From the experiences of Black teachers in rural Nova Scotian schools to hair services for Black hair in Antigonish, five StFX students are pursuing research projects as 2021 Racial Justice Leadership Grant recipients from StFX’s Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership.
This year’s recipients are Kevanya Simmons, Nicole Crowie, Sharone King, Wankunda Bwalya and Tamara Borden.
The grants—up to six annually of $4,500 each—provide Black and Indigenous students with funding and institutional resources to support projects that include research, organizing and outreach work, or advocacy and activism in racial justice. They were introduced in 2020 to help contribute to the wider efforts at StFX and in the community to combat the continued presence of racism in Canadian society and in higher education.
Recipients say the grants are invaluable to their work.
“We are so grateful to have been granted this opportunity. To be able to use our talents to positively impact the Antigonish and StFX communities is extremely heartwarming, as we both love and see the importance in building a stronger Black community and giving back to our own,” say fourth year students Sharonne King of The Bahamas, a Gerald Schwartz School of Business student taking an advanced major in finance, and Wankunda Bwalya of Zambia, also a Schwartz School student taking a major in entrepreneurship and a minor in studio art, who have been awarded a joint grant.
“In residing in Antigonish for four-plus years, we have seen the amazing progress this community has made in the fight against racial injustice and hope to add to this initiative by empowering one another to proudly embrace our ‘Blackness.’ Through leadership and mentoring, it is our hope to have the services we provide here at StFX and in Antigonish continue once we have graduated. From our experiences, we have seen the positive impact providing Black hair services has brought to both members of the StFX student body and Antigonish community and desire to keep this influence in the years to follow.”
MAKE DREAM A REALITY
“The Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership gave me an opportunity to make my dream a reality,” says Ms. Simmons, a senior student from the Bahamas who is completing a degree in the Aquatic Resources program with a joint major in public policy and social research.
“This opportunity is important to me,” she says “as I am able to represent my country on an international scale while making my mark in marine conservationist research. I anticipate my research project will highlight areas for improvement in community-based response of the Bahamian fishing industry and will call for action by citizens, fishers, and government officials in the interest of conserving the Queen Conch, a national symbol.”
Ms. Borden, a Master of Education in curriculum & instruction (thesis route) student from New Glasgow, NS, says this grant means that she will have a greater support system and a larger platform for sharing her research regarding the experiences of Black Nova Scotian teachers in rural Nova Scotian schools. The grant, she says, will help get her through the data collection phase of her research.
The Racial Justice Leadership Grant projects include:
Sharone King and Wankunda Bwalya
“Beauty Starts Hair:” Embracing, Educating & Empowering
“When living in a small town with a predominantly all-white environment, it is sometimes challenging for persons of African descent to fully embrace their identity when there is little to zero representation. Therefore, this project aims to highlight and increase the visibility of Black students both at St. Francis Xavier University and within the Antigonish community,” say Sharone King and Wankunda Bwalya who will work to attain this mainly through hair dressing and barbershop – “services that aren’t specifically available for Black hair in Antigonish.” The two students say through the years they’ve spent at StFX, they’ve embraced the opportunity to provide hair services to students and persons of African descent. “For this project we will continue to do this by showcasing these services to the StFX and Antigonish communities, while expanding the knowledge of the beauty of expressing ourselves through our hair and the benefits reaped by protecting and taking care of it. Moreover, as our time is winding down here in Antigonish, NS (both in our final year at StFX), we plan to mentor with the skills of Black barbering and hair dressing, to ensure a continuum of Black hair services in this community after we have graduated from StFX. It is our ultimate hope that the Black community within this town, will continue to exhibit a strong sense of pride and empowerment, and that persons from all races and backgrounds would have received adequate knowledge on the beauty of Black hair and cultural expression.”
Tamara Borden
An Exploration of the Experiences of Black Nova Scotian Teachers in Rural Nova Scotian Schools
Tamara Borden says there is a marked deficit of scholarly research specifically pertaining to Black Nova Scotian teachers, yet there is a growing body of research in education which postulates recruiting, educating, hiring, retaining, and supporting Black teachers as integral components in the success of Black learners. “Moreover, there is research which suggests that gaining a better understanding of Black teachers’ school-based experiences could help inform curriculum in teacher education programs, better prepare prospective Black teachers for what to expect when entering the profession, inform educational leadership of possible toxic organizational culture (i.e. covert systemic anti-Black practices, overt racialized microaggressions, etc.) and incite positive change towards a more just working environment. I believe that the bedrock in effectively realizing these endeavours involves gaining a greater understanding of the school-based experiences of Black teachers,” she says. “Thus, the aim of my qualitative research is to explore the experiences of Black Nova Scotian teachers as they navigate rural Nova Scotian schools and determine how their identities as Black Nova Scotians has informed and possibly shaped their teaching practice and experiences in their schools. With that being said, Black Nova Scotians have historically been subjugated to and disadvantaged by oppressive systems and injustices based on their racialized and cultural identities. And since our experiences are still entrenched in inequitable power relations, my research will take a critical stance.” This project, she says, is long overdue and holds the potential to initiate a domino effect towards positively shaping and uplifting the future of Black teachers, learners, and communities in Nova Scotia.
Kevanya Simmons
Conch Crisis: Internalized, Socialized & Economized
In her study, Kevanya Simmons, examines the conch crisis internalized, socialized, and economized in the Bahamas. “The decline of the Queen Conch is one of the most notable effects of the increased local fishing. Marine practitioners have referred to this decline as the "Conch Crisis." This project seeks to understand the "Conch Crisis" from diverse viewpoints such as those reflected in government policies, the expressed social-cultural significance of Conch, the people depending on this resource living in Nassau and Sweeting's Cay, Grand Bahama, and the conch fishing sector,” she says. “In the Bahamas, the conch is a significant part of the Bahamian culture because it is inevitable to come across a conch while in the country. It has been used for centuries for food, decoration, jewelry, bait for fishing and an empty conch shell is used as a musical instrument in the annual Junkanoo festival. Tourism and fishing are the primary sources of foreign exchange for the Bahamas as they contribute about $100 million to the country's economy annually. Since 1980, the country has been experiencing increased local fishing, which has become a major threat to the livelihoods of fishermen, vendors, restaurant owners, seafood wholesalers and processors depend on healthy conch populations local fishers’ livelihoods and has significantly reduced conch populations. While most of the Caribbean nations enforce a closed season for conch fishing, the Bahamas does not. The demand for conch has been increasing with time, and the local fishers fully capitalize on the mollusks, which has led to a significant decline of the conch population in the county. As a fishery resource, conch contributes millions of dollars to the economy annually. We must use this resource in a sustainable way so that we will continue to benefit from it well into the future.”
Nicole Crowie
“Towards a global framework for student learning about the impact of colonization on food insecurity: The South African experience.”
