GEORGE DEI , Ph.D. (Toronto)

Professor, Chair
Cross-appointed, Department of Anthropology, UT
email: gdei@oise.utoronto.ca
voicemail: 416.978.0460
fax: 416.923.4651
office: OISE/UT, 12-242

Academic Profile

Born in Asokore-Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. I received my undergraduate education at the University of Ghana. Legon (B.A Hons., 1978), and postgraduate studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario (M.A., 1980) and the University of Toronto, Canada (Ph.D. June, 1986).

Currently, I am Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Between 1996 and 2000 I served as the first Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at OISE/UT. My teaching and research interests are in the areas of Anti-Racism , Minority Schooling, International Development and Anti-Colonial Thought.

My professional and academic work has led to many Canadian and international invitations in US, Europe and Africa. I have appeared in many radio and television shows speaking about my academic and research work as well as professional engagements.

Educational Research

In the spring of 2000, working with OISE/UT graduate students, I completed a three-year SSHRC project study on: "Making Excellence Accessible and Equitable: The Examination of Best/Exemplary Practices of Inclusive schooling in Ontario Public Schools". The findings of this study appear in the book: Removing the Margins: The Challenges and Possibilities of Inclusive Schooling, published in the Fall, 2000 by the Canadian Scholar's Press [with M. James, S. James-Wilson, L. Karumanchery and J. Zine]. There is also ' Inclusive Schooling: A Teacher's Companion to 'Removing the Margins' released in February, 2002. I have just completed a three-year research project on: Minority Education in Comparative Contexts: Dealing with Difference and Diversity in Ghanaian Schooling. In March 2002, I was awarded another three-year SSHRC grant for a study on 'Accounting for School Success: The Personal and Individual Stories of High Achievers'.

This newly funded SSHRC project is investigating the varying conceptions high academic achievers from diverse minority backgrounds have of success and failure. The study hopes to shed light on the students and award recipients' sense of the role that education and academic success play in enhancing social opportunity and mobility, and individual life chances.

I was the Principal Investigator for the Project, 'Drop-Out or Push Out' the findings of which appear in the book , Reconstructing 'Drop-out': A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students' Disengagement from School (University of Toronto Press, 1997) [co-authored with Josephine Mazzuca, Elizabeth McIsaac, and Jasmine Zine].

Other Published Books

I am the author of the following books: Anti-Racism Education: Theory and Practice [Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, 1996]; and Hardships and Survival in Rural West Africa, published in both the english and french languages in 1992 by CODESRIA; and the co-author of Reconstructing 'Drop-out': A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students' Disengagement from School (University of Toronto Press, 1997) [With Josephine Mazzuca, Elizabeth McIsaac, and Jasmine Zine].

In the year, 2000, I co-edited three books: a) Indigenous Knowledges in Global Contexts: Multiple Readings of Our World (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, fall, 2000), [with Budd Hall and Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg]; b) Power, Knowledge and Anti-Racism Education: A Critical Reader (Fernwood Publishers, Halifax, fall, 2000) [With Agnes Calliste]); and c) Anti-Racist Feminism: Critical Race and Gender Studies (Fernwood Publishers, Halifax, May 2000) [With Agnes Calliste].

In June, 2003, I co-edited a Special Issue of the Orbit Magazine , Volume 33, Number 3 (with Njoki Wane on 'Anti-Racism and Inclusive Schooling Practices".

My five (5) most recent books (2004-6) are:

a) 'Playing the Race Card: White Power and Privilege', New York: Peter Lang, (co-authored with Leeno and Nisha Karumanchery.

b) Schooling and Education in Africa: The Case of Ghana. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2004

c) Critical Issues in Anti-Racist Research Methodologies. (co-edited with Gurpreet Singh Johal). New York: Peter Lang, 2005.

d) Anti-Colonialism and Education: The Politics of Resistance. (co-edited with Arlo Kempf). Sense Publishers, Netherlands, 2006.

e) African Education and Globalization: Critical Perspectives. [co-edited with Ali Abdi and K Puplampu], Lanham, M.D: Lexington Books, 2006

Forthcoming Books:

Forthcoming books include:

a) Schooling and Difference in Africa: Democratic Challenges in Contemporary Context (co-authored with Alireza Asgharzadeh, Sharon Eblaghie-Bahador, and Riyad Shahjahan). University of Toronto Press. [Scheduled for release in the fall, 2006].

b) The Poetics of Anti-Racism. [co-edited with Nuzhat Amin], Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, Nova Scotia, [forthcoming, fall, 2006.

Community Work
I am the First President of the Ghanaian-Canadian Union, an umbrella group of Ghanaian-Canadian cultural, ethnic and religious associations in Ontario. I have served on the Board of the following community organizations in Ontario: 'Central Neighbourhood House', 'The Black Secretariat', 'Tractors for Our Daily Bread', Unemployed Professional African Men and Women's Association' and the Board of Trustees' of the Harry Jerome Scholarships Awards of Canada. . I have served as the President of the Canadian-Ghanaian Organization [now Cross Edge Network]. I am a member of the Organization of Parents of Black Children (OPBC) and the Black Educators Working Group (BEWG), Patron of Anansekrom, of the African Cultural Heritage Group. I am a member of the Uhuru Collective, a diverse group of scholars, community workers and social researchers on anti-racism and oppression work based at OISE/UT. Currently I am a member, 'Re-Claim Our Youth Through Education and Training' (ROCINET) Toronto, and the 'Africentric Focus School Advisory Committee', Toronto District School Board, Toronto. I am also a member of the City of Toronto Mayor's Roundtable on: 'Children, Youth and Education". Toronto. I am also a member of the "Postsecondary Education Advisory Committee on First Generation Students" recently set up by the Minister of Training Colleges and Universities in Ontario.

Awards and Recognition [Most Recent]

I was honoured last October, 2002 when I received the 'Race, Gender, and Class Project Academic Award , 2002' in New Orleans in the US. I received this award after I gave the keynote address at the pre-conference symposium of the 4th Annual 'Race, Gender, and Class Conference' in New Orleans.

In February 2003, I received the '2003 Community Builder Award' from the Continuing Education Department of the Toronto Catholic District School Board for my "dedicated service to the community and the education of minority youth".

In July of 2003, I also received the 'African-Canadian Outstanding Achievement in Education' from the Pride Magazine in Toronto.

I am a recipient of the City of Toronto's 'William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations' awarded on December, 10, 2003.

I am also the recipient of the New Pioneers Award for Community Work, from 'Skills for Change' March 25, 2004.

I am also the recipient of the ANKH Ann Ramsey Award for 'Intellectual Initiative and Academic Action'. Award presented at the luncheon of the Annual International Conference of the Association of Nubian Kemetic Heritage, Philadelphia, US. [October 1, 2005]

Finally, I am the recipient of the University of Toronto Black Alumni Association Award for 'Excellence in Education". Award presented at the Second UTBAA Awards Gala, Toronto, October 21, 2005.