As a Black woman, particularly within higher education, the idea of being both visible and invisible is a major reality.
About
It is a peculiar sensation to be visible and invisible at the same time. As a Black woman, particularly within higher education, the idea of being both visible and invisible is a major reality.
Dr. LaToya Brackett is no exception to this experience. What does it mean to be hired to be diversity, but not to be hired to speak up against the oppressions of a space? What does it mean to be invited as a co-signer but never to be a leader?
Dr. Brackett will share personal narratives of navigating such situations while discussing the complexities of how whiteness can be present even in black spaces. Dr. Brackett will share how sometimes, for her, the only way to survive is by throwing shade.
Can you hear me? Can you see me? Yes. But was I heard? Was I seen?
Stop! This is not the online urban dictionary’s definition of throwing shade. It is not an outward attack, but a moment of collective code-switching, [in]visibly, in a space unwelcoming to Black women. Throwing shade is a small bit of power within the world of being a Black woman seen and unseen at the same time.
Because for Dr. Brackett, and many Black women, the future doesn’t look bright, because the past has forever overshadowed them.
Dr. Brackett’s visit is delivered in partnership between Hart House and The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, which is exploring relevant considerations through its Task Force Report on Race and Indigeneity. Dr. Janelle Joseph, a professor with the Faculty, will engage in and moderate discussion with Dr. Brackett at the event.
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Guest speaker
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Dr. LaToya Brackett
Visiting Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the University of Puget Sound
Dr. LaToya T. Brackett currently works as a Visiting Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the University of Puget Sound. Alongside her teaching role she is a member of the leadership team of the Race & Pedagogy Institute, housed at the same university. LaToya earned her Bachelor’s in Africana Studies at Cornell University, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in African American and African Studies at Michigan State University. Additionally, she obtained a Master’s in Counseling at Michigan State. Her research focuses on popular culture and particularly the representation of African Americans in media. She is currently working on an edited volume dedicated to such representations in television since 1990. Her most recent publications have focused on Black bodies in sports, from Colin Kaepernick to policing black bodies during sport play. As a Black Studies scholar she focuses on the three tenets of the discipline: teaching, research, and community action.
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ModeratorDr. Janelle Joseph
Assistant Professor
Dr. Janelle Joseph is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education with 22 years of experience in university teaching and award winning research including three books. Her most recent book is titled Sport in the Black Atlantic, Cricket, Canada and the Caribbean Diaspora. She is currently working on a multifaceted theoretical, empirical and auto-ethnographic project on Black Physical cultures such as kizomba, vogue, capoeira and soca. Her qualitative research focuses on Indigeneity, disabilities, globalization, and critical race studies. Dr Joseph is the former Director of Academic Success at the University of Toronto and the former Assistant Director of the Transitional Year Programme. Her community work spans extracurricular educational programs for Black children, Toronto women’s shelters, and recreational physical activity organizations.
Partners
