Junior Fellow Lecture Series: Critical Race Theory
How have societies constructed race to justify social hierarchies? This Junior Fellow Lecture Series explores intersectional projects that touch on historical, political, socioeconomic, cultural and/or literary structures of race. Critical Race Theory interrogates whiteness as the status quo, asking, how is racism embedded in the very foundational structures of a nation, whether that be the narrative of history, literature, or the legal system itself?
Sanjana Jones illuminates the state of healthcare for Black women and girls.
Megh Rathod shares about equitable medical device engineering.
Pragati Sharma explores how contemporary black women’s poetry troubles the genre of the legal-juridical report.
This event will be moderated by Massey College Visiting Scholar Dr. Hyacinth Simpson. Dr. Simpson is an associate professor in the Department of English and the Yeates School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, where she also recently served as the Interim Director of the university’s Dimensions Program. Her main areas of research and teaching are Caribbean, Black, and Decolonial Studies. Dr. Simpson’s years-long editorial work on MaComère, a Caribbean-focused scholarly journal, garnered it a major award. She is the Principal Investigator of the multi-tiered social history research program Black Canada and the Great War. Her Massey Fellowship projects – completion of a monograph and an exhibit – fall within this program.
With presentations from:
Sanjana Jones is a student at UofT pursuing her Master of Public Health in the Black Health field. She is passionate about advocating for equitable standards in healthcare among marginalized communities, and bridging the gap in care that racialized people experience. Specifically, decreasing the injustices and disparities that Black, Indigenous and racialized women experience in maternal and reproductive care environments. She currently works with Women’s College Hospital on a toolkit for the Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening Event for Black Women while running a crochet business! She has also worked as a research assistant for the Black Health Matters Lab, analyzing intersectional anti-Black violence that Black birth workers experience. In the future, Sanjana hopes to be a gynecologist, equalizing life expectancy during labour at the patient-level.
Megh Rathod is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. His doctoral research focuses on improving the accuracy and accessibility of non-invasive medical technologies. His research involves the development and testing of new non-invasive medical devices with the primary focus being on understanding the impact of melanin on optical over-the-skin sensing, as he works towards melanin-inclusive health solutions. Passionate about the intersection of biomedical engineering, equity-driven design, and global health challenges, Megh aims to create medical devices that serve diverse populations worldwide. His doctoral research is supported by Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s doctoral Canada Graduate award.
Pragati Sharma is a third year PhD candidate whose work situates itself at the intersections of black diasporas, feminist poetics and the grammars of being. Her SSHRC funded doctoral study engages with contemporary African-American and Black Canadian women poets. She particularly focuses on the ways in which their work represents, articulates and performs black feminist ethics and liberation through language, form and method. She convenes the Black Studies Working Group within the Department of English.
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