By Mary Giles
Noémie Tangelo
“My time at Carleton has been a life-changer,” says Noémie Tangelo, who is graduating with a double-major in African Studies and Political Science, concentrating in international relations.
Tangelo began their undergraduate studies in engineering at another university. “I applied to Carleton because I was specifically interested in the Institute of African Studies, which is the only stand-alone institute of its kind in Canada.”
During their time at Carleton, Tangelo has had many opportunities to work and gain valuable experience through co-op. In 2019, they worked with Elections Canada as a junior product manager to help them prepare for the 43rd General Election by assisting in processing prospective candidates’ election application packages.
Their 2020 co-op was working as a junior researcher and policy analyst at Global Affairs Canada within the Eastern and Southern Africa Division’s trade team. Tangelo was also a student intern with Scholars at Risk where they helped with administrative work and communication campaigns for Giving Tuesday.
“A turning point for me was participating in the Institute’s International Undergraduate Conference in 2019,” says Tangelo. “There, I met with other students within the university and beyond and got a taste of what an academic career could look like for me. My research placed second, which gave me a lot of confidence in my research and writing skills. I was then encouraged to apply to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research.”
This summer, Tangelo will participate in FPA’s Carleton University Research Opportunity Program (CUROP), supervised by Communication Professor Liam Cole Young.
“The project is a philosophical endeavor,” they say. “It puts a media theory framework in conversation with Black feminist concepts to suggest that the Black body is a media. In other words, the Black body, like media, is defined by its function — storing, transferring and processing things.
“It brings new stakes to questions such as ‘Why are Black people disproportionately killed by police?’ In this context, the question becomes: ‘What function does the killing of the Black body assume in society?’ This intervention bridges the gap between the body of Black studies research that focuses primarily on media content and a materialist media studies scholarship that lacks insight on racialization and Blackness.”
Tangelo received acceptances for three graduate programs. “In the fall, I will be starting a Master’s in Communication Studies at McGill University. I am so thankful to the incredible professors at the Institute of African Studies for their support, especially to professors Nduka Otiono and Christine Duff. My goal, for now, is to become a Black feminist scholar at the confluence of media, culture and politics.”
Friday, November 12, 2021 in 2021 Graduation, Convocation, Department of Political Science, FPA Voices, Institute of African Studies, Students
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