York University’s Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) Project, Faculty of Education and Centre for Refugee Studies present a monthly virtual colloquium series on the intersections of refugee education, anti-Black racism and COVID-19 in Canada and East Africa, with the theme “Reciprocal Learning in Times of Crisis.”
Through a series of talks, film, and an open-mic event, experts will consider the unique challenges that the twinned pandemics pose to refugee communities and educators in Canada and/or East Africa; highlight the unique knowledge that refugee communities and the educators who work with them bring to learning in situations of constraint; and offer new lenses to make meaning of our current moment.
This colloquium is the first of its kind to feature experts from York University and from institutions that are comprised of or work with refugees in equal measure. Together, this series aims to deepen connections among refugee communities, educational leaders, and scholars within and across institutions; foster a sense of reciprocity in learning; recognize and validate the unique expertise that refugee communities bring to time- or resource-constrained situations; and educate all attendees on a range of topics relevant to refugee education, COVID-19, and anti-Black racism.
The third event of this colloquium series is titled “The Invisible City Kakuma: (Film Screening and Discussion),” and will be held Dec. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. online via Zoom.
Leading the discussion will be Grace Nshimiyukiza (BHER graduate student) Chloe Brushwood-Rose (associate professor, York University).
How to build a home in a place called nowhere? This is the question that frames The Invisible City Kakuma, an award-winning new film by director Lieven Corthouts. In this special event, the film will be screened followed by a discussion on what it means to become educated – and make a life – in a protracted refugee situation.
Nshimiyukiza is a Rwandan refugee living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. She holds a BA from York University and is a York University MEd candidate. Her main research areas are gender disparities and barriers to access and retention in university programs in refugee camps as well as significance of gender & girls’/women’s access to technology.
Brushwood Rose is an associate professor in education who studies visual research methodologies, community-engaged media and art practices, and the relationships between experience, subjectivity and storytelling. Her work draws on the fields of cultural studies, psychoanalysis, and feminist and queer theory.