{"id":81206,"date":"2022-03-04T10:02:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T15:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=81206"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:01:33","slug":"putting-race-at-the-forefront-of-conversation","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/putting-race-at-the-forefront-of-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Race at the Forefront of Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Putting Race at the Forefront of Conversation\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

As a critical race scholar and activist whose work centres around the lived experience of Canada\u2019s racialized and Indigenous girls and women, Carleton University Prof. Manjeet Birk<\/a> is looking for new ways to make the world more just and systems more equitable. How? It starts in the classroom, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I can teach my students about injustice and then support them to tangibly think through creative solutions that can disrupt day-to-day work, they can build a better Canada,\u201d Birk explains. \u201cThis can look differently based on who you are and where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Manjeet Birk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating Race into Conversation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Understanding how race and racism are operating in society and its institutions is the focus of Birk\u2019s teachings and research. As an assistant professor in Carleton\u2019s Pauline Jewett Institute of Women\u2019s and Gender Studies<\/a>, she is putting race at the forefront of the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re all having a racism experience at school but only some of us realize that it\u2019s happening,\u201d says Birk. \u201cOne thing I always say to my students is that for some of us, just existing is an act of resistance to mainstream society. Highlighting that as a teacher, scholar and researcher is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Through her courses within the institute\u2019s new Minor in Critical Race Studies<\/a>, Birk continues to educate students about the ongoing lived realities of colonization and the myriad of ways it has been reproduced in our everyday systems, such as healthcare, education and government, or as an inherent part of recent movements like Black Lives Matter or in the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools across Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is something that my colleagues and I have been doing for a long time, but now we are putting race at the forefront,\u201d says Birk. \u201cI believe my piece in the puzzle is to keep teaching and uncovering those systemic injustices and talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At Carleton, Birk has created a safer and accessible environment for students of all knowledge levels to share their experiences and learn how race and racism are operating in the institutions that surround them. The goal of the work is to prepare them for the post-graduation world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing those moments where students are empowered, engaged and able to tackle the world that is ahead of them\u2014I have so much hope in that,\u201d says Birk. \u201cThose are the small ways that big change will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Classroom Representation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the diversity within Carleton\u2019s faculty and the student body is a sign that progress is on the horizon, she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe first time I had a racialized woman as a teacher was when I was in third year university,\u201d explains Birk. \u201cOver the course of my entire educational experience, I had never seen someone stand in front of me that looked like me or came from a similar background. Being able to be that representation for students is the privilege of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But Birk argues that diversity is not the be-all, end-all solution<\/a>, instead corporations need to \u201cput their money where their mouth is\u201d and begin to acknowledge that systemic, institutional and residual effects of racism and white supremacy that are embedded in Canada and as a result, their organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the central premise of Birk\u2019s soon-to-commence research project. With Ottawa post-secondary institutions as her focus, Birk will be measuring if progress is happening with the adoption of equity, diversity and inclusion policies, and related action plans. Specifically, she aims to uncover if these efforts have made an impact on the lives of the people they were designed to help, or if the status quo still prevails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSevere class inequities and racism still exist, but there is hope,\u201d says Birk. \u201cI\u2019m really hopeful that when the young folks are the ones making the decisions, we will see change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a critical race scholar and activist whose work centres around the lived experience of Canada\u2019s racialized and Indigenous girls and women, Carleton University Prof. Manjeet Birk is looking for new ways to make the world more just and systems more equitable. How? It starts in the classroom, she says. \u201cIf I can teach my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":81207,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1931,1592],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1920],"class_list":["post-81206","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_type-teaching-learning","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/81206","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":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/81206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97581,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/81206\/revisions\/97581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=81206"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=81206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}