Your Story Will Forever Float as Memory: Afrodiasporic Cultural Production and Activism in Black Canada

ABSTRACT

The narratives presented in this article speak to the lived experiences of an Afrodiasporic activist: an educator and spoken word poet named Efe. Efe mobilized his talents to support racialized youths as they navigated the complex and often difficult social context of Toronto, Canada. Efe also used his cultural production to speak to his own personal frustrations with being a Black man within Canada. These narratives are important because they counter the hegemonic way Canada is depicted as a welcoming “multicultural” country, consequently denying the racist and problematic methods that have been historically used when dealing with indigenous and Black communities and individuals.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emmanuel Tabi

Dr. Emmanuel Tabi’s work has examined the ways in which race, gender, and class dynamics intersect within Toronto’s urban arts centers and how they are performed through various forms of cultural production such as spoken word poetry and rapping. As a multi-instrumentalist and former spoken word poet, Dr. Tabi provides a unique perspective as both a researcher and cultural producer. Dr. Tabi’s most recent work, entitled I Too Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Rapping and Spoken Word as Activism and Education, explored how four Black male youths in Toronto employed spoken word poetry and rapping as a form of both community organizing and education.