Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From Awareness to Action

You will be introduced to various terminologies related to race and racism, racial constructions and why they matter. You will have activities to help you build awareness on how race, racial constructions and racism frame people’s experiences in societal institutions and particularly in education.

In this module, you will also be required to engage in a critical self-inquiry/reflection of who you are, how you position yourself in relation to Indigenous Lands and the antiracism project as well as reflect on questions or things that might be limiting you from meaningful learning and actualization of antiracism education and decolonization.

This section will examine the link between European colonialism, imperialism and racism. We will learn how colonialism set in place a system of oppression and subjugation characterized by domination and chattel enslavement of racialized people and whose results remain endemic.

The section will describe ways historical and contemporary European colonialism continues to frame Black, Indigenous and racialized peoples as the “Other”. We will consider questions such as: How can the history of colonialism, imperialism and racism help us understand racism in historical and contemporary contexts? What are the different forms of settler colonialism and how do they continue to play out today/reinforce racism?

Module 3 will look at systemic racism in Canada broadly speaking. Systemic racism in Canada is manifest and experienced in varied ways including through policy formulation and implementation in institutions like education, healthcare, the justice system, banking systems and more.

This Module discusses systemic racism and the implications for racialized people’s lives. We will look at anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia, as well as anti-Semitism. It is important to remember that even though we will talk about these different forms of racisms, they are not mutually exclusive as there are also intersections with each other.

• MODULE 3.1 | Anti-Indigenous Racism
• MODULE 3.2 | Anti-Black Racism
• MODULE 3.3 | Anti-Asian Racism
• MODULE 3.4 | Anti-Muslim Racism
• MODULE 3.5 | Anti-Semitism
• MODULE 3.6 | Understanding Structural and Systemic Racism in Canada: A Summary

This module looks at other forms of racisms and xenophobia projected toward various groups including refugees and other communities. We will also look at far-right movements and their impacts on education and other institutions.

In this module, we will discuss whiteness and white supremacy as systems of oppression.

Whiteness and white supremacy are terms that are often contested by White settler societies but they have real implications and consequences on people’s lives and their experiences in education, economics, politics and other societal structures (Carr, 2016*).

*Carr, P. R. (2016). Whiteness and white privilege. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 7, 51–74.

This module introduces the concept and practice of antiracism education. We will examine what antiracism means, and considerations for antiracist education and culturally responsive, decolonizing and transformative curriculum and pedagogy in education.

In this concluding module, we look at critical antiracism allyship and solidarity. We prefer the term "critical friends and accomplices" but also use antiracism allyship and solidarity interchangeably in line with what the existing literature utilizes. We explore the complexities of critical antiracism allyship and solidarity and unpack their layers. We then engage with decolonization, antiracism and anticolonial resistance.