Yamikani Msosa

Yamikani is in the second year of her Master’s studies. Her dedication to women’s and gender studies issues extends beyond the classroom and into her employment. She is currently the Public Education Coordinator for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa. Her past involvement on campus at the Race Ethnicity Culture Hall, IFC and the Womyn’s Centre has made her a prominent member of the Carleton community. She supports the push for awareness surrounding sexual violence and gender issues and believes that the “practice of anti-oppression within the sexual violence movement at Carleton has a really strong critical thinking base and has been integrated and impacted by the sexual violence movement through the Ottawa coalition and through activism.”

A Master’s program is a vehicle through which one can develop a theoretical belief and do research that promotes foundational changes in the community. It allows one to take theoretical concepts and translate them into practice using critical thinking and exploring past normative discussion to ask nuanced questions. Currently Yami’s area of focus is on black female workers’ collectivity in the sexual violence movement, specifically in the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres between the years of 1973-2013. Additionally, she wishes to examine the efficacy of anti-oppression practices operating within these Centres, and their effect upon the feminist lens from which they seek to operate.