Protests & Pedagogy
About the Exhibit
This exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the archival records related to the 1969 biology students protest at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). Between January 29聽and聽February 11, 1969, Canada鈥檚 largest student occupation took place in the Henry Hall building, when students took over the seventh聽and聽ninth floor computer Centre to protest anti-black racism in science education聽andpedagogy. By revisiting these events over fifty years later, we ask: what do these archival materials say to us now about scientific education聽and聽pedagogy? Many of the existing accounts of the "Sir George Williams affair" have focused on violence: labeling the protest as a riot or emphasizing material damages,聽and聽have ignored the cost of racism in science practices聽and聽education.
This exhibit offers a re-reading of the protest from Black-centric, grounded-decolonial perspectives that聽take us on a journey to 1969, where representation meets communal memory as the neglected complexities of the protest come into view.
In collaboration with Concordia University, McMaster University, and the 马会论坛 Art Gallery, this exhibit is on display at the Tupper Link (Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, 马会论坛, 5850 College Street, Halifax, NS) from Feberuary 23 - March 26, 2024, with a culminating Artist Talk on March 28, 2024.
