North African Deportees and the Birth of New Caledonia as a Penal Colony

Tshepo Fellow, Dr. Abderrahman Beggar is a professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University and a fellow at the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa. He is currently conducting a SSHRC-funded research project titled “The New Caledonian Arabs in Bourail and Nessadiou and the Birth of the Penal Colony: Life Stories and Social Ghosts.”

December 10, 2025, 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.,

Schlegel Building 107

We have decided to move Dr. Abdou Beggar's colloquium online due to inclement, wintry weather and forecasts for difficult commuting.

Discourse & Counter-Discourses: Missionaries, Literary, and Black Liberation in the British Caribbean 

Presenting the 2025 Queen Elizabeth II Scholars from the University of Ghana.

When: Thursday, December 4th from 3-6p.m.

Where: DAWB 4-105, Waterloo Campus

• Jude Boadu, MPhil candidate, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, University of Ghana. Queen Elizabeth Scholar, Laurier Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.

Title: Effects of extreme weather events on rice production in the forest zone of Ghana

• Comfort Baidoo, Doctoral candidate, Migration Studies, University of Ghana. Queen Elizabeth Scholar, Laurier Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Title: Unequal Burdens: Examining the Gendered Impacts of Climate-Induced Displacement on Livelihoods and Well-Being in Ghana

• Adwoa Achiaa Abrokwaah, MPhil candidate, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, University of Ghana. Queen Elizabeth Scholar, Laurier Department of Global Studies

Title: Health and Livelihood Impacts of Extreme Heat and Floods Among Vendors in Urban Open Markets

The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship program, known as the QES, is led by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) in collaboration with Universities Canada, and with founding support from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC).

Tshepo fellows are invited to join the Ghana Culture Night; Dr. Amoah Boampong will deliver a short talk and there will be a dinner with Ghanaian recipes prepared by the Turret Chef. We are also trying to bring in a Ghanaian drum-dance group.

This is an event that celebrates our Laurier and UGhana Queen Elizabeth Scholarship recipients and also raises awareness for potential future Laurier QES scholarship students. If you know a student who might be interested in applying for the scholarship to fund participation in the 2026 Ghana internships, please pass along this information.

Contact Alex Latta (alatta@wlu.ca) to reserve a ticket for the Culture Night or for more email and PowerPoint resources for sharing the QES opportunity with students.

When: November 5th, 2025 from 5pm-7pm

Where: The Turret, Waterloo Campus

The Tshepo Institute hosts a variety of events throughout the year, such as annual public lectures, webinars, seminars, symposiums, and our annual AGM. Many of our events are online, and some are in person. 

One of our major annual events is the Nelson Mandela Public Lecture Series. The Tshepo Institute invites world-class scholars to share their Africa-centric research with Laurier faculty, students, and the larger community. The aim of this series is to catalyze positive transformation by bringing focus to issues emerging on the continent and amongst the African diaspora. Tshepo also holds smaller events online and across all Laurier campuses.  

This year the NMPL speaker is Dr. Yvonne Shorter Brown, who will present a lecture titled "Dead Woman Pickney: Sociocultural Legacies of the Colonial Project in Jamaica."

When: Thursday, October 30, at 6:30pm

Where: Senate and Board Chambers, Waterloo Campus

Making Space for All: Centering Social and Cultural Representations in EDII Conversations

Tshepo Fellow, Dr. Ehaab Abdou, organized two panels and a workshop to discuss issues of representation in a variety of educational contexts. The organizers and panelists included 

Dr. Kevin Burrell (Department of Religion and Culture and Tshepo fellow) on representations with a focus on Judeo-Christian religious scriptures;
Dr. Ann Marie Beals (Department of Community Psychology) representations of anti-Black racism as a colonial construct;
Dr. Karen Cyrus (Faculty of Music and Tshepo's Director) on representations within music education and the academy;
Dr. Alexandra Boutros (Department of Communication Studies) on representations within post-secondary music education and the music industry more broadly

Dr. Ryan Neepin (Faculty of Education) on representations of Indigenous histories and cultures
Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad (Faculty of Education) on representations in teacher education; EDI in the midst of anti-Wokeism

When: March 7 from 9 am to 2 pm

Where: Senate Board Chambers, Waterloo campus

Tshepo fellows, Dr. Robert Ame and Esther Haywood, organized this gathering which featured the theme Black Joy. 

