The African Diaspora Youth Conference- Narratives and Experiences of Afrodiasporic youth in Windsor Ontario, Canada

• In Event: Narratives and indigenous ways of being across the African diaspora

Proposal

The African Diaspora Youth Conference- Narratives and Experiences of Afrodiasporic youth in Windsor Ontario, Canada


Introduction
Windsor, Ontario, Canada has often been referred to as “grand central station” for the Underground Railroad. Because of it’s close proximity to Detroit, Windsor was a popular passage for Afrodiasporic individuals and family seeking to escape slavery. Today, Windsor continues to be home to hundreds of individuals who are descended from the courageous and powerful people who sought freedom in Canada. Windsor is also home to families from the Caribbean, Nigeria, Somali, Ethiopia; further diversifying the Afrodiasporic identities who now populate a part of Canada that signaled safety and freedom for many former slaves hundreds of years ago.
Like many other Afrodiasporic youth and young people in Canada, schools prove to be a difficult place to succeed. In response to these difficulties, The African Diaspora Youth Conference was created to help bridge the gap for these youth and young people to attend university.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the narratives and experiences of a select group of high school students from Windsor as they prepare for and attend the African Diaspora Youth Conference on the campus of the University of Windsor. We will also document the development of the Diaspora Studies high school course, the Diaspora conference in Windsor, Ontario and the overall program of study developed in partnership between the Greater Essex County District School Board and the University of Windsor. The student narratives and experiences in the course and over the conference, as well as, the well-documented process of development of the program and the ultimate model will be of benefit to educators interested in developing similar university and high school partnership programs.
The course investigates the history of African people from ancient times to the present and traces their influence throughout the Diaspora with special focus on Canada, the Caribbean and the United States. Through the course, students gain knowledge and an understanding about these peoples, develop historical inquiry skills and understandings in their analysis of past and present developments and improve their communication skills in written, oral and visual formats.
In schools where the course is taught (close to 30 in total now across Ontario), the Diaspora Conference serves as a culminating activity. Almost all of the students who attend the conference will be taking or have taken the course. Over the years the only exceptions of included students are those who were considering the University of Windsor for post-secondary studies or students the teachers felt for a specific personal reason would greatly benefit from the experience. The main objective of the Diaspora conference is to extend the range and choice for the advancement of Black students beyond high school as a way of improving their life chances as adults.
Methodology
The research uses a community-based ethnographic approach that is critical, democratic, collaborative, and socially responsive (Carspecken & Apple, 1992; Stringer, 1997). This study will adopt a qualitative approach, specifically ethnographic research as outlined by Creswell (2003). We have chosen to use ethnographic research methods for this study because it is a process of inquiry that will help us to best understand the lived experiences of the participants as a way of exploring a social or human problem in the particular social context. In examining the perspectives of the students in the study, the researchers builds a complex, holistic picture, analyze words, report detailed views of informants, and conduct the study in the participants’ natural setting. An ethnographic study will allow for a detailed account of the relationships and experiences of participants through interviews and observations.

Authors

• Emmanuel Tabi, University of Toronto

• Andrew Allen, University of Windsor