How African Nova Scotians envision culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy as civic repair

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>This article presents findings that connect cultural trauma, culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy and Black Canadians ' aspirations. African Nova Scotians constitute the largest multigenerational Black Canadian community, with 400years of presence in Atlantic Canada. Despite the end of de jure school segregation in 1954, African Nova Scotians’ social and cultural capital were not incorporated in curricular and pedagogical practices. Using the theoretical framework of cultural trauma, this article draws from a qualitative study conducted using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with sixty participants. A cultural trauma process takes place after a traumatic event and involves a cycle of meaning-making and interpretation that can result in demands for reparation or civic repair. This study illustrates how through the cultural trauma process grounded in their collective memory, African Nova Scotians articulate an aspiration for culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy as a form of civic repair. This transformative pedagogy would facilitate a reconnection with their heritage and a fulfilment of the democratic goals of public education. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

How African Nova Scotians envision culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy as civic repair

<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>This article presents findings that connect cultural trauma, culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy and Black Canadians ' aspirations. African Nova Scotians constitute the largest multigenerational Black Canadian community, with 400years of presence in Atlantic Canada. Despite the end of de jure school segregation in 1954, African Nova Scotians’ social and cultural capital were not incorporated in curricular and pedagogical practices. Using the theoretical framework of cultural trauma, this article draws from a qualitative study conducted using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with sixty participants. A cultural trauma process takes place after a traumatic event and involves a cycle of meaning-making and interpretation that can result in demands for reparation or civic repair. This study illustrates how through the cultural trauma process grounded in their collective memory, African Nova Scotians articulate an aspiration for culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy as a form of civic repair. This transformative pedagogy would facilitate a reconnection with their heritage and a fulfilment of the democratic goals of public education. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Resilience and Memory in the Poetics of Africadia: Sylvia D. Hamilton's And I Alone Escaped To Tell You

Sylvia D. Hamilton’s collection of poems And I Alone Escaped To Tell You (2014) revolves around the vindication of the little remembered legacy of slavery of Africadians – George Elliott Clarke’s neologism to refer to African Canadians from the Maritime provinces – which acts as a metaphor of the silenced history of Black Canadians. To do so, Hamilton relies on memory work through the lens of resilience and, hence, participates in the recent post-trauma paradigm that is intent on highlighting resistance rather than victimhood. Thus, the resilient memory that emerges from the collection dismisses the position of victims for Africadians and, contrarily, focuses on the capacity to ‘bounce back’, to withstand historical adversities, to endure by being malleable and to adapt to conditions of crisis. Simply put, this resilient memory acts in the poems as the dignified exercise to keep on reinstating and vindicating the silenced history of Black Canada.

Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty

As part of a collective thinking project, article proposes that all Black Canadians move to Nova Scotia to set up a decolonial, anti-racist, non-patriarchal, abolitionist settlement. Recognizing the denial of the right to collective self-determination for Black Canadians, this article explores how Black Canadians can work in solidarity with Indigenous solidarity movements to correct the injustices of settler-colonialism.

Prevalence and Effects of Daily and Major Experiences of Racial Discrimination and Microaggressions among Black Individuals in Canada

The prevalence and correlates of different forms of racial discrimination among Black Canadians are unknown. This article aims to examine the prevalence of different forms of racial discrimination (daily, major and microaggressions) and their association with self-esteem and satisfaction with life among Black Canadians. A convenience sample of 845 Black Canadians aged 15–40 was recruited. We assessed frequencies of everyday and major racial discrimination, and racial microaggressions against Black Canadians and their association with self-esteem and satisfaction with life, controlling for gender, age, job status, education, and matrimonial status. At least 4 out of 10 participants declared having being victims of everyday racial discrimination at least once per week. Between 46.3% and 64.2% of participants declared having been victims of major racial discrimination in various situations including education, job hiring, job dismissal, health services, housing, bank and loans, and police encounters. Significant gender differences were observed for everyday and major racial discrimination with higher frequencies among female participants. A total of 50.2% to 93.8% of participants declared having been victims of at least one episode of racial microaggressions. Results showed a significant negative association between racial discrimination and satisfaction with life ( b = –0.26, p = .003), and self-esteem ( b = –0.23, p = .009). This study highlights the need to stop colorblind policies in different sectors in Canada, and for a public commitment to combat racism at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Implications are discussed for prevention, research and public health.

The Impact of Violence and Acknowledgement of Trauma on the Mental Health of Black Canadians

This research paper will explore the foci surrounding the Black community, particularly on violence and mental health, through a literature review of existing studies. The goal of this research is to create space for narratives that will encourage and enable participants to talk in new and potentially transgressive ways. Grounded theory used to ground the finding in the research while symbolic interactionism and Critical race theory were utilized as theoretical lens. This MRP demonstrates the various forms of violence, mental health stigma and hesitancy to access services, and resilience within Black individuals Thus, more research and programs need to be developed in order to be able to understand the diverse levels of violence the Black community faces and how to limit the barriers they face internally and externally in regard to outside assistance.

The Impact of Violence and Acknowledgement of Trauma on the Mental Health of Black Canadians

This research paper will explore the foci surrounding the Black community, particularly on violence and mental health, through a literature review of existing studies. The goal of this research is to create space for narratives that will encourage and enable participants to talk in new and potentially transgressive ways. Grounded theory used to ground the finding in the research while symbolic interactionism and Critical race theory were utilized as theoretical lens. This MRP demonstrates the various forms of violence, mental health stigma and hesitancy to access services, and resilience within Black individuals Thus, more research and programs need to be developed in order to be able to understand the diverse levels of violence the Black community faces and how to limit the barriers they face internally and externally in regard to outside assistance.

Afrocentric Schools Within a Multicultural Context: Exploring Different Attitudes Towards the TDSB Proposal Within The Black Community

This exploratory research study examines the complex reactions within the Black community in Toronto, Canada towards the opening of the first public Africentric/Black-focused school. The study seeks to understand the various hopes, fears and reservations among the Black community towards this school and the social impact Black Community members perceive the school will have on Black youth, and on Black Canadians in general. As such, the study is situated within the broader context of racism and the social exclusion of racialized minorities in Canada, with a specific focus on the experiences of Black Canadians. Included are the results of qualitative interviews with Black Canadians alongside several theoretical frameworks that assist in explaining participants’ reactions to the Africentric school in the context of the social inclusion of Blacks within mainstream Canadian society.

Afrocentric Schools Within a Multicultural Context: Exploring Different Attitudes Towards the TDSB Proposal Within The Black Community

This exploratory research study examines the complex reactions within the Black community in Toronto, Canada towards the opening of the first public Africentric/Black-focused school. The study seeks to understand the various hopes, fears and reservations among the Black community towards this school and the social impact Black Community members perceive the school will have on Black youth, and on Black Canadians in general. As such, the study is situated within the broader context of racism and the social exclusion of racialized minorities in Canada, with a specific focus on the experiences of Black Canadians. Included are the results of qualitative interviews with Black Canadians alongside several theoretical frameworks that assist in explaining participants’ reactions to the Africentric school in the context of the social inclusion of Blacks within mainstream Canadian society.

Untangling racism: Stress reactions in response to variations of racism against Black Canadians

The ability to effectively contend with racism is likely undermined by factors that promote uncertainty regarding racist motives. A national policy of multiculturalism exists in Canada, which is intended to encourage cultural diversity, but can also serve to mask systemic racism. This may contribute to uncertainty when racism is encountered, with implications for the appraisals, coping, and stress-related outcomes of ethnoracial minorities. Two studies were conducted to assess Black Canadians’ experiences of racism, and their reactions to variations in the nature of the experience. A survey study found that Black Canadians’ (n = 158) self-reported past encounters with explicit racism were associated with anger-out coping, which in turn was related to lower depressive affect. In contrast, ambiguous racism was related to keeping anger in and higher depressive affect; this relation was exacerbated when participants believed Blacks were held in high regard by others, likely adding uncertainty to interpreting behaviours as racist. An experimental study manipulated the nature of racist cues conveyed in a videotaped description of the experiences of a Black male interviewee. When the Black interviewee described racist experiences that were ambiguous (vs. explicit) both White (n = 112) and Black (n = 99) observers were less likely to appraise events as racist, even when physical violence was involved. However, the moment-to-moment distress elicited while listening the interviewee’s description of their racist experiences was uniquely associated with higher cortisol levels among Blacks (but not Whites), especially when physical violence was present. Taken together, the findings contribute to our understanding of the processes by which ambiguous racism might operate to undermine the well-being of targeted groups. Moreover, it is suggested that policies conveying that ethnoracial groups are highly valued (e.g., multiculturalism) might actually exacerbate negative effects of racist experiences, particularly in the absence of an open discourse acknowledging the presence of systemic racism.