The keynote speakers were Tshepo fellows Drs. Karen Cyrus and Kwashie Kuwor.

When: March 6, 2025 at 5 pm 

Where: One Market Atrium, Brantford Campus

Lamine Diallo is the co-founder of the Tshepo Institute. The Lamine Diallo Lecture Series for FW 2024-2025, featuring a screening of the documentary film STEADFAST - The Messenger and the Message and a conversation with the Hon. Dr. Jean Augustine. This event was held by the Office of the Associate Vice-President: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Dr. Augustine who was the first Black Canadian female Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister elected to Canada's House of Commons in 1993, and the subsequent champion of a federal motion to establish February as Black History Month in Canada.

Please hold the date and time for this special event:  

• Friday, February 28, 2:00-4:00 pm with a reception at 1:30 pm
• Join us in-person in the Paul Martin Center on the Waterloo campus or by Zoom webinar
• Registration link is available here:

Tshepo Fellows Drs. Karen Cyrus and Heena Mistry partnered with Teneile Warren and Pauline Janke from the Waterloo Region District School Board's EDI office to organize and convene the second annual Black Brilliance Elementary Conference at Laurier. The conference welcomed elementary students of African descent from 45 public schools across the Waterloo Region.

There were over 350 persons in attendance, including elementary students from grades 5 to 8, their teachers, and guests. The day began with a plenary session, followed by seven concurrent workshops. Attendees then enjoyed a lunch featuring African and Afrodiasporic cuisine before participating in another round of seven workshops. The event concluded with an African dance party.

The workshops were facilitated by Laurier’s faculty and staff, including several Tshepo fellows, members of Laurier's Black Faculty and Staff Caucus, and community members. Additionally, 25 undergraduate event assistants supported the event. The conference also received support from the Faculty of Music, Lazaridis Hall, WLUFA, Office of the Dean, CSEDI, Black Faculty and Staff Caucus, Office of the President, Faculty of Arts, Office of the AVP-EDI, ICT, and the Kitchener Public Library.

When: February 20, 2025  from 10 am to 2:30 pm

Tshepo Fellow, Dr. Tedla Desta, will give a lecture on "Exploring Laurier Archives and Special Collections from a Different Perspective."

"This lecture will present seldom-discussed archival findings from Wilfrid Laurier University records, with a specific emphasis on land and students and faculty from racialized backgrounds. Furthermore, it will examine the changes in archiving and cataloguing methods implemented by other libraries in response to similar research experiences."

This free online lecture is hosted by Laurier Archives and Special Collections.

When: Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 2:00pm

Where: Online Webinar

A Literary Reading and Discussion with Dr. Carol B. Duncan

Dr. Duncan will read from her published S/F short stories and discuss the significance of Afrofuturism and S/F (Speculative Fact and Fiction) for religious and cultural studies.

This event is a Religion & Culture Colloquium co-sponsored by R&C, Global Studies and The Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa.

When: Tuesday, March 26, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Where: The Robert Langen Gallery, 1st floor, Laurier Library, Waterloo campus

BOOK LAUNCH

Education, Civics, and Citizenship in Egypt: Towards More Inclusive Curricular Representations and Teaching by Ehaab D. Abdou

The Author: Ehaab D. Abdou
Wilfrid Laurier University
https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-arts/faculty-profiles/ehaab-abdou/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ehaababdou792/videos

When: March 20, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

Where: Online via Zoom

The Tshepo Institute  hosted a webinar on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024. This year's panelists consisted of women in senior positions in their fields.

The title of the webinar was "Career Pathways of Women in STEM" and featured women of Afro-Caribbean descent with engineering and chemistry backgrounds. They discussed factors that influenced their decision to pursue a career in STEM; challenges encountered; overcoming gender biases or stereotypes in the male-dominated field; the unique perspectives, and contributions of female scientists; how to  leverage unique backgrounds; and navigating cultural differences.

When: March 8, 2024 | 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Where: Online Webinar

The Tshepo Institute partnered with the Waterloo Region District School Board to convene the inaugural Black Brilliance Conference at Laurier on February 22, 2024. It was a great success.

In attendance were over 250 students from 25 schools across the region. There were 20 presenters comprised of Laurier's faculty, staff, and undergraduates of African descent; they facilitated sessions on studying various subjects at Laurier and strategies for success at the university.

