91˿Ƶ

Emmanuel Tabi on fighting oppression, honouring diverse voices and fostering a courageous classroom

Being challenged is important, but being challenged in a kind, caring and also courageous way. Nelson Mandela tells us that courage is not the absence of fear, it's triumph over fear"

Emmanuel Tabi is a happy man and it shows. His smile frequently lights up the recent 45-minute Teams interview with the 91˿Ƶ Reporter – not an easy task given the impersonal, often dreary, nature of online interaction.  

“I’m really excited and I can’t hide it,” Tabi says – with a huge smile, of course.

Tabi has every reason to be happy. He started at 91˿Ƶ last fall as an assistant professor in Black/African Studies in Education in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE). He is part of 91˿Ƶ’s recent cluster hire of Black tenure-track professors – one of the Action Items in the University’s Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism.

“I feel really honoured, and it’s such a privilege to be here. If you told me when I started my PhD journey that I would end up being a tenure-track faculty member at 91˿Ƶ doing Black studies in education, I might have fainted,” he laughs. “I never want this feeling to go away.”

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91˿Ƶ is on land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous peoples whose presence marks this territory on which peoples of the world now gather.

For more information about traditional territory and tips on how to make a land acknowledgement, visit our Land Acknowledgement webpage.


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