{"id":74973,"date":"2021-03-25T08:58:51","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T12:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=74973"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:06:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:06:54","slug":"duncan-diversity-role-journalism","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/duncan-diversity-role-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Nana aba Duncan Takes on Unique Diversity Studies Role at Carleton’s Journalism School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Nana aba Duncan Takes on Unique Diversity Studies Role at Carleton's Journalism School\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Nana aba Duncan<\/a> has a lot on the go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award-winning journalist, on leave from hosting CBC Radio\u2019s Ontario weekend morning show Fresh Air<\/em><\/a>, is a William Southam Journalism Fellow<\/a> at Toronto\u2019s Massey College, researching the experience of racialized leaders in newsrooms across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also runs Media Girlfriends<\/a>, a podcast and scholarship network that amplifies the voices of people from under-represented communities in Canadian media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nana
Nana aba Duncan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But when Duncan saw the posting for the new Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at Carleton University\u2019s School of Journalism<\/a> and Communication, she had to apply.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt aligns with my personal mission \u2014 to foster an environment in Canadian media in which racialized journalists feel psychologically safe, where their perspectives and communities are just as worthy of coverage as those of white people,\u201d says Duncan, who will begin her position on July 1.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been living this mission for about 10 years, but it makes a difference when your major concern is not just part of your job but the main reason for your job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need<\/em> to do this. I don\u2019t want anybody to have a shred of the feeling I\u2019ve experienced over the years. I don\u2019t want any journalism student to feel small in any way. I want them to swing for the fences with their ideas and creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want them to worry about being called an activist when they pitch stories from their community because they don\u2019t see many stories from their community. I want all journalists to be valued equally. I want them to know they belong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Nana<\/figure>\n\n\n

First Role of its Kind in Journalism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Duncan\u2019s teaching and research role \u2014 the first of its kind at any Canadian journalism school\u2014 is part of a constellation of efforts to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at Carleton, including the launch of an overarching EDI Action Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nana<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also central to the transformation underway at the country\u2019s oldest journalism school<\/a>: to reverse decades of systemic racism<\/a> in the media industry and take concrete steps to change it, echoing points made by journalism students and recent graduates in a call to action<\/a> published last June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to teaching and creating a new course for third-year students on decolonizing Canadian journalism, Duncan will conduct research, continuing the work she started last fall as a Southam Fellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has been interviewing racialized leaders with editorial decision-making and hiring power, learning about the challenges they face, the responsibilities they feel, and what needs to change to ensure that stories being told reflect the experiences of diverse communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe conversation about inclusivity and belonging in journalism is important, and I\u2019m talking to people we don\u2019t hear from enough,\u201d says Duncan, who plans to make a six-episode series of Media Girlfriends podcasts rooted in these ideas.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t see this research ending. It needs to live somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Multiethnic<\/figure>\n\n\n

Pivot from Psychology to Radio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Duncan, who was born in Ghana, moved to Canada with her family when she was two and grew up in the Greater Toronto Area and Edmonton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She studied psychology at the University of Toronto and was considering a career in that field. But because she always enjoyed performing, everything from spoken word to dance, and she had developed a taste for radio at university and wanted to keep on learning, grad school in journalism at Western was her next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duncan\u2019s first name \u2014 pronounced \u201cNuh-NAA-buh\u201d \u2014 packs a lot of meaning. \u201cNana\u201d is the name given to a first-born child in Ghana, the chief of a village and is her father\u2019s mother\u2019s name; \u201caba\u201d is the name given to a girl born on a Thursday in her father\u2019s Fante tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first national radio gig, on the CBC show Go!<\/em>, was as \u201cContest Nana\u201d for a segment in which listeners identified audio clips. But when she began reporting more serious stories, she started using her full name.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt took a while for people to get it, but it felt good,\u201d says Duncan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt honours being a Ghanaian woman. It\u2019s a reclamation of one\u2019s self<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Professional<\/figure>\n\n\n

Sweeping Mandate for Chair<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Although Duncan doesn\u2019t rule out guest hosting CBC shows down the road, she\u2019ll be focused on her students, and joining a growing group of changemakers within the journalism program.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI love hosting, but it has its limits,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not the person making the decisions. My position at Carleton offers more latitude. I\u2019m excited about becoming part of a new team and about what we can do together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Journalism
Journalism Program Head Allan Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Carty Chair is named for E. Bower Carty, a career public servant who rounded out a lifetime of generosity by donating his estate, valued at more than $6 million, to Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI can think of no better person for this chair than Nana aba, who joins us at a critical time,\u201d says journalism program head Allan Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a new role and she will have a sweeping mandate, but I also agree fully with her when she says that one person alone cannot bring about the kind of change that we are looking for. This will take a continued effort of the entire team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nana aba Duncan has a lot on the go. The award-winning journalist, on leave from hosting CBC Radio\u2019s Ontario weekend morning show Fresh Air, is a William Southam Journalism Fellow at Toronto\u2019s Massey College, researching the experience of racialized leaders in newsrooms across the country. She also runs Media Girlfriends, a podcast and scholarship network […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":74990,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1592],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1921],"class_list":["post-74973","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-teaching-learning","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98406,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74973\/revisions\/98406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=74973"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=74973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}