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FHS PhD candidate Alice MÅ©rage is the director of the African Ancestry Project, an initiative that raises awareness about the diversity of Black people in British Columbia

PhD student wins Community-Engaged Partnership Award

February 24, 2023

Reprinted with permission from the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) 

 initiated the African Ancestry Project in 2020 in partnership with the BC Black History Awareness Society and ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV to bring awareness to the diversity of Black people in BC. The project report Worlds Within centers stories of over 160 participants highlighting their diverse histories, identities, and experiences. Alices hopes to inspire a questioning of deep-seated misperceptions and attitudes and disrupt stereotypes that contribute to anti-Black racism and treatment of people of African ancestry as a monolith. Community leaders and members were engaged in the design of the project and, interpretation and presentation of findings. Forty community members, for instance, comprehensively reviewed the first draft of the report and brainstormed on the title of the project report. Knowledge translation activities they suggested are currently being undertaken collaboratively. A documentary featuring six cast members, for instance, will be launched later this year. The project has benefited tremendously from partnerships at the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV including through the academic review of Dr. Maureen Kihika, and financial and in-kind support of the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV African Studies Working Group, the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Community Engagement Initiative, the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Labour Studies Program, the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Equity Office and the Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion.

Alice MÅ©rage will be presenting "African Ancestry Project: Highlighting the Diversity of Black People in BC and Implications on Health Research" on Monday, February 27 at 12 noon, PST. This webinar will be offered on Zoom.

Download the event details now

This presentation is the third of three events co-hosted by the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Faculty of Health Sciences and BC Centre for Disease Control in celebration of 2023 Black History Month.