Care(ful) Disruption: Indigenous and Black Women’s Standpoints on Care as a Strategy of Resistance and Continuance

Thursday, January 14, 2021 – 4:00-6:00pm Pacific, 7:00-9:00pm Eastern time (via Zoom)

Indigenous and Black women in Canada have been critical to their communities as traditional healers, health care providers, activists, and spiritual guides. Yet, the voices and health concerns of Indigenous and Black women, apart from a few notable exceptions, are virtually absent from Canadian and feminist histories of health, and seldom prioritized in policy debates. This erasure, which is consequential of oppressive structure and supports the continuance of white supremacy, colonialism, and heteropatriarchy, has had devastating consequences for Indigenous and Black peoples in Canada who are grappling with poor health outcomes.

In this conversation, featuring Dr. Karen Flynn (Departments of Gender and Women’s Studies and African American Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Dr. Lana Ray (Department of Indigenous Learning, Lakehead University), and Dr. Notisha Massaquoi (Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto), and chaired by Dr. Kristin Burnett (Department of Indigenous Learning, Lakehead University), we centre gendered and racialized notions and histories of healing, and discuss ways in which universities can be sites of change through the privileging of Indigenous and Black theories, histories, and methods. Consideration is also given to the structural changes needed to create space for the embodiment of Indigenous and Black women’s notions of caring as a particular mode of scholarship.

More information on this event can be found in the attached poster. Those interested in attending are asked to email Dr. Whitney Wood at whitney.wood@viu.ca to register and receive the zoom login details.