The Black Press in 19th-century Canada and Beyond is part of a broader interdisciplinary project - Canada's 19th Century Black Press and Trajectories of Exceptional Communication and Intellectual Activism - funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It explores the decisive role played by Canada's Black Press in the design of cultural and race relations in Canada, and views the study of the Black Press as essential to an understanding of Canada's involvement in transatlantic intellectual activism.
Project Lead Investigator:
Boulou Ebanda de B'béri (University of Ottawa)
Project Co-Investigators:
Claudine Bonner (Acadia University)
Nina Reid-Maroney (Huron University College) nreidmar@huron.uwo.ca
Research Objectives:
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To identify and create an inventory of the work of journalists as intellectual activists in the tradition of the Black Canadian Press, such as Shadd and Henry W. Bibb;
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To produce texts and research presentations using conventional publications (books, articles, conferences) and digital media to popularize the contributions of the cultural press in the construction of modern Canada;
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To gather and analyse tangible data demonstrating the importance of Canada in the abolition of transatlantic slavery by interogating research on the intellectual activism of the Black Press with international research networks;
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To identify the sites of activity of the Black Press intellectual activists in Canada, and map their trajectories, their networks, and their connections with other journalists and cultural presses around the world;
- To develop an innovative interdiciplinary undergraduate course centred in on African-Canadian texts that could inspire young people who feel excluded from the larger narrative of Canadian national history.
