in knowledge production and dissemination. His publications on these themes can be found in Journal of Pan African Studies, Third World Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives, etc. 

Re-Storying African Studies Pedagogies: Exploring the Potential of Epistemic Decolonization to Nurture Black Agency
Nathan Andrews McMaster University | Associate Professor, Political Science

Decolonization as an intellectual project has gained tremendous momentum in recent times, signalled by movements such as #RhodesMustFall, #BlackInTheIvory, and Why Is My Curricula So White among others. These movements situate the coloniality of power within ongoing practices in academia and seek to disrupt systemic racism and oppressive structures of knowledge creation. Focusing on both the prospects and pitfalls of intellectual decolonization, this presentation centers Africa as a subject of study and the relevance of centering Black agency in our pedagogical choices. With emphasis on the introductory chapter to the new edited book titled, Decolonizing African Studies Pedagogies: Knowledge Production, Epistemic Imperialism and Black Agency (Palgrave Macmillan), the presentation overall provides a thematic overview of research on this topic while also engaging directly with some of the core themes explored in respective chapters. Such analysis points to the persistent nature of epistemic imperialism and how to tackle it.

PANEL 6 - Theoretical, Historiographical, and Anthropocentric Foundation​s of a Critical Pan-Africanist Approach
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 - 2:35pm - Aurora Room

Christopher Isike is a Professor of African Politics and International Relations and Head, Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria. He is also the Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Pretoria (ACSUS-UP). He serves as the current President of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS), and member of the Board of Directors of Global Development Network (GDN). Professor Isike conducts research from an Africanist lens, and teaches international relations theory, strategic and security studies, and security theory at the University of Pretoria. His research interests include African soft power politics, women, peace and conflict studies, women and political representation in Africa, rethinking state formation in Africa, politics in a digital era and African immigration to South Africa. A C2 rated researcher by the NRF, Professor Isike has over 80 publications in top national and international peer-reviewed journals including chapters in books published by reputable publishing houses globally.

A Decolonial Approach to Curriculum Transformation in Teaching International Relations Theory
Christopher Isike University of Pretoria | Acting Academic HOD. Academic Department. Humanities

A decolonial approach to International Relations Theory (IRT) is relevant, the study and practice of International Relations has its origin in Europe, and its theories have been dominated by European political thought since the inception of the modern state system. Both traditional IR theory and the ‘critical’ prism are generally and predominantly premised on assumptions of Western thinkers about the world and Western norms and values. This presentation shall share some knowledge on how I have approached curriculum transformation in the teaching of my International Relations Theory classes in the last 3 years at the University of Pretoria. It shall use the postgraduate IRT modules as case study and render an account of my teaching practice of the module by looking at the content, bibliography, teaching method, assessment and then end with some notes on what it all means for curriculum transformation and setting a research agenda for IRT in Africa.

Importance of Diversity in the Conduct of International Relations
Curtis Ward (online) Former Jamaican ambassador to the United Nations with Special Responsibility for Security Council Affairs

Citing my personal experiences representing a small Caribbean country in the U.N. Security Council, my presentation will provide a brief on the value and importance of diversity in the conduct of international relations, and why universities’ curricula should provide learning opportunities for students of diverse backgrounds to engage in an interconnected world. Diversity in the curriculum prepares graduates for engaging in policy formation and decision-making on issues related to regional and international concerns in an interconnected global space occupied by diverse countries – powerful and small of different languages and cultures, and different continents.

Ambassador Curtis A. Ward is an Attorney-at-Law and International Consultant, and former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations with Special Responsibility for Security Council Affairs, serving on the UN Security Council from Jan. 01, 2000 to Dec. 31, 2001. He has extensive knowledge and experience in national and international legal and policy frameworks for effective implementation of UN and other international anti-terrorism mandates, including countering and preventing violent extremism. His expertise includes capacity building in the legal and administrative requirements for effective implementation and enforcement of anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CTF); and extensive knowledge of the legal and regulatory requirements for effective implementation and enforcement of UN multilateral sanctions and U.S.-imposed unilateral sanctions.