When: February 22, 2024 | 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Where: Wilfrid Laurier University

Inspiring the Next Generation: African Women in Academia

• March 8, 2021

Join Tshepo and the Centre for Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for this exciting International Women's Day panel on the transformational power of African women in leadership.

This panel will feature esteemed panellists:

Dr. Grace Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, Queen's University
Dr. Yolande Bouka, Queen's University
Dr. Sylvia Bawa, York University
Dr. Nadège Compaoré, University of Toronto Mississauga

Moderator:
Dr. Funke Oba, Ryerson University

 “Inspiring the Next Generation: African Women in Academia” a Tshepo African Leadership Lecture Series in celebration of International Women’s Day with the panel March 8, 2021. Panelists: Dr. Yolande Bouka (Queen’s University); Dr. Grace Adeniyi-Ogunyankin (Queen’s University); Dr. Sylvia Bawa (York University); Dr. Nadège Compaoré (University of Toronto Mississauga; moderated by Dr. Funke Oba (Ryerson University) see: https://www.wlu.ca/news/news-releases/2021/feb/laurier-panel-discussion-explores-experiences-of-black-african-women-in-academia.html

Read the news release.

A Panel on Protests for Justice in Nigeria

November 2, 2020

The panelists for this event were Dr. Olabanji Akinola (Algoma University), Dr. Funke Oba (Ryerson University), Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh (McMaster University);

Islam, Islamophobia and the African Landscapes

December 14, 2020 

The panelists for this event were Dr. Abderrahman Beggar (WLU), Dr. Sylvester Lamin (St. Mary’s University St. Cloud Minnesota), Dr. Consoler Teboh (St. Cloud University Minnesota), Dr. Samiha Rahman, California State University Long Beach);

Steadying the Hand that Rocks the Cradle: Exploring the Roles of African Grandmothers in the Stability and Sustenance of Diasporic African Families

• February 4, 2019

The lecture will address how African grandmothers as an often gender discountenanced social capital and support system, often reduce spousal conflicts, impart culturally-relevant socialization to the grandchildren and assist to forge and maintain family stability.

Dr. Buster Ogbuagu is Chair and Associate Professor of Social Work at St. Francis University in Joliet, Illinois. He has worked as a radio broadcaster, high school teacher, social worker in child protection, juvenile justice, as well as a clinical practitioner. Dr. Ogbuagu holds a BSc. [Hons] in Sociology & Anthropology from the University of Nigeria. He later earned a BSW, MSW and Ph.D. from McGill University. His current research and professional interests include, social policy and social welfare, ethics, anti-racist education and anti-oppression in social work, minority and gender issues, refugee resettlement, transnational migration, and child protection. Dr. Ogbuagu has documented some of his many lived experiences in several published journal articles and books.

Searching for Resiliency Admist Conflicts, Child Soldiering and Emigration: The Case of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970

• February 5, 2019

The lecture will present Dr. Ogbuagu’s personal narrative of resiliency as a child soldier in the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, a colonial subject under British imperialism, and as a refugee to Canada, an office cleaner and currently a university professor in the United States. The narrative will present as a prism through which even those who have endured so much pain and suffering are able to summon resiliency to survive and even dare to thrive in strange and oftentimes, alienating environments.

Dr. Buster Ogbuagu is Chair and Associate Professor of Social Work at St. Francis University in Joliet, Illinois. He has worked as a radio broadcaster, high school teacher, social worker in child protection, juvenile justice, as well as a clinical practitioner. Dr. Ogbuagu holds a BSc. [Hons] in Sociology & Anthropology from the University of Nigeria. He later earned a BSW, MSW and Ph.D. from McGill University. His current research and professional interests include, social policy and social welfare, ethics, anti-racist education and anti-oppression in social work, minority and gender issues, refugee resettlement, transnational migration, and child protection. Dr. Ogbuagu has documented some of his many lived experiences in several published journal articles and books.

Tshepo Graduate Seminar

All faculty and students are invited to the Tshepo graduate seminar for the visiting Queen Elizabeth Scholars from the University of Ghana who have been with us since the beginning of the semester. The seminar offers them a unique opportunity to present their MPhil. theses proposals that they have been working on under the supervision of Laurier and University of Ghana professors and to receive feedback from the Laurier Community.

