Courageous Conversations Speaker Series - Past Sessions
research, knowledge, understanding and change
The OEDI’s Courageous Conversation Speaker Series was launched in fall 2020, featuring discussions on racism, anti-racism, colonialism, and complaint.
Inspired by Maya Angelou and Violet King, the series engages the campus community and beyond in difficult conversations about systemic inequities. The series features locally and internationally renowned teachers, researchers, practitioners, and community-engaged scholars and activists by exploring critical questions about what needs to be done to effect sustainable change and ensure accountability.
Identifying, naming, discussing, and tackling historical and contemporary injustices can be profoundly unsettling. That’s where courage comes in – the courage to speak truth to power, to say things that the comfortable might not want to hear. Courageous Conversations are vital to advancing EDI in a university. It ensures that we are discussing EDI and modelling our expressed commitment to human rights, human dignity and cultivating equitable pathways that enable human flourishing.
Thinking out loud together: Why civil discourse matters on campus
This presentation emphasizes the critical role of civil discourse in universities to bridge divides, resolve conflicts, and address extreme positions within the academic community. Civil discourse is essential as it enables individuals to acknowledge and engage with differences and disagreements, fostering mutual and shared understanding of key issues and ideas.
Dr. Randy Boyagoda, University of Toronto and and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - November 12, 2024
Working Together: Practicing the Science of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
This presentation covers the necessity and best practices of EDI, addressing the discrimination faced by stigmatized social identities. It will discuss evidence-based EDI strategies across the employment cycle, including attracting, selecting, and retaining diverse employees, with research spanning race, gender, sexual orientation, weight, religion, neurodiversity, pregnancy, medical conditions, and age.
Dr. Mikki Hebl and Dr. Eden King, Rice University, and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - October 10, 2024
Learning Together: LGBTQ2S+ Inclusive Teaching, Research and Scholarship
This presentation delves into the transformative principles of queer pedagogy, which challenge conventional educational frameworks. By advocating for a pedagogical approach that embraces critical engagement, disrupts heteronormative assumptions, and values the complexity and fluidity of identities, this discussion aims to foster inclusive and dynamic learning environments.
Dr. Safaneh Mohaghegh Neyshabouri, UCalgary, Dr. Tonya Callaghan, UCalgary, and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - August 29, 2024
2023/2024
EDI Week Keynote to Commemorate International Women’s Day
Helping us to inspire inclusion this year will be four empowering Canadian renowned women academic leaders who will explore dimensions of, and challenges to, meaningful inclusion in the public service, organizational structures, and institutional leadership.
- Two Myths: Merit and Black Exceptionalism by Dr. Rachel Zellars, JD, PhD Associate Professor at Saint Mary's University
- Inclusion in Organizational Structures: An Indigenous Perspective by Dr. Shawna Cunningham, EdD, Director of the Indigenous Strategy, University of Calgary
- EnGendering Equity Beyond Tokenism and Symbolic Inclusion by Dr. Malinda S. Smith, PhD, Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), University of Calgary
Original session - March 5, 2024
Inclusive and Diverse Leadership in the Post-Secondary Sector
How inclusive are Canadian universities? Does the professoriate and leadership reflect the diversity of the Canadian population and student body? While more members of equity-deserving groups are being appointed into post-secondary leadership roles, underrepresentation and inequity remains, and progress is still uneven.
Dr. Julie Cafley Catalyst Inc., Dr. Candace Brunette-Debassige UWO, Dr. Annette Henry UBC, and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - November 23, 2023
EDI Trends in the post-secondary sector
Explore equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility trends in Canada and the US during this fall’s CourageousConversations Speaker Series. Join the inaugural senior leaders in EDI from Alberta’s post-secondary institutions in discussion, for the first time, about challenges, opportunities, and innovations in EDI in the post-secondary sector.
Dr. Moussa Magassa MRU, Martha Mathurin-Moe ULethbridge, Dr. Carrie Smith UAlberta and hosted and guided by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - September 21, 2023
2022/2023
Inclusive and Diverse Leadership in the Post-Secondary Sector
How inclusive are Canadian universities? Does the professoriate and leadership reflect the diversity of the Canadian population and student body? While more members of equity-deserving groups are being appointed into post-secondary leadership roles, underrepresentation and inequity remains, and progress is still uneven.
Dr. Julie Cafley Catalyst Inc., Dr. Candace Brunette-Debassige UWO, Dr. Annette Henry UBC, and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - November 23, 2023
EDI Trends in the post-secondary sector
Explore equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility trends in Canada and the US during this fall’s CourageousConversations Speaker Series. Join the inaugural senior leaders in EDI from Alberta’s post-secondary institutions in discussion, for the first time, about challenges, opportunities, and innovations in EDI in the post-secondary sector.
Dr. Moussa Magassa MRU, Martha Mathurin-Moe ULethbridge, Dr. Carrie Smith UAlberta and hosted and guided by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - September 21, 2023
Toward Making Caste-Based Discrimination a Protected Ground: A Virtual Panel Series
Panel II: The Problem of Caste in the North American University
A collaboration between the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary
We were joined by four Dalit-Bahujan leaders who are instrumental in the struggle to make caste legible and a protected category in North American universities and other institutional contexts. Learn from their research and experiences, how caste-based discrimination and violence manifest in the North American academy.
Ms. Shikha Diwakar, Dr. Shaista Aziz Patel, Aashadh (alias), and Mr. Prem Pariyar
Original session - March 21, 2023
Toward Making Caste-Based Discrimination a Protected Ground: A Virtual Panel Series
Panel I: Dalit-Bahujan Feminist Knowledges and Praxis
A collaboration between the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary
Learn about caste; how Dalit-Bahujan women and non-binary peoples are affected by it; and how they have been organizing across educational, cultural, labour, land and other institutions, one step and space at a time.
Ms. Prachi Patankar, Ms. Nrithya Pillai, Ms. Esha Pillay and Dr. Swati Kamble
Original session - March 8th, 2023
Recording
Not just allyship, but ACTION: Insights on how to implement the changes needed to address EDI
Reflect and think through intersectional perspectives and how to take action toward equity, diversity and inclusion and be good allies and supporters. Through stories, you are given ways of thinking through courage, safe spaces, solidarity in action, and anti-racism and EDI work on campus and beyond. To build on the calls for change to make the campus more diverse, inclusive and equitable,
Dr. Wanda Costen Queen's University and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - February 6, 2023
Rehearsals for Living
Rehearsals for Living, named one of the best Canadian nonfiction books of 2022 by CBC, is a revolutionary and inspiring collaboration and call to action between two of our most important contemporary thinkers, writers and activists about the world we are living in now.
Dr. Robyn Maynard UToronto, Leanne Betasamosake-Simpson Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - Thursday, January 19, 2023
2021/2022
Faith Matters: Why Engaging Religious Diversity Should be a Top Priority
Public institutions have an important role to play in cultivating respect for religious diversity and political pluralism, in facilitating a shared understanding among diverse identities – for the public good, social well-being and social prosperity. How can a university help foster these possibilities – and with what positive social impact?
Dr. Eboo Patel IFYC, Guest Moderators Dr. Aleem Bharwani and Dr. Aruna Srivastava UCalgary and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - March 21, 2022
Decolonizing Disciplines and Structures of Inequality
For a Reparatory Social Science - Dr. Gurminder Bhambra
The social sciences are implicated in the reproduction of the very structures of inequality. This is a consequence of failure to acknowledge the 'connected histories' they abstracted for analysis.
A Manifesto of Decolonial Justice in African Studies - Dr. Yolande Bouka
The paradox of decolonizing institutions and disciplines whose function is to perpetuate hierarchies between "producers" and "subjects" of knowledge is one of the reasons why decolonizing the academy continues to be challenging.
Original session - January 20, 2022
Embedding and Sustaining Equity and Decolonial Praxis in Higher Education: Actualizing ProLovePedagogy
In this talk, Dr. Lopez explores ways that educators in higher education, drawing on both personal and collective agency, can embed and sustain equity and decolonizing praxis in their everyday work that will create lasting change. Drawing on her research and experience as an educator in public school and higher education, Lopez offers insights on navigating complexities faced by educators in implementing equity and decolonial practices in higher education, as well as strategies to embed and sustain the work over time.
Dr. Ann Lopez, UToronto
Original session - January 31, 2022
Human Rights Day: Ableism, Disability Justice and Accessible Futures in Post-Secondary Education
In this discussion, we addressed the ableist attitudes, policies, and practices that are built into higher education. We alos interrogated the minimal and temporary means we have been given to address inequities, and the cost such an approach has for disabled students, staff and faculty
Dr. Laverne Jacobs UWindsor, Dr. Jay Dolmageand hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - December 10, 2021
Anti-Racism and Decolonization in the University
Is it possible to decolonize and indigenize the university, a centuries-old colonial institution? When statements are made about indigenizing and transforming the university, what is meant by these claims? Are there examples of western knowledge systems and Indigenous knowledge systems providing opportunity for mutual understanding?
Dr. Verna St. Denis USaskatchewan, Dr. Shirley Anne Tate UAlberta and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - November 21, 2021
Decolonization: Rethinking the Coloniality of Power, Knowledge, and Being
This second event in the “Decolonization and Questions of Justice in the University” series features Dr. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Dr. Altamirano-Jiménez who will explore theories and practices of decolonization, knowledge production in the contemporary university, and the rhetorics of liberation and freedom across time and space.
Dr. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni University of Bayreuth, Dr. Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez UAlberta and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda S. Smith.
Original session - October 21, 2021
Decolonization, Disciplines, and Indigenous Knowledges in the University
Dr.Marie Battiste, USaskatchewan, will focus on how disciplinary colonialism andIndigenous knowledges form a split that has been created and continues to be reinforced within contemporary universities and in the K-12 education system
Dr. Catherine Odora Hoppers will focus on the higher education system, especially the disciplines of law, science, and economics. It will focus on education with a small “e”, the discipline and subject-based western education.
Original session - September 21, 2021
2020/2021
Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University
Examine how the politics of race and settler colonialism are presently negotiated by, and within, Canadian universities. The decades of privatization and deregulation in the 20th century initiated a far-reaching transformation of the public sector, including institutions of post-secondary education.
Dr. Delia D. Douglas UCalifornia, Dr. Enakshi Dua York University, Dr. annie ross Indigenous teacher and artist, Dr. Sunera Thobani UBC and hosted and moderated by UCalgary's Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI), Dr. Malinda Smith.
Original session - January 27, 2021
What, You’re Calling "Me" A Racist?
Deeply divisive conflicts over racism have been among the strongest challenges facing organizations in North America and Europe over the last three decades, yet progress towards diversity and equality has been slow and uneven.
Sarita Srivastava’s forthcoming book, ‘You’re Calling Me a Racist?’, unpacks the emotional and moral preoccupations that lead us to greater conflict, drain our energy and divert our resources.
Dr. Fiona Nicoll UAlberta, Dr. Sarita Srivastava OCAD
Original session - November 17, 2020
The Racist Violence of “Not Racism” and The Role of “Contrarian” Academics
This talk adds to the conversation on the relationship between ideas and practices of race-making and asks whether, today, the language of racism is fit for purpose. In a post-postracial age, public discourse on racism has gone beyond the four Ds of racism management: denial, debatability, distancing and deflection. Today, the defining struggle is over what racism is and who gets to define it, with those affected by racism cast as less capable of doing so.
Dr. Alana Lentin Sydney University
Original session - November 12, 2020
Complaint, Diversity, and Other Hostile Environments
Dr. Sara Ahmed will bring together stories about making complaints by academics and students of colour to show how universities remain hostile environments despite or even through official policies on diversity and inclusion. She explains why doors keep coming up in stories of complaint with specific reference to the “diversity door.” People of colour are assumed to enter that door, which is often shut by appearing to be open.
Original session - March 20, 2021