Thula Simpson is Associate Professor of History in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his BA Honours at King's College, University of London, and his DPhil at Birkbeck, University of London. His articles have appeared in a number of leading subject journals including the African Historical Review, the Journal of Southern African Studies, Social Dynamics, and the South African Historical Journal. He is the author of Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC's Armed Struggle (Penguin, 2016), History of South Africa: From 1902 to the Present (Penguin, 2021), and is the editor of The ANC and the Liberation Struggle: Essential Writings (Routledge, 2017), and, most recently, History beyond Apartheid: New Approaches in South African Historiograpy (Manchester University Press, 2023). His current research on the history of African empires is supported by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) and the National Research Fund (NRF) in South Africa.

After the Fall: History and Decolonization in South Africa
Thula Simpson University of Pretoria | Associate Professor. Historical & Heritage Studies

My presentation reflects on the implications for South African historiography of the Fallist movement's rise. I began teaching 'The Rise and Fall of Segregation and Apartheid' just prior to the emergence of the #RhodesMustFall movement, and can testify that the curriculum had become contested terrain well before 2015. The nationwide protests saw these debates go public, in South Africa and beyond. My paper explores these contestations in the light of the broader South African historiographical tradition, and interrogates the implications of decolonial theory for historiographical practice, and vice versa. 

PANEL 7 - Quantitative and Qualitative Methodological Challenges to the Eurocentric Approaches
Thursday, February 29th, 2024 - 10:45am - Maple Leaf Room

Giselle Thompson is the Assistant Professor of Black Studies in Education at the University of Alberta, where she teaches in the Social Justice and International Studies in Education graduate specialization and the Bachelor of Education program. Her award-winning research exists at the nexus of critical studies in the Sociologies of Race, Education, Gender, Diaspora, and International Development and seeks to understand how colonialism, racial capitalism, white supremacy, and modernity operate globally and are implicated in the ongoing (mis)education of Black people. She is particularly concerned with how anti-Black racism in its various iterations including, but not limited to, lack of accessibility, under resourcing, and curricular deficits impede on holistic learning for Black school-aged children and youth and diasporic groups in both local and transnational contexts. Her current research project examines the ways in which the transhistorical phenomenon of Black motherwork is deployed in school settings and in other sites of learning to resist these social maladies, whilst transmitting ethics of love, care, and concern.

Fugitive Methodologies: Centering Blackness in Qualitative Research
Giselle Thompson University of Alberta | Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education - Educational Policy Studies Dept.

This paper invokes the work of Jamaican cultural theorist, Sylvia Wynter (1994), to interrogate the academy’s existing order of knowledge that was built on “both the issue of “race” and its classificatory logic” (p. 47). Understanding that the social construction of race and its hierarchical system are the substructure of the Western academy, its disciplinary organization, and its knowledge production and re-production can help Black scholars to imagine and create new modalities and methods of research and teaching that undo the “racial calculus and … political arithmetic that were entrenched centuries ago” (Hartman, 2008, p. 6) and that exist in the present. For this reason, I will delineate my ongoing fugitive intellectual journey to disrupt the historical and contemporary “white possessive” (Moreton-Robinson, 2015) of curricula and the implications of this for my praxes as a researcher and an educator. 

PANEL 8 - Decolonizing Learning Spaces: Case Studies from the Lab and the Classroom (Décoloniser des espaces d'apprentissage: Études de cas au labo et en salle de classe)
PANEL IN FRENCH
Thursday,, February 29th, 2024 - 10:45am - Prairie Room

I am a Faculty Service Officer at Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ) who holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics (nanotechnology) from the University of Lorraine (France, Metz: 2011). As an experimental physicist, I believe in the power of hands-on experiments and real-world examples to help students understand complex concepts. By encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills, my goal is to cultivate our students' curiosity about the wonders of physics.

In my journey as a professor, I must create a supportive and inclusive classroom and laboratories where students feel valued and encouraged to reach their full potential. We know each student has a unique learning style, and I adapt my teaching methods to ensure everyone can thrive.

I look forward to inspiring the next generation of scientific minds and instilling a lifelong love for the fascinating world of physics.

Integrating Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Into our Physics Lab Curriculum (Intégrer l'équité, la diversité et l'inclusion dans le curriculum des laboratoires de physique)
Filsan Ahmed University of Alberta | FSO, Campus Saint-Jean

It is well known that physics has traditionally been dominated by specific demographic groups (white males), which has given rise to stereotypes and biases that can discourage underrepresented groups from taking an interest in the subject. Additionally, we know that higher education can be a space where young adults further strengthen their sense of identity and belonging within a community. Since 2022, we have implemented an inclusive policy and procedures in physics laboratories: (a) Writing laboratory experimental protocols in inclusive language, namely the use of neutral pronouns and neutral nouns; (b) Commit to respecting the principles of EDI before accessing laboratory materials available on Eclass; c) Organize a thought quiz on EDI reporting on the occasion of the Day of Reconciliation and Truth; (d) Use pronouns in the laboratory to demonstrate respect and inclusion; (e) Hire instructors from diverse backgrounds.
Integrating EDI into the physics laboratory curriculum is essential, creating a more equitable and diverse learning environment that prepares students to become accomplished scientists and good global citizens.

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Il est bien connu que la physique a traditionnellement été dominée par des groupes démographiques spécifiques (hommes blancs), ce qui a donné lieu à des stéréotypes et à des préjugés qui peuvent décourager les groupes sous-représentés de s'intéresser à ce sujet. En outre, nous savons que l'enseignement supérieur peut être un espace où les jeunes adultes renforcent leur sentiment d'identité et d'appartenance à une communauté. Depuis 2022, nous avons mis en place une politique et des procédures inclusives dans les laboratoires de physique : (a) Rédiger des protocoles expérimentaux de laboratoire dans un langage inclusif, à savoir l'utilisation de pronoms et de noms neutres ; (b) S'engager à respecter les principes de l'EDI avant d'accéder aux ressources relatives aux laboratoire disponible sur Eclass ; c) Organiser un quiz de réflexion sur les concepts EDI à l'occasion de la Journée de la réconciliation et de la vérité ; (d) Utiliser des pronoms dans le laboratoire pour démontrer le respect et l'inclusion ; (e) Embaucher des instructeurs issus de milieux diversifiés. L'intégration des concepts EDI dans le programme des laboratoires de physique est essentielle pour créer un environnement d'apprentissage plus équitable et plus diversifié qui prépare les étudiants à devenir des scientifiques accomplis et de bons citoyens du monde. 

Putting ourselves out there: personal narratives and (un)learning in the social sciences and humanities (Accepter de se mettre en avant : récits personnels et (dés)apprentissage dans les sciences sociales et humaines)
Anne-José Villeneuve University of Alberta | Associate Professor, Campus Saint-Jean

Teaching and learning are inherently social experiences. Learning communities are beneficial not only to students’ attainment of learning objectives but also to bettering the connections between the classroom and “real life” (Achinstein 2002; Fallon & Barnett 2009). In this presentation, I draw on examples from learning communities in French linguistics courses to argue that we as educators can help students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds relate to learning content by integrating first-person narratives, including our own lived experience, into our teaching practice. In doing so, I show that authenticity and vulnerability can serve as vectors for unlearning and social change.

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L'enseignement et l'apprentissage sont des expériences intrinsèquement sociales. Les communautés d'apprentissage sont bénéfiques non seulement pour permettre aux personnes étudiantes d'atteindre les objectifs d'apprentissage, mais aussi pour améliorer les liens entre la salle de classe et la "vraie vie" (Achinstein 2002 ; Fallon & Barnett 2009). Dans cette présentation, je m'appuie sur des exemples de communautés d'apprentissage dans des cours de linguistique française pour affirmer que, comme éducateur·trice·s, nous pouvons aider les étudiant·e·s d'origines linguistiques et culturelles diverses à se familiariser avec les contenus d'apprentissage en intégrant des récits à la première personne, y compris notre propre expérience vécue, dans notre pratique d'enseignement. Ce faisant, je montre que l'authenticité et la vulnérabilité peuvent servir de vecteurs de désapprentissage et de changement social.

Anne-José Villeneuve is an Associate Professor of French Linguistics at Campus Saint-Jean and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta. Her work in sociolinguistics focuses on linguistic variation and change, language contact, and language teaching. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of French Language Studies and the Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. She is currently editor of the Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique, and sits on the editorial board of Francophonies d'Amérique. Through her research, teaching and service to diverse communities, she seeks to demystify the links between language, diversity and equity. Originally from Montréal, she embraces her Québécois-Haitian heritage and her multilingual life journey.

PANEL 9 - Integrating Research, Design, and Policy in the Subaltern Curriculum
Thursday,, February 29th, 2024 - 10:45am - Aurora Room

Sam Oboh, FAIA, an esteemed architect with over 25 years in the built environment sector, is a Principal at Ensight+ Architecture in Canada, specializing in public architecture. He's renowned for innovative Design Quality initiatives that have enhanced design excellence in Canada's federal buildings. A 2023 Tom Sutherland Architecture Award Laureate and the first Canadian of African descent to be RAIC President (2015), Sam is also a Presidential Medal awardee and a distinguished Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. His key projects include the International Law Enforcement Academy in Botswana and the Alberta Legislature Centre Redevelopment. Sam extends his expertise as a adjunct lecturer / visiting critic at prominent universities such as Yale and the University of Toronto. Serving as the Honorary Consul for Botswana in Canada, his work embodies a deep commitment to architecture, education, and international development, driving his passion for innovative and sustainable design excellence.

Design, Decarbonization + Decolonization: Creating Inspired Spaces Shaped by African Anecdotes and Metaphors
Sam Oboh Canadian architect, manager, leader, former Vice President - Architecture at AECOM Canada Architects

"Design, Decarbonization + Decolonization: Creating Inspired Spaces Shaped by African Anecdotes and Metaphors" presents an innovative approach to architectural design, intertwining the rich tapestry of African storytelling and metaphorical insights with modern architectural principles. Chronicling the transformative journey of a Canadian architect with African roots, this presentation explores how African cultural narratives can significantly influence the creation of sustainable, inclusive, and decolonized spaces in architecture, particularly in a Canadian context. It aims to demonstrate the potential of African metaphors and anecdotes not only in enriching the aesthetic and cultural dimensions of architectural designs but also in promoting inclusivity, environmental sustainability and addressing historical imbalances in architectural representation.

Decolonizing the Development Curriculum: A Critical Review of the Public Policy Monopoly of 'Development by Competitiveness': the Experience of Smaller States.
Anthony W J Phillips-Spencer Ambassador at the Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Washington, DC

TBC

Brigadier General (Ret'd.) Anthony Phillips-Spencer ED, LM, UNM, nsp, MSc, BSc, currently serves in the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, after more than 35 years of service in the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) from March 1981.
He speaks fluently in both French and Spanish and is an avid reader, thinker and innovator on issues related to organizational development, change and transformation, leadership and management, and strategic security decision-making and public policy implementation
Brigadier General Phillips-Spencer successfully fulfilled the responsibilities of a diverse range of appointments during his military career.
Brigadier General Phillips-Spencer is a graduate of the Combat Training Centre of the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Infantry Captains Career Course of the United States Army, and successfully completed the National Security Programme (NSP-02) at the Canadian Forces College (CFC) in June 2010. His other professional education and training includes Strategic Project Management, the Design and Management of Social Policy and Programmes, from the Inter-American Institute for Development Studies (INDES) in August 2004, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Narcotic Enforcement and Interdiction and Public Policy Analysis.
In his last military appointment as the Vice Chief of Defence Staff of the TTDF, Brigadier General Phillips-Spencer provided support for the Chief of Defence Staff in the delivery of strategic leadership for the Force and directly supervised the strategic management and organizational development of the TTDF.