The speakers for the event are the following:

Benjamin Baba Ayamga,MPhil Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana
Title: “Political Vigilantism: Community Perceptions and Experiences”

Afua Addae-Sakyi, MPhil Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana
Title: “Understanding Mobile Money Fraud in Accra”

Victor Agyei-Yeboah, MPhil Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana
Title: “Experiences of Victims of Child Sexual Abuse with the Adjudication Process in Ghana”

Anthony Oduro,MPhil Candidate, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana
Title: “Violence Perpetrated Against Persons with Visual Impairments in the Accra Metropolis”

Alexander Amponsah, MPhil Candidate, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana
Title: “The Role of Self-Help Groups in the Recovery and Social Inclusion of Persons with Mental Disorders in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana”

 

 

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UN Human Rights Day

- December 10, 2019

The United Nations Association Hamilton Chapter is celebrating Dec. 10 Human Rights Day (the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Associate Professor Stacey Wilson-Forsberg will be speaking about the rights of refugees and will share the podium with university students who have arrived as WUSC refugee scholarship students.

China’s Africa Gambit: A Model for Africans or a New Colonialism?

- Oct. 25, 2018

The lecture will address China's role in the international system, its longstanding relations with African states, and perspectives on its deepening presence in Africa in the 21st century.

Houlden is a professor at the University of Alberta, and director of the university’s China Institute. He served in the Canadian foreign service from 1976 until joining the University of Alberta in 2008. Twenty-two years of his career with the Government of Canada were focused on Chinese affairs. He was also the director of the Eastern and Southern African Divisions of what was previously the Department of Foreign Affairs. Houlden last served as Director General of the East Asian Bureau in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade before leaving the foreign service. He has also served on the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and on Alberta’s Asia Advisory Council.

Read the news release.

Global Citizenship Through the Vision of Nelson Mandela

David Zakus is faculty member in the Clinical Public Health Division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. His current research focuses, among other things, on global health and environmental sustainability. He has worked all over sub- Saharan Africa as an educator and researcher, and public health and health services consultant and professional. Current projects are in Rwanda, Niger, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, China and Canada. Zakus has published many research papers, a series of books on culture, development and global health as well as the Planetary Health Weekly, a newsletter that spreads information about important and urgent global health and ecological issues.

Historical Truth, Justice and Reconciliation: Re-Imagining Human Rights in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

Bonny Ibhawoh is a professor of Global Human Rights and Peace Studies at McMaster University, Canada. He was previously the director of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University. He has taught in universities in Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. He was previously a Human Rights Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs, New York; a Research Fellow at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen, Denmark and Associate Member of the Centre for African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom. He is the author of several books and journal articles on human rights and peace studies, including Imperialism and Human Rights (SUNY Press) and Imperial Justice: Africans in Empire’s Court (Oxford University Press). His forthcoming book with Cambridge University Press explores the intersections between human rights and peacebuilding. He serves as a consultant to several governmental and non-governmental human rights organizations, and writes a blog on Human Rights, Social Justice and Peace.

Learn more about the "Truth, Justice and Reconciliation: Re-Imagining Human Rights in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding" lecture.

From Justice to Rights: The Ongoing Struggle for Reproductive Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Susanne Klausen is a History associate professor for Carleton University in Ottawa. Her research focuses on nationalism and sexuality, the history of reproductive health services in South Africa and movements for reproductive rights in a transnational perspective. Most recently, she authored Abortion under Apartheid: Nationalism, Sexuality, and Women’s Reproductive Rights in South Africa (Oxford University Press 2015). She is the author of Race, Maternity, and the Politics of Birth Control in South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan 2004). Other recent works have appeared in the Journal of South African Studies, Medical History, and Journal of Women’s History. She holds a doctorate from Queen’s University.

NATO and the Destruction of Libya

Horace Campbell holds a joint professorship in the Department of African American Studies and Department of Political Science at Maxwell School at Syracuse University. In 2016-17, Campbell was appointed as the Kwame Nkrumah Chair of African Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Legon, Ghana. He has published more than 60 journal articles and a dozen monographs as well as chapters in edited books and is a regular blogger. He is the author of Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation, and Pan Africanism, Pan Africanists and African Liberation in the 21st Century. His most famous book, Rasta and Resistance: from Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney is going through its eighth printing and has been translated into French, Turkish and Italian. He is also the author of Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA (Pluto Press, London 2010). His latest book is Global NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya: Lessons for Africa in the Forging of African Unity (Monthly Review Press 2013).

