Chromophobia
Are you a chromophobe? Or perhaps a chromophiliac? You know how things and spaces in the West tend to be saturated with neutrals, earthy tones, and a minimalist aesthetic? Why? Why do wardrobes (guilty!), homes, streets, and other spaces in Western societies exclude colour? Might be the result of centuries of anti-colour conditioning, a.k.a. chromophobia…
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Cheetahs in the Desert
In my Cross-Cultural Perspectives course this summer, I asked my entirely international class, “What’s a cultural norm that you found strange when you first came to Canada?” A student from Saudi Arabia replied, “Everyone in Canada has cats or dogs as pets. In Saudi, we have cheetahs and tigers.”…
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We Don’t Do Choirs and Football Clubs
Recently, I spent a class discussing the 1990s wars in the Balkans. This got me reading up on peacebuilding. Ongoing criticism in the field argues that liberal models of peacebuilding and civil society reject local avenues of peacebuilding—especially when it comes to cultural stuff. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, …
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Social Disorganization Theory
In my Deviance and Social Control course, I was recently reminded of my family’s summer road trips to Detroit (my mom’s hometown). After one such trip, I returned home to PEI in this t-shirt (below): “DETROIT. where the weak are killed and eaten.” I loved that shirt. Social disorganization theory reminded me of this shirt. You see, for a time in the 70s and 80s, Detroit was the murder capital of the world. How did it go from the great Motor City to murder capital… and then to…
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The Greatest Rebellion the World Has Ever Seen
There are structures of oppression, but there are also structures of resistance. The term used in the title of two other paintings, “Scaffolding of resistance,” has stuck with me. It was a term that came to mind when I was thinking about how contemporary social movements are built on earlier resistance efforts and movements. When described as scaffolding, the historical lineage becomes so powerfully visual. Reflecting my infatuation with this term, I searched the term in Google Scholar. It’s not a commonly used term. In…
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Slave-Maroon-Rastafari-Reggae Continuum
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about structures of oppression and how the scaffolding of resistance movements builds over time. There’s endless inspiration in what I teach, like my current course: ‘Slavery and Global Ethics.’ The story I want to share is, in essence, an example of this scaffold building.
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‘Thoughts and Sentiments Which Occur to Me As Being Obvious’
This fact always blows my mind… I suppose it shouldn’t, given the topic. But it does. Of the 12.5 million African souls who were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas during the slave trade, only TWO first-hand accounts of that journey exist. Did you know this??
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Interventions
There are interventions and then there are interventions. I’m never short on inspiration for creating art. Recently, inspiration came from the creative genius of Beyoncé and Jay Z’s music video for their 2018 song “Apeshit.” We watched it in my slavery course.
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Structures That Bind
I was reminded this week about an interview I did recently for Discover Abstract Artists (see some excerpts below). If you follow me, you probably know that my art is inspired by “historical and contemporary social justice issues.” Well, a good example of this process (from inspiration to canvas) happened last week… I’m currently teaching a course called Slavery and Global Ethics. It’s about the institution of Atlantic slavery and how modern global (aka Western/capitalist) ethics were shaped by slavery. It’s fascinating! And hard….
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Of Queens and Porters
Serendipity! I think that word refers to a happy coincidence, but I’m using it for a useful coincidence… If you were in my world history class when Queen Elizabeth II died, you’d know what I’m getting at—”British imperialism” just happened to be the scheduled topic for that very week. How serendipitous!
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