Black Face in Canadian educational institutions
Professor Philip S.S. Howard, McGill University
Oct 17, 2023 — 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
A lecture discussion on Blackface in Canadian Institutions based on Professor Howard's book Performing Postracialism: Reflections on Antiblackness, Nation, and Education through Contemporary Blackface in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2023).
Overview
Publisher's summary: "In Performing Postracialism, Philip S.S. Howard examines instances of contemporary blackface in Canada and argues that it is more than a simple matter of racial (mis)representation. The book looks at the ostensible humour and dominant conversations around blackface, arguing that they are manifestations of the particular formations of antiblackness in the Canadian nation state and its educational institutions. It posits that the occurrence of blackface in universities is not incidental, and outlines how educational institutions’ responses to blackface in Canada rely upon a motivation to protect whiteness."
Speaker
Philip S. S. Howard
Philip S. S. Howard is an associate professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. His scholarship is in the areas of Black Studies, anticolonial studies, and Critical Race Studies in education. Dr. Howard’s scholarship examines the ways that relations of race and anti/blackness mediate how we come to know ourselves, make life, and create community in the Canadian settler-colonial context. His most recent research projects investigate contemporary blackface in Canada as a postracialist phenomenon, Black people’s agency in educational contexts in Toronto, Halifax, and Montreal, and school-to-university transitions for Black students in Canada. His work is grounded in over 20 years of professional experience in K-12 education. Dr Howard’s recent publications include the book Performing Postracialism: Reflections on Antiblackness, Nation, and Education through Contemporary Blackface in Canada (2023), and the co-edited collection African Canadian Leadership: Continuity, Transition & Transformation (2019), both published with the University of Toronto Press.