October 18–21, 2023 Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
The University of King’s College and Dalhousie University, together and in partnership with the Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia host the 2023 Universities Studying Slavery Conference.
In October of 2023 King’s and Dalhousie, in partnership with the Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia will host the first conference of the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium to be held outside the United States. The conference will feature keynotes by seven leaders from the spheres of politics, the arts and academia—each an internationally renowned voice on slavery and reparations. Scheduled to take place in Halifax, N.S., from Oct. 18–21, the conference will explore the theme ‘Slavery, Reparations and Education: African Nova Scotia, Canada and Beyond.’
Based out of the University of Virginia and comprising more than 60 universities, USS is dedicated to organizing multi-institutional collaboration on research into historical and contemporary issues dealing with race and inequality in higher education and university communities. Dalhousie was the first Canadian university to join this groundbreaking research, followed shortly thereafter by King’s.
Interested participants are invited to submit proposals for papers and for panels. Panels can be disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, or consist of academics and non-academics and the conference is open to the public.
Dr. Harvey Amani Whitfield, leading historian of Black history and slavery in Colonial Canada and a Professor in Black North American History at the University of Calgary
Dr. Afua Cooper, distinguished historian and poet, and Killam Research Chair in Black and African Diaspora Studies at Dalhousie University
David Comissiong, Barbadian lawyer, former senator and founder of the Clement Payne Movement
Dr. George Elliott Clarke, renowned poet and E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto
Dr. John Mahama, former president of Ghana
Dr. Sylvia D. Hamilton, renowned filmmaker, writer, journalist and artist, and University of King’s College Inglis Professor
Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission
