老司机直播

'Labour of love': 老司机直播 prof takes multifaceted approach to exploring Black history in Canada

Afua Cooper, an expert on Black Canadian slavery and Black Canadian studies, recently joined 老司机直播 Scarborough
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Afua Cooper, a 老司机直播 alumna and professor in 老司机直播 Scarborough鈥檚 department of historical and cultural studies, is an expert on Black Canadian slavery and Black Canadian studies (supplied image)

Afua Cooper still vividly recalls being a recent immigrant to Canada in the 1980s and considering waitressing jobs at local restaurants in Toronto. 

鈥淵ou would walk into a place looking for work, and they wouldn鈥檛 even try to hide it,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he woman just looked at me and said, 鈥業'm sorry, but we just don't want Jamaicans. You鈥檙e not the kind of people we want to hire.鈥欌

During that time 鈥 and even today 鈥 Canada was considered by many to be what Cooper describes as 鈥減ost-racial-nice,鈥 having avoided the same depth and lasting racism found across the United States.

But the reality was often very different.  

鈥淭hese things still happened here 鈥 not that long ago and even today 鈥 though the language has changed so the actions don鈥檛 appear nearly as racist,鈥 says Cooper, an expert on Black Canadian slavery and Black Canadian studies who recently joined the department of historical and cultural studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough as a professor.  

Cooper was raised in the Whithorn district of Westmoreland, Jamaica, in the post-independence era. Her parents, by comparison, had grown up under British colonialism. 

鈥淚 guess the people at the Ministry of Education decided that little Black children should learn about themselves,鈥 says Cooper, who later became a founding member of an African Studies Club at Camperdown High School in East Kingston. 鈥淪o, I thankfully grew up with a strong notion of who I was.鈥

By late 1980, having migrated to Toronto to pursue higher education, Cooper was fully dedicated to exploring history and the African diaspora as a 老司机直播 undergraduate student 鈥 a time when the concept of Black studies was rare on Canadian university campuses.

"When I was a student, the university resisted Black-focused curricula, and hiring Black faculty therefore felt superficial,鈥 says Cooper. 鈥淣ow, with the , Black faculty caucus, and dedicated programs for Black students, the commitment to diversity feels genuine 鈥 and I鈥檓 glad to be a part of it.鈥

Cooper, a scholar fluent in different mediums, is an award-winning author who has published 13 books spanning genres that include history, poetry, children鈥檚 literature and fiction. 

Cooper likens her educational approach to making gumbo: 鈥淚 put everything into it 鈥 though as a vegan, it鈥檚 strictly plant-based 鈥 representing the Black diaspora,鈥 she says. 鈥淭eaching isn鈥檛 a single trajectory, it鈥檚 about sharing the joys of Black culture and the multifaceted nature of our struggles.鈥

For example, in 2021 Cooper led a three-year project, , that received over $1 million in grant funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage. The aim is to cover Black Canadian history from 1604 onward with the help of 13 researchers who have catalogued records across Canada, from British Columbia to Newfoundland. 

"Teachers often say, 'I'd like to teach Black history, but I can't find anything,' which is frustrating," says Cooper. "Now there are no excuses; we're writing curricula and guides with school boards, and we've partnered with government agencies responsible for education. It鈥檚 been a true labour of love."

For Cooper, returning to 老司机直播 is as much an opportunity to share her work with like-minded visionaries as it is a homecoming.

鈥淚 went into labour twice at Robarts library, once with each of my daughters,鈥 she says with a laugh. 

鈥淭hey both spent a lot of time there when they were younger, so I鈥檓 thrilled to be back to showcase a history of African and Black people that has been so trampled upon and denied. For me, this is my purpose 鈥 to restore and share that history.鈥

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