BY Sara Laux July 22, 2024
Quick — name three iconic Black Canadians.
That probably isn’t as easy as it should be. That means it’s important to make more space for Black Canadian stories, says Alpha Abebe, an associate professor in the department of Communication Studies and Media Arts and the lead for Africa and Black Diaspora Studies (ABLD) at McMaster.
Black studies programs are limited but growing in number across universities in Canada — which is why Abebe, along with colleagues who work in Africa and Black Diaspora Studies, recently organized and hosted Black Futurities: (Re)Imagining Black Studies in Canada, a day-long conference on the development and future of Black studies across Canada. The conference was co-chaired by Abebe and Rhonda C. George — a post-doctoral research fellow with ABLD — and supported by the African-Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster (ACFAM).
“We’re at a pivotal point in Black studies in Canada, so we wanted this to be a broad, national conversation,” says Abebe. “This was the introduction of McMaster’s ABLD into the Black studies sphere in this country and we are looking forward to continuing to contribute meaningfully to ongoing conversations and academic community-building initiatives across Canada.”
Unlike traditional academic conferences, which focus on individual scholars and academic papers, Black Futurities was organized around a series of five panel discussions, moderated by McMaster scholars. More than 20 emerging scholars and graduate student panelists were invited to engage in spirited collaborative discussions with each other and the audience.
“Graduate students are often spectators in these spaces, but we’re talking about the future of Black studies — and they’re the future,” explains Abebe. “We wanted to centre emerging voices in the discussion, but also pay homage to established Black scholars and facilitate intergenerational dialogue.”
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