Driving Social Impact Through Market Based Principles

Narinder Dhami is the managing director of LEAP, Canada’s leading venture philanthropy. LEAP (incubated by the Pecaut Centre) mobilizes the private sector to partner with game changing interventions in the non-profit sector, scaling their impact across Canada. Narinder is the founding Executive Director of Rise Asset Development – a Rotman/CAMH financial initiative, providing an entrepreneurial path to employment for those with a history of mental health and addiction challenges. She led the growth of Rise from the pilot phase to its expansion across Ontario. Narinder has also has spent multiple years working across West Africa, both as program manager at the Première Agence de Micro nance (PAMF) across Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire and as a member of the portfolio team with Acumen Fund (West Africa focused on social enterprises across Ghana and Nigeria). As a lecturer at the University of Toronto, she co-created the first course in micro finance and impact investing at the university. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in Electrical Engineering.

Female Suicide Bombers and the Promise of Emancipation

Political violence can be emancipatory. Anticolonial struggles in Africa and elsewhere demonstrate that it can free people from certain oppressive structures. Does it matter then who carries it out? Does it make any difference if a group of men hijacks an airplane or a woman blows herself up in the midst of a crowded market square if in both cases the intent is to bring about emancipatory change? Having examined over 300 cases of female suicide bombings in various conflicts, we argue that the form of violence and the identity of the perpetrator do matter a great deal. All too often female perpetrators of suicide bombings, their acts of violence and the broader collective struggles of which they are part become delegitimized, which undermines the promise of emancipation entailed in their violence. Our research offers critical insights into the complex intertwinement between power, knowledge, identity, legitimacy, and violence. We see to transcend ideological divisions and simplistic concepts such as “black widows” in order to enhance our understanding of the nuanced ways in which gender, power, and academic practices influence our perceptions of female suicide bombings and attempts at emancipation. For more information, read Laurier’s Nelson Mandela Lecture Series continues with the examination of female suicide bombings.

Tanya Narozhna (PhD, University of Alberta, 2005) is and associate professor of global politics at the University of Winnipeg. Her key research areas include critical security studies, gender and terrorism. Narozhna's major research project over the last few years has focused on female suicide bombings. She was the principal investigator, together with W. Andy Knight (Department of Political Science, University of Alberta) of the SSHRC-funded project titled, Female Suicide Bombers: Transcending Occidentalism. In 2013, Narozhna organized an international workshop "Female Suicide Bombings: Challenges and Responses," featuring some of the lead academics specializing in the issue of female terrorism. She is the author of Female Suicide Bombings: A Critical Gender Approach with W. Andy Knight (University of Toronto Press 2016). In 2017, Narozhna received the Faculty of Arts Achievement in Scholarly or Creative Activity Award for her book. Her work on female suicide bombings has appeared in various edited collections and has been presented at high-profile international conferences, including ISA annual conventions in Toronto, San Francisco and New Orleans, the Millennium Series conference in Potsdam, and Canadian Political Science Association conferences in Edmonton and Calgary.

Is HIV/AIDS Over?

Alan Whiteside is currently the CIGI Chair in Global Health Policy at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. An international expert on HIV/AIDS and global health policy, Whiteside is the author/co-author of numerous journal articles and books – among them, AIDS: The Challenge for South Africa, and AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalisation. In 2016 his book, HIV and AIDS: A Very Short Introduction, was reissued by Oxford University Press. He has served on the Commission for HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, and from 2002 to 2012 was an elected member of the governing council of the International AIDS Society. To learn more, see Laurier’s Tshepo Institute presents Alan Whiteside: Is HIV/AIDS over?

The Pitfalls of Anti-Trafficking

Kamala Kempadoo is a professor in the Department of Social Science at York University, and a former director of the graduate program in Social and Political Thought. She specialises in sociology, race and ethnic studies, and transnational feminist theory, with a special focus on sex work studies. She has published and speaks widely on sex worker’s rights and human trafficking from critical antiracist and transnational feminist perspectives. Her publications include Global Sex Workers (Routledge 1998); Sun, Sex and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean (Rowman and Littlefield 1999); Sexing the Caribbean (Routledge 2004) and Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights (Paradigm 2005/2012).

Schooling Builds Peace Right? The Complicated Answer from Rwanda

Elisabeth King is an associate professor in International Education and Politics at New York University. She works on issues related to conflict, peacebuilding and development, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. She is author of From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda (Cambridge University Press). She has conducted research in Croatia, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Philippines and elsewhere. She has also consulted for such organizations as UNICEF, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation. King holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto.