How a University of Manitoba book club is empowering Black students

A club at the University of Manitoba is committed to turning the page on how stories about the Black community are shared in academic spaces.

Founded by the Afro-Caribbean Mentorship Program in partnership with the university's arts faculty, Changing the Narrative is a book club that invites students to re-examine how Black experiences are represented in literature.  

Milen Baliho, a political science major at the U of M and the club's moderator, said before joining the club, she was rarely given the opportunity to study texts that featured Black experiences.

"I think sometimes it gets treated as extracurricular or, like, one week you get in a class," Baliho said in an interview. "Versus something that's an interwoven thread within learning."

In the rare moments she studied Black stories, the characters only existed in relation to slavery or colonialism, she said.

After speaking with other Black students, she realized she wasn't the only one with this experience.

The lack of diversity in Black literature taught at the university is a gap in the academic system, she said. 

The singular focus of these narratives often hinders the ability for a mosaic of experiences to be seen while also re-affirming perspectives that are interwoven with stereotypes, she said.

Before joining the club, Baliho navigated the gaps on her own, something she says was emotionally draining and laborious. 

She found herself looking for leeway in assignments to include Black voices. She also tried to create a reading list exclusively made up of black authors she could study outside of class.

Black literature and academic literature tend to live on the margins and, as a student, Baliho didn't always have time to search for material, she said. She found studying the texts alone equally difficult. 

It's "a very strenuous workload on an individual, having to kind of make your own curriculum alongside academia," Baliho said. 

Dana Medoro, a professor of American literature at the University of Manitoba, said it's hard to look at Western literature without discussing slavery and colonialism, but it's important to search for stories that centre joy, resilience and community empowerment. 

"We don't want to have people take away the impression that slavery was easy to get through," Medoro said. 

"But then it's also terrible to just focus on how awful it could be, and not focus on the ways in which people did form communities — did establish elaborate ways of connecting and making lives."

In recent years, Medoro has noticed a slow shift as other professors question the representation of Black characters in the material they teach, something she believes is necessary.

A lack of diversity in Black voices in the classroom limits what all students learn, she said.

The focus on texts rooted in pain can also be retraumatizing for Black students, she said.

Changing the Narrative had its first meeting in late March. As the moderator, it was important to Baliho that it felt like a safe space for the other members. 

Currently, there are 15 members, many of them STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students. Baliho pointed out often science and business students aren't given the opportunity to engage with texts that examine culture.

LISTEN | Milen Baliho talks about Changing the Narrative:

Although the club strays away from texts that feature stereotypical representations of trauma, the material is still complex and sometimes heavy, so it's important to her that people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts. 

The club is a place where she can explore different aspects of Black identity while also discussing her own experiences with other students.

Baliho hopes that in the future, the conversations that happen during meetings will have a place in the classroom. To her, the club is the first step toward 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.