In celebration of Black Heritage Month, the MSVU Black and Indigenous Speaker Series and the Alexa McDonough Institute for Women, Gender, and Social Justice (AMI), in partnership with the Nancy’s Chair, MSVU Library, and the MSVU Office of People and Culture, are pleased to present the next installment of the Black and Indigenous Speaker Series featuring Dr. Afua Cooper.
Afua is a multidisciplinary scholar, author, and artist. She has published 13 books across such genres as history, poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. Her presentation is titled “Black Women and Cultural Production: the Case of Concert Singer Portia White.” This event will be moderated by MSVU Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Advisor Delvina Bernard. All are welcome.
When: Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 5 p.m. (doors open at 4:30)
Where: McCain Atrium at MSVU (in-person) and Online via MS Teams [campus map]
About Dr. Afua Cooper
Dr. Afua Cooper recently joined the University of Toronto Scarborough from Dalhousie University where she held a Killam Research Chair in Black Canadian and African Diaspora Studies. She has put Black Studies on the map in Canada by ensuring the infrastructural development of Black studies by founding and launching the Black Canadian Studies Association. She founded and coordinated the Black Studies program at Dalhousie University. Afua’s engagement with Black studies, anti-racism, EDI, and epistemic disruptions in the Canadian academy has made her not only a national figure, but an international one as well.
In 2021, Afua received more than one million dollars in funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage to research Black Canadian history across time and space. As the Principal Investigator for this project titled A Black People’s History of Canada, Afua led a team of researchers and curriculum developers to explore and mobilize knowledge about Black people’s history in Canada and the African Diaspora.
Afua earned the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award for her contribution to education, the Bob Marley Prize from the City of Toronto, the Harry Jerome Award, and was acknowledged by Maclean’s magazine as one of the 50 most influential Canadians. Moreover, Afua was conferred honorary doctorates by Simon Fraser University and the University of Ottawa. She also earned Canada’s most prestigious history award, the Royal Society of Canada J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal for outstanding contribution to Canadian history. Afua’s papers are housed at the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, University of Toronto.
About the Black and Indigenous Speaker Series
Hosted by the MSVU Research Office, the Black and Indigenous Speaker Series highlights the scholarly work of Black and Indigenous scholars from across Turtle Island. The purpose of this series is to initiate important conversation by inviting Black and Indigenous scholars to share their knowledge, worldviews, and their contributions to their respective academic field.