The Black Research Network (BRN) has launched a research project and a new undergraduate course on the topic of Black and Indigenous peoples’ historical encounters across the Americas. The project is led by Beth Coleman, a professor at U of T’s Faculty of Information and Institute of Culture, Communication, Information and Technology, and Kristen Bos, a professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of Historical studies. The work is directed towards securing funding that will support an international team of leading Black and Indigenous scholars.
The project explores new and timely research that forgoes historical narratives about Indigenous and Black peoples which centre on European settlers, and instead focuses on the neglected territory of Indigenous-Black encounters.
Under the theme of “waterways” as sites of encounter in the history of Indigenous and Black peoples of the Americas, the BRN, collaborating with the Indigenous Research Network (IRN), supports a post-doctoral fellow, a visiting artist, and a geographically diverse group of scholars, focusing on issues of place, identity, agency, equity, diversity, and social and environmental justice.
Research insights will be communicated as conference papers, artworks, policy recommendations and activism. The project will also serve as curriculum development foundation: Coleman was awarded a U of T Global Classrooms grant ($10K) to launch a tri-campus undergraduate course on the topic.