鈥淔ebruary is Black History Month, but we make history every day鈥� 鈥�
Ruth Rodney, associate director, Harriet Tubman Institute

Education, particularly math education, is not a neutral space for Black students. It continues to be a space where there are fewer expectations of success. That was one of the messages that emerged during the Black History Month panel on education, Black Educators and Black Education, at the Harriet Tubman Institute at 快播视频.

As Assistant Professor of York鈥檚 Faculty of Education told the audience 鈥� inequities persist for Black learners.

鈥淭here is a lot of overt racism at play in education that we have to pay attention to, but there remains a lot of push back. The system of mathematics needs to change so that young people, especially young Black people, feel like they don't belong in this space,鈥� says Osibodu, who was one of five panellists.

The panellists were from a range of disciplines and included Assistant Professor Godfred Boateng in York鈥檚 School of Global Health; Professor , director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety at the University of Guelph; Assistant Professor of York鈥檚 Department of Humanities, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies; and Associate Professor of the Lassonde School of Engineering (who will be in Ghana in March to do a STEM workshop with high school students) also participated.

One of the main messages was that structural change is needed to address the architecture that skews the playing field. While ending math streaming for Grade 9 students, particularly Black students, into the applied or academic level at high school is great, 鈥淏lack students need to feel welcome, they need to feel they belong in these educational spaces,鈥� says Osibodu.

Panellists also discussed how colonizers took credit for indigenous knowledge across their colonies. When the French and English first landed on the West Coast of Africa, Indigenous Black people taught them how to treat tropical diseases. In places such as South America, the colonists learned of an indigenous malaria cure 鈥� quinine 鈥� using the bark of the Cinchona tree, says Boateng. The colonizers later used that knowledge to create synthetic anti-malarials such as Chloroquine, which was then sold back to people in these colonies.

鈥淪ome of the things that were learned were not ascribed to the indigenous [populace]. It became sort of the property or the proprietary of those who came to the land. It was stolen, plagiarized.鈥�

A more recent example was the discovery of the Ebola virus, which should have been attributed to a Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, but was instead to Dr. Peter Piot of Belgium at the time, says Goodridge.

Biases also play a huge role in which diseases get funding to create vaccines. Boateng also takes issue with the huge influx of resources to create a vaccine for COVID-19. While he doesn鈥檛 begrudge a vaccine being developed for SARS-CoV-2, he does question the scale of worldwide resources dedicated to it when malaria has killed millions, more than 600,000 in 2022 alone, mostly in Africa, with 78 per cent of them children under the age of five, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures. The first malaria vaccine wasn鈥檛 recommended for public use by the WHO until 2021.

Many universities now have Black studies programs, including York, but Mohammed says the first Black studies department began at San Francisco State University in 1968, although informally it started years before and the work is also happening in spaces beyond academia. One of the questions Mohammed had is: 鈥淗ow do we organize to create more opportunities, not just for Black education, but for our community to learn and have the language and development to challenge and create change.鈥�

Despite everything, several panellists believe there is hope.

鈥淲hile the beginnings have not been that great. Today we can speak of black educators making an impact or having an impact in their field,鈥� says Boateng. 鈥淚 believe that if we are empowered, it becomes easier for us to tell you the story.鈥�

Banner photo by Shayne Phillips

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Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, a freedom fighter, a spy, nurse and conductor on the Underground Railroad and although there is a lot written about her movements in the United States, tracing her path in Canada has proven trickier. Painstaking, detailed work on a virtual museum to not only honour Tubman鈥檚 legacy but to trace her footsteps through southern Ontario is underway at The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas at 快播视频.

Born enslaved in Maryland, U.S., Tubman lived nearly a decade in St. Catharines, Ont. after escaping slavery in 1849 and where she regularly ushered slaves to freedom through a perilous journey ending in what was then called British North America. The virtual museum, in partnership with , hopes to offer visitors a chance to walk in Tubman鈥檚 footsteps as she advocated for an end to slavery and freedom for her people.

