Young Black women's resistance to the Canadian settler colonial state apparatus: Negotiating the complexities of “being part of the system that oppresses”

Published date01 February 2023
AuthorThashika Pillay
Date01 February 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13066
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13066
Received: 19 October 2020    Revised: 24 August 2022    Accepted: 29 August 2022
Faculty of Education, Queen's University,
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence
Thashika Pillay, Faculty of Education, Queen's
University, A319, Duncan McArthur Hall, 511
Union Street, Kingston, Ontario K7M 5R7,
Canada.
Email: tp61@queensu.ca
Abstract
Young Black peoples encounter racism and discriminatory
practices and policies through formal education and in the
larger society (Creese, 2013; Dei & James, 1998; Kelly,
1998). As the experiences of the research participants—
young Black women between the ages of 18 and 30—
highlight, a formal education system that is structured to
benefit and perpetuate the settler colonial state apparatus
marginalizes Black youth, including those who are deemed
“successful” through their acceptance into higher education
as formal education and the labour market are structured
according to the logic of settler colonialism. As such, these
systems operate by imposing Euro-Western systems of
knowledge, justice, and community on racialized peoples,
and in particular, Black peoples. Yet, the research also shows
that while injustice is the reality for young Black people, so
too is resistance through a small yet powerful contingent
who are refusing to remain complicit in perpetuating settler
colonialism.
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
Young Black women's resistance to the Canadian
settler colonial state apparatus: Negotiating the
complexities of “being part of the system that
oppresses”
Thashika Pillay
INTRODUCTION
The experiences of young women of Black/African descent living in Edmonton/Amiskwaciwaskahikan – in what is
currently Canada – are mediated by relations and structures of power as constructed through settler colonialism.
The political, economic, social and cultural structures of settler colonialism are based on colonialism, patriarchy,
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© 2022 International Organization for Migration.
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capitalism, imperialism and neoliberalism, and these systems organize the world and influence young Black women's
experiences and responses, both as individuals and as collectives.
This article explores the educational experiences of nine young Black/African Canadian women living in Edmon-
ton, Alberta/Amiskwaciwaskahikan between the ages of 18 and 30 who are either currently enrolled in post-secondary
education or had recently completed post-secondary education. Reflecting on research by Kobayashi (2008), this
project targets young second-generation African Canadian women, whereby “the second generation is a demo-
graphic group that includes both children born in Canada to immigrant parents and those (often referred to as the 1.5
generation) who immigrated to Canada as children” (p. 3).
The latest Statistics Canada (2021) data show that 79% of those identifying as Black graduate from high school in
comparison to other groups: of Chinese descent – 83%, South Asian descent – 82%, white – 78% and Latin American
descent – 80%. Surprisingly, when compared to statistics from Boyd (2008), the high school graduation rates of all
groups (with the exception of Latinx students) showed a decrease over the past decade. When examining the most
recent data on university graduation rates, 27% of those identifying as Black graduate with a Bachelor's degree or
higher, in comparison to 23% who identify as white, 68% identifying as being of Chinese descent and 58% identifying
as South Asian descent (Zemen & Frenette, 2021). Research by a number of scholars explicate the factors behind
Black students' university graduation rates being significantly lower than that of students of Chinese and South Asian
descent and contend that young Black/African Canadian peoples are alienated and oppressed in formal educational
spaces and in the larger society (Creese, 2013; Dei & James, 1998; Henry, 1995; Kelly, 1998; Taylor, 2020). Young
learners who require the most support from the school system are failed by the system and its policy priorities as the
policies and practices of the educational system are structured to perpetuate the hegemonic subjectivities of those
who already “fit its linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic categorizations” (Abdi, 2016, p. 52). As the experiences of
the research participants highlight, a formal education system that is structured to benefit and perpetuate the settler
colonial state apparatus marginalizes Black youth, including those who are initially deemed “successful” through their
acceptance into higher education.
Racism is an insidious reality in the lives of racialized peoples, and young Black peoples face systemic, structural
and institutional racism and discrimination in all areas of their lives. Such oppressions limit their access to social and
economic opportunities (Dlamini et al., 2009; Zaami, 2020). Young Black peoples in Canada are aware of how racism
is perpetuated due to knowledge gained from their parents' experiences and from their own experiences in schooling
and other daily realities (Davis, 2017; Samuels-Wortley, 2021).
Formal education is the pre-eminent space in which young Black peoples encounter racism and discriminatory
practices and policies as well as, institutional, structural and systemic racism. However, as this article illustrates,
formal education and the labour market is structured according to the logic of settler colonialism and the elimination
of Indigenous peoples. It is important to note that the research also shows that while injustice is the reality for young
Black people, so too is resistance through a small yet powerful contingent who refuse to remain complicit in perpet-
uating settler colonialism.
CONTEXTUALIZING THE AFRICAN DIASPORA IN “CANADA” THROUGH THE
STRUCTURE OF SETTLER COLONIALISM
In this section, I illustrate the ways in which the Canadian settler colonial state has used the migration of Black
peoples from Africa, in particular Black women, as a strategy in their logic of elimination of Indigenous peoples and
their