Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Liberalization of Canadian immigration policies led to a rapid influx of Africans to predominantly White small Canadian communities. This qualitative study explored experiences of alienation among Black African youth in one of such communities in Ontario, Canada. Framed by critical race and Afrocentric theory, the study centered African realities by utilizing an innovative cultural research approach. The Elder Facilitated Youth Dialogue (EFYD) combines focus group’s structural analysis with African cultural imagery and uses African elders as dialogue facilitators. This community dialogue method enabled in-depth exploration of the meaning seventeen Black African youth to ascribe to their experiences of being Black in Waterloo region. The paper discusses how EFYD enabled illumination of complex interactions between race, gender, class and youth experiences of acceptance, belonging, inclusion, and disenfranchisement. By resisting artificial binaries between elders and youth, EFYD promotes intergenerational healing and community capacity building by resisting co-option into mainstreaming hegemonic discourses that subjugate vulnerable populations. Involving elders as group facilitators honoured cultural capital, promotes youth agency, representation and broadens imagination. The features of EFYD (town hall dialogues, African food, ambiance, Diaspora music, and elders) highlight its promise as a viable research methodology for further large studies with Black populations. Its effectiveness in promoting structural analysis of complex issues through a cultural renaissance, Afrocentric epistemology and African orality are highlighted. Recommendations are proffered for adopting the EFYD as a social transformation tool for combating race denial and deception in Canada during the current UN decade for people of African descent.