鈥淥ne of the things that our virtual museum is trying to highlight is the importance of Canada in her walk. Americans think she is all theirs, but we were also part of her journey, her legacy,鈥� says the Harriet Tubman Institute (HTI) Director Assistant Professor Omosalewa Olawoye, who took over the directorship in the summer. 鈥淯nlike her journey in the U.S., there isn鈥檛 a whole lot documented on her path in Ontario. We are doing that research now.鈥�

The film, Harriet, brought her history to a wider audience, but details on her travels through Ontario were scant. What is known is that Tubman鈥檚 legacy continues today by inspiring students, faculty and staff at York to learn more about their heritage and how they can influence policies toward furthering social justice and equality. Just as Tubman provided safe passage for fellow enslaved Africans, the HTI is what Olawoye calls a safe space for academics and community members to do research on topics some might find uncomfortable. It鈥檚 work that can at times delve into the heart of colonialism and its enduring ripples to uncover treasure troves of truths.

The recently opened resource centre at the HTI in York Lanes allows for a continuation of that safe space and research, individual and collaborative. Most of the books that line the walls of the centre, including several first-editions, as well as the artifacts on display, are donated. There are also archival documents, and audio and video tapes. It鈥檚 a growing collection that may soon spill out of its allotted space.

As part of its mandate, the HTI encourages the study of pre-contact cultures and the histories of Africa, slavery and colonialism, but also current struggles in the lives of African peoples and diasporic communities, including contemporary forms of exploitation.

鈥淲e are also building up our research clusters to encourage scholarly discussions and enrollments, not just in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math]. We like to put an 鈥楢鈥� in there for the 鈥榓rts鈥�, so it's STEAM,鈥� says Olawoye. The HTI is also partnering with other organized research units at York, such as the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, as well as the Department of Dance and external organizations.

The HTI has continued to evolve since its officially opening at 快播视频 in 2007 as the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples (changed to its current name in 2013) by Canada鈥檚 then Governor General Micha毛lle Jean. It fittingly coincided with the 200th anniversary of the British abolition of the slave trade.

One of the things that I personally have realized is that a lot of these discussions shape how we think and even helps how we teach our classes.

Omosalewa Olawoye

Last year, the HTI Journal of African and African Diasporic Studies, an international, peer-reviewed and bilingual journal, published its first issue. It鈥檚 part of what Olawoye of York鈥檚 Department of Social Science in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies calls an expanding and broadening of the institute鈥檚 reach and influence.

Oddly enough, it was the pandemic with its lockdowns that helped make that happen. Because of the lockdowns, the HTI started holding talks on Zoom which allowed dialogue and engagement from people around the world, including Africa and the Caribbean. The online model was so successful that the HTI decided to continue to hold their Thursday talks in a hybrid format going forward.

鈥淲e've had people from South Africa, from Cameroon and Ghana giving engaging talks on Africa and its diaspora,鈥� says Olawoye. 鈥淧eople can come together, give feedback, and it strengthens the research that is produced at the end of the day.鈥�

Those discussions can also influence education. At the HTI鈥檚 recent joint conference in Dakar, Senegal, there were conversations about decolonizing education.

鈥淚t was really interesting to see the differences and similarities, and perspectives from those in the diaspora and those within the African continent, people鈥檚 ideas on what they thought about decolonizing education and what it meant,鈥� says Olawoye. 鈥淥ne of the things that I personally have realized is that a lot of these discussions shape how we think and even helps how we teach our classes.鈥�

RESEARCH EXPLORES MONETARY POLICY AND BANKING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Those discussions also influence her own research into sustainable economic development, monetary policy and banking in Sub-Saharan Africa, which she approaches by first learning about people鈥檚 cultural views on money. With her bachelor鈥檚 degree in English literature and a PhD in economics, she finds herself looking for clues to monetary policy even in her favourite novels like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe about pre-colonial life in what is now Nigeria.

鈥淲hen I read books, I try to pick up monetary elements to understand the system of banking and money usage before the formal banking that we know today. It helps me with understanding how monetary policy works in these regions, whether it's in the way that mothers viewed money in communal societies or something else,鈥� says Olawoye, editor of .

In a way, it鈥檚 unsurprising as novels are studies in human nature and she is most interested in how the average person living in Sub-Saharan Africa views money 鈥� usually as an IOU, a placeholder for an acknowledged debt. A lot of these cultural variances on money are often ignored in mainstream European banking systems and monetary policies.

鈥淢oney is different for different people and different communities, but one of the things that I have learned from my research is there are cultural views of money. Money can represent freedom to some. What I'm trying to trace is how these views would be influenced by the central bank setting policies. It's those different understandings that could affect the kind of monetary policies brought in. There is no one-size-fits-all monetary policy,鈥� she says.

鈥淲hat I try to do is highlight the African story in a bottoms-up approach in understanding money, especially the endogeneity of money.鈥�

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