CURRENT EVENTS:
CIARS XII Decolonizing Conference is back!
PAST EVENTS:
Educator's Anti-Racism Conference
OISE is proud to support Harmony Movement's Educator's Anti-Racism Conference taking place February 15, 2023, online and in-person at York University. Focused on supporting K-12 educators this conference will build knowledge of anti-racist and decolonial theory in the education sector. Conferencew partcipants will learns ways to practically apply data, evidence, and community insights to create anti-racist classroom spaces.
The theme of the conference is Shifting the System from Within: Empowering educators to embed anti-racism practices in the classroom with guest speaker Dr. George Dei from the OISE Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies. Attendees will also get to select from a range of educational workshops and networking opportunities.
REGISTER AND SEE MORE DETAILS HERE
See the French website and details here.
Scholarships are available if cost is a barrier email info@harmony.ca or call 416-669-2051 to access them.
Please help us share out the word of the conference widely, we have tried to create very accessible access prices for post-secondary students so if you are able to share within your student community that would be appreciated.
Centering Blackness in Research and Community Engagement | February 23
| Director of Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
https://uottawa-ca.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Yk7bIdZFQcyxgbum376hfQ
CIARS IN CONVERSATION
Africentric Approaches to Teaching History
Africentric Approaches to Teaching History
Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) for our CIARS in Conversation series.
This discussion emerges as an opening to contemplate Black historic presence and land relationality on Turtle Island. As such, history calls for centering a deepended conceptualization of Black spatiality. Educators have a responsibility to adopt a stance of teaching and learning from the African continent and its diasporas to uncover the complex histories and contributions of the Continent. Thus, we ask what do educators see their role is in providing students with an opportunity to engage in critical dialogue, reflection and action about historical and contemporary experiences of people of African descent? How do we engage students and educators in ways that move beyond the one month dedicated to Black history, toward a reflection of Black history and excellence through narratives and contributions of Black and African people?
Researcher | Social Justice Advocate | International speaker on Black history, anti-racism, and women's issues | previous President of the Ontario Black History Society.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gX-yXzq2Qr26YyVbS0XoiQ
AFRICAN ELDERS AND ELDERSHIP| NOVEMBER 26
Using findings from an on-going SSHRC Insight Grant study examining Elders’ teachings relating to community, social responsibility, environment, Land, social justice, equity, youth leadership, respect, and mutual interdependence, Dei engages African Elders and the concept of ‘Eldership’ through an anti-colonial lens. The session will focus on a discursive engagement of Elders’ cultural knowledge pointing to critical understandings of the relationships of knowledge, identity, subjectivity, history, culture and politics. In particular, the analysis is attentive to Land-based epistemologies and ontologies and critical place inquiry for anti-colonial praxis.
Ghanaian-born George Sefa Dei is a renowned educator, researcher and writer who is considered by many as one of Canada’s foremost scholars on race and anti-racism studies. He is a widely sought after academic, researcher and community worker whose professional and academic work has led to many Canadian and international speaking invitations in US, Europe and Africa. Currently, he is Professor of Social Justice Education & Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). He is the 2015, 2016, 2018-19 Carnegie African Diasporan Fellow. In August of 2012, Professor Dei also received the honorary title of ‘Professor Extraordinarire’ from the Department of Inclusive Education, University of South Africa, [UNISA]. In 2017, he was elected as Fellow of Royal Society of Canada, the most prestigious award for an academic scholar. He also received the ‘2016 Whitworth Award for Educational Research’ from the Canadian Education Association (CEA) awarded to the Canadian scholar whose research and scholarship have helped shaped Canadian national educational policy and practice. He is the 2019 Paulo Freire Democratic Project, Chapman University, US - ‘Social Justice Award’ winner. This April 2021, Professor Dei received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario Alliance of Black School Educators [ONABSE] for how long-standing work promoting Black and minority youth education. He also has forty (40) books and over seventy (70) refereed journal articles to his credit. Finally, in June of 2007, Professor Dei was installed as a traditional chief in Ghana, specifically, as the Gyaasehene of the town of Asokore, Koforidua in the New Juaben Traditional Area of Ghana. His stool name is Nana Adusei Sefa Tweneboah.
This talk will be held online via Zoom. Details will be sent to registrants a few days prior to the event. We look forward to seeing you there!
Date: Friday, November 26, 2021
Time:12-1:30pm
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/faculty-speaker-series-2021-22-tickets-198485384127
CIARS IN CONVERSATION
Anti-Colonial Anger for Self Defense, Perseverance and Liberation
Haitian Migration and the Necropolitics of Exclusion
Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) for our CIARS in Conversation series.
Immigration is a Black issue. Black immigrants worldwide are subjected to disproportionate violence and mistreatment. U.S. border officials and the Mexican National Guard continue to abuse, ostracize, and chastise Haitian migrants. The Haitian migrant crisis pushes us to re-examine the longstanding immigration policies, practices, and laws in Canada and the U.S. These policies and practices have worked in the service of White supremacy, impacting Black migrants the most. While acknowledging the ways that the Haitian migrant crisis is used as a political means to continue Haitian dehumanization, we explore how communities can adopt a stance of refusal to assert collective autonomy.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gjaPzNDhTH2_QqQxSluJUA
Anti-Colonial Anger for Self Defense, Perseverance and Liberation
Anti-Colonial Anger for Self Defense, Perseverance and Liberation
Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) for the third session of our CIARS in Conversation series.
This month’s CIARS In Conversation engages in key conversations pertaining to:
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https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GY_ZU9WaRvKql4l6ss-1Qw
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies is proud to introduce this session's speaker:
Dr. Stanley Doyle-Wood |
POSTPONED UNTIL FALL 2021
CIARS is pleased to announce that it is holding its X11 Decolonizing Conference for critical dialogues on the theme of “Climate Change at the Crossroads: Whose Planet Are We Saving?" Using a Decolonizing perspective, the conference hopes to explore themes relating to Lands, Environments, climate change and social difference, and the associated socio-cultural, political and structural challenges preventing us from living healthy, harmonious, relational and sustainable lives.
For more details, please check the full call for abstracts here.
Please check the Decolonizing Conference Postponement Statement
CIARS IN CONVERSATION
Anti-Muslim Racism Beyond Islamophobia: Examining the Intersections of Anti-Blackness and Anti-Muslim Racism
Anti-Muslim Racism Beyond Islamophobia: Examining the Intersections of Anti-Blackness and Anti-Muslim Racism
Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) for the second session of our CIARS in Conversation series.
Anti-Muslim racism has had a sustained presence pre-dating September 11th, 2001, with heightened discrimination afterward, fueled by ongoing refugee crises, cultural imperialism, and the global ‘War on Terror.’ In its current form, anti-Muslim racism continues to intersect with multiple identity markers both within the Muslim community and across the political landscape of fear. With unprecedented public attention toward followers of Islam through media coverage and policies promoting religious repression, gendered and racialized Muslims are disproportionately affected by police violence and repressive “counter-terrorism” surveillance models.
This month’s CIARS In Conversation engages in key conversations pertaining to:
● Unpacking the compounding experiences of being Muslim and Black and the intersections of anti-Muslim racism and anti-Blackness
● Examining the role of Islam in shaping social change
● Addressing historical and present-day manifestations of anti-Muslim racism
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RT1IuNr-QH2QlfysIir26g
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies is proud to introduce a renowned group of speakers:
Dr. Ahmed Ilmi | Anti-Racist Educator and Scholar, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at OISE, Author of The ‘Say Walahi’ Generation: Identity, Profiling, and Survival in CanadaGilary Massa | Human Rights Outreach and Engagement Officer for the TDSB, and the Lead Consultant for Inclusive Leaders
Imani Hennie | Social Worker, TDSBNatasha Persaud | Discrimination and Harassment Counsel with the Law Society of Ontario; Partner of Formative LLP; Former Adjunct Faculty Member at Osgoode Law School
Co- Moderated By:Rukiya Mohamed | TDSB Equity, Anti-Racism, and Anti-Oppression Coach, Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant, OISE U of T MEd Student
Zainab Zafar | Anti-Racist Educator, Secondary Teacher TDSB, Mother, Researcher, and OISE U of T MEd Student
CIARS highly encourages viewers to submit their questions prior to the webinar through the registration page. Note, we are prioritizing questions asked by BIPOC registrants with special consideration to Black and Muslim voices. If you identify as being apart of these communities, please specify so in the question. Viewers will be able to ask their questions live during the webinar!
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RT1IuNr-QH2QlfysIir26g
CIARS IN CONVERSATION
Dismantling Anti-Black Racism in Schooling and Education: Fighting the Global Racial and Health Pandemics
Dismantling Anti-Black Racism in Schooling and Education: Fighting the Global Racial and Health Pandemics
Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) for the inaugural launch of our CIARS in Conversation Series.
The inaugural CIARS in Conversation is a follow up to the CIARS Summer Virutal Town Hall series and features panelists who actively resist unjust educational outcomes as racial, labour, educational and parent leaders in their respective communities.
COVID-19 has exacerbated longstanding systemic injustices as highlighted by Black and racialized communities being further exposed and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. With the return to school, neighbourhoods more highly impacted by COVID-19 tend to be the ones with more frontline workers who are not left with many 'choices' regarding their children's educational options.
Moreover, the brutal murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor marked a resurgence of global uprisings. Canada is not immune to police brutality, and folks resisted systemic anti-Black racism with calls to defund and abolish police after the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and countless others. Anti-Black racism and white supremacy are at the core of the system of policing. Further to policing, educational activists, scholars and leaders have also long called for the dismantling of Anti-Black racism from the education system which leads to the school-to-prison pipeline and disproportionate schooling outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and racialized students.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_isku0yRxSGW2gQPvgAOnWQ
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies is proud to introduce a renowned group of speakers and moderators:
Phiona Lloyd-Henry | Educator and Vice Principal, Peel District School Board; Former Instructional Coordinator for Equity and Inclusion Education and Coordinator, We Rise Together Action Plan
Nigel Barriffe | Executive Officer, Elementary Teachers of Toronto; President of Urban Alliance on Race Relations; Board Member, Canadian Anti-Hate Network and Organizer, Ontario Education Workers United
Anna-Kay Brown | Co-Chair, Jane Finch Education Action Group, Mother and Community Organizer
Co-Moderator: Janelle Brady | Anti-Racist Educator, Activist Researcher and Community Organizer, OISE U of T P.h.D Student and CIARS Senior Coordinator
Co-Moderator: Julie Usih | Social Justice Education, OISE U of T M.A. Student
CIARS highly encourages viewers to submit their questions prior to the webinar through the registration page. Viewers will be able to ask their questions live during the webinar!
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_isku0yRxSGW2gQPvgAOnWQ
CIARS Town Hall Series
Resistance, Healing and Recovery: Reclaiming Hope and New Futures
Resistance, Healing and Recovery: Reclaiming Hope and New Futures
These are diffucult times and we mustn't lose hope, especially in light of the organized push back intended to silence courage. Let us continue our dialogues in hopes of moving into action. In the first Town Hall, we had conversation that only breached the surface of how this pandemic has brought to light the many inequalities in the world. Now, we must continue the conversation and think about healing and recovery through critical friendship, and radical solidarity. Thus, I welcome you join us for the second Town Hall. Once again, we have an esteemed group of panelists helping shed light on these important matters. We must continue to speak and act for as long as we can breathe. We must work together to ensure that this is a moment of change. We do this for ourselves, the younger generation, and the generations to come.
Please Join the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies for a second Zoom Town Hall “Resistance, Healing and Recovery: Reclaiming Hope and New Futures” on Thursday, July 30, for a discussion that will contribute to an ongoing collective conversation on the hopeful possibilities brought up by the convergence of crises, from COVID-19 to the most recent anti-racist uprisings. We believe this can be the begining of a monumental change. The dialogue and ongoing mobilization must continue particularly around the convergences around anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism and critical solidarity. This will be the seccond Town Hall in a series following the first on anti-Black racism, Solidarity and Health held on July 15, 2020. The Town Hall will begin at 6:00 p.m. eastern. This is an important moment of transformation, please register to join these crucial collective conversations before spaces fill-up!
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://oise-utoronto.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iFLfW_jjT8yUpURj5UDnUQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Speakers:
Leticia Ama Deawuo | Director, Black Creek Community Farm and Instructor, George Brown College
Diane Hill | Social Justice Education, OISE U of T M.A. Student
Dr. Pamela Palmater | Mi'kmaw Lawyer, Professor at Ryerson University, Author and Social Justice Activist
Chris Ramsaroop | Justice for Migrant Workers Organizer and Social Justice Education OISE U of T P.h.D Candidate
Dr. Roberta Timothy | Assistant Professor and Director of Health Promotion at Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Dr. Francisco Villegas | Assistant Professor of Sociology, Kalamazoo College
Moderator: Marycarmen Lara Villanueva | Social Justice Education, OISE U of T P.h.D Student and CIARS Coordinator
CIARS Town Hall 2020
Rising up During Covid-19: Solidarity, Anti-Black Racism and Health
Speakers:
Olivia Chow | Professor at Ryerson University, founder of Institute for Change Leaders at RU and former MP/city councillor
ADDRESSING ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN EDUCATION | MAY 26
OISE Black faculty in conversation organized by the Centre for Leadership and Diversity (CLD), led by Dr. Ann Lopez and sponsored by the CIARS.
Panelists:
Dr. Ann Lopez, CLD Director
Dr. George JS Dei, CIARS Director
Dr. Njoki Wane
Dr. Lance McCready
Dr. Andrew Campbell
Moderated by Janelle Brady, PhDc, CIARS Coordinator
Please find the video recording here!
More upcoming webinars to be announced soon.
2020 PRE-CONFERENCE INFORMATION SESSION | MARCH 6
This event explores the experience of attending and presenting at a conference. Students will learn about the upcoming 2020 conference (speakers, calls, registration details, etc.) and also have an opportunity to sign up for volunteer roles if they are interested in adding to their academic résumés.
Friday, March 6, 2020 - 4:00pm - 5:30pm - AIRSpace, OISE 12-252
Chaired by: Dr. George Dei
Featuring: Marycarmen Lara Villanueva, Sevgi Arslan, Janelle Baptiste-Brady, Sophie Bourret-Klein and Raysheni Vijendran
Please click the link below to RSVP:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2020-decolonizing-conference-information-session-tickets-97012580239
BEYOND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS | FEBRUARY 27
The Earth Centre in collaboration with CIARS is pleased to announce that we are holding an event called "Kemetic Dogon Initiate Wahibptah Fahkara Reveals Secret Education System of Traditional Africa to Expand Consciousness & Win the Real Struggle" with speaker Wahibptah Fahkara.
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2020
Time:11-2pm
Location: Nexus Lounge, OISE
FALL INSTITUTE AND TW0-DAY CONFERENCE, GHANA 2019 | DECEMBER 9 - 21 2019
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism (CIARS) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is please to announce a call for papers and applications for participation in a two week non-credit course and/or a two day conference dedicated to 'Human Rights, Equity and Social Justice in Canadian and African Contexts' in collaboration with the University of Education, Winneba and Mountcrest University College, Ghana. CIARS invites contributions that examine African Indigenous governance as a social justice issue and how this can ground understandings of Indigenous conceptions and practices of local participation and customary decision making.
DECOLONIZING CONFERENCE 2018 | NOVEMBER 8 - 10
http://decolonizingconference.com/
CIARS is pleased to announce that it is holding its X1 Decolonizing Conference for critical dialogues on the theme of “Dialoguing and Living Well Together: Decolonization and Insurgent Voices”. Using a Decolonizing perspective, the conference hopes to explore new meanings of “living well together” outside of White mythology (in Derrida’s terms) and the capitalist paradigm. We ask: how do we bring non-Western epistemologies to a terrain that has existed through a long-exercised White Mythology? What Indigenous experiences speak to the possibility of living well together in new futures? What additional dimensions of the above can be gleaned from the constant mobility of bodies, identities, subjectivities and relations?
For more details, download the full call for abstracts here.
Submission window: Jan 30, 2018 - May 30, 2018 | SUBMIT HERE
DECOLONIZING CONFERENCE WORKSHOP SYMPOSIUM |NOVEMBER 11 2017
"150 FOR WHOM, CANADA? COLONIALISM & INDIGENEITY ACROSS LANDS"
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) in collaboration with Equity Studies, New College will be hosting an interactive workshop series geared toward critical dialogues, arts, and activism. These workshops will bring together academics, educators, activists, artists, and community organizers, foregrounding the themes of race, anti-racism, Indigeneity and decolonization.
DECOLONIZING CONFERENCE 2016 |NOVEMBER 3 - 5
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) in collaboration with Equity Studies, New College is pleased to announce that it is holding its V Decolonizing Conference for critical dialogues on the theme of “Race, Anti-Racism and Indigeneity: Anti-Colonial Resurgence and Decolonial Resistance”. We invite participation from Faculty, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Artists, and Activists to engage the central theme of the conference, and we offer a wide range of submission categories.
Keynotes: Taiaiake Alfred, Joyce E. King, Walter D. Mignolo
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION EVENT | APRIL 27 2016
A PANEL DISCUSSION EVENT | January 28 2016
YOUTH, RACE, AND CRIMINALIZATION: BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS FROM THE MARGINS
The Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIARS) wants to invite community members, community activists, scholars, and others to gather and start a multi-perspective dialogue that examines new possibilities and directions that can facilitate racialized communities to address State violence as a coalition force.
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