Nana aba Duncan

Biography

Nana aba Duncan’s ability to open doors and propel positive change has been recognized in Canada and internationally. An award-winning journalist, media executive, and journalism professor, her motivation has always been to enrich Canadian media by empowering diverse perspectives.

As the inaugural Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication, her mandate is to reshape the fundamentals of journalism training to inspire more empathetic and inclusive coverage and to create more equitable and ethical newsrooms. She teaches courses on journalism and belonging, podcasting, and the basics of reporting and is cross-appointed to the Institute of African Studies.

As founder and director of the Mary Ann Shadd Cary Centre for Journalism and Belonging, Professor Duncan leads research focused on transforming journalism education and practice. Her work, which includes “Reporting in Black Communities” and “The Black Journalist and Media Worker Experience,” is supported by a $62,000 SSHRC Insight Development Grant and a $27,500 grant from CCUNESCO.

Beyond academia, Nana aba serves as the executive director of Media Girlfriends, a podcast production company she cofounded with Garvia Bailey and Hannah Sung. The company’s debut production, Strong and Free/Fort et Libre, a bilingual Black history podcast and video series, has garnered the Black Podcasting Awards, RTDNA Canada Awards, Digital Publishing Award, and Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The Media Girlfriends network includes Signal for Help, a podcast about gender-based violence hosted by Nana aba, as well as Humans of the House and Between Us with Wes Hall.

Professor Duncan is also the first Black journalism professor and Black tenured faculty member since the School of Journalism and Communication’s establishment in 1945, marking an important milestone in the institution’s history.