New McMaster course on Black Caribbean diaspora shows progress toward potential program
Instructor says it's important for students to see themselves reflected in university courses
McMaster University is introducing a new course on Black Caribbean culture that is another step forward toward a potential new program focused on Black studies.
Stacy Creech, a Dominican PhD candidate and teaching fellow in the English and cultural studies department, says the course is partly an extension of a course taught last year by Kojo Damptey, interim executive director of Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.
Creech says her four-week course will focus on poetry, short stories, music, and news publications created by Afro-Caribbean artists that tap into Black Caribbean culture. Some of those would include the works of Jamaican poet Louise Bennett-Coverley and Barbadian author Austin Clarke.
"My main goal is to not just focus on the English-speaking Caribbean, but also to bring in Afro-Latinx Caribbean countries like Cuba, the Dominican, Puerto Rico, and Black-francophone locales too like Haiti and Martinique," she said.
"When you tell people you're from the Caribbean, they immediately assume you're Jamaican or Trinidadian and nobody really thinks about the Spanish-speaking Caribbean."
The course comes nearly half a year after a report reviewing Black students' experiences in McMaster University's athletics department found "a culture of systemic anti-Black racism has existed and continues to exist."
Creech says she, and other faculty members like Alpha Abebe, have been pushing for courses like hers and Damptey's.
"It's important to have these spaces for our students ... that address our histories," she said.
"For them to see themselves reflected in the courses we teach, it's really key."
The course has 50 spots open and will consist of six hours per week starting May 3.
While the course is part of an African and African Diaspora Studies minor program students can apply for if they take a certain number of specific courses across a range of other programs, Creech said the goal is to create a full-fledged program.
"I want to see how courses like mine and Kojo's add to that."
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
