Black Studies @Concordia

To celebrate the launch of Concordia's Minor in Black and African Diaspora Studies in the Canadian Context - the first in Quebec - this next iteration of the year-long Speaker Series will showcase the research of Black Studies scholars at the university in a conversation moderated by our Black PhD students.

How can you participate? Join us in person (no registration required) or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Future Event Dates: February 3, and March 13

Past Events: October 21

Jean-Claude Bustros

Starting out as self-taught photographer, Jean-Claude Bustros investigates the “reportage” style but quickly shifts to a more formal and abstract approach to images. He exhibits his work in Montréal and abroad and becomes part of the Dazibao collective.

He studies Film Production at Concordia University where he develops a practice of experimental filmmaking focused on recycling archival and found footage. Some of his films, such as “La Queue Tigrée d’un Chat, Zéro Gravité and Rivière 0 make their mark. They have been screened in hundreds of venues, are part of many Film school curricula and have been exhibited in major retrospectives such as the landmark “The cinemas of Canada” at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and “Cinéma Recyclé” at the Gallerie du Jeu de Paume in Paris. His film “La Queue Tigrée d’un Chat…” is named one of the 200 Must see films in Québec cinema.

Later, he begins tapping the potential of computation and digital technologies to develop an expanded form of cinema.  

He is a professor at the Mel Hoppenheim school of Cinema Since 2001 where he was recipient of the distinguished teaching award. He is a founding member of Hexagram research where he was active until 2011. With his long time research partner and computer engineer Mohamed Hachem he has spent the last three years developing an immersive installation based on the middle passage ship crossings. The installation is an initiative undertaken alongside the Newport Middle passage port marker project who have been working on the construction of a memorial in the town of Newport Rhode Island, USA.

Huda Hassan

Huda Hassan is a writer, cultural critic, and Assistant Professor at Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment. Previously an Assistant Professor at New York University’s Media, Culture, and Communication department, her work deploys methods from media studies, Black diaspora cultural studies, musicology, and transnational feminisms. Her research project, “Harlem Roses: African Seafarers of the Harlem Renaissance,” examines African diasporic sensibilities in 1920s Harlem, shaped by the Great Migration, a growing air of Pan-Africanism, the peripatetic movement of African seafarers, and a time of ‘universal excitement’ as per poet Claude McKay. Her forthcoming book, Children of the Snow (Penguin/McClelland and Stewart, 2027), is a collection of essays on the connection between cities and grief.

Dennis Tibil Bersong (moderator)

Dennis Tibil Bersong is a researcher and academic in the Department of History at Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. His interdisciplinary scholarship engages with the intersections of history, political thought, environmental studies, and cultural identity, with a particular emphasis on pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial societies and global intellectual traditions. His research critically examines how historical narratives inform and shape contemporary social and political formations. Bersong has presented his work at academic conferences and contributed to scholarly publications, underscoring his commitment to rigorous inquiry, cross-cultural engagement, and the advancement of knowledge within the humanities and social sciences.

Organized by Angélique Willkie, special advisor, Black Integration & Knowledges; Badewa Ajibade (PhD student) with the support of Christiana Abraham, Minor program director and the Office of the Dean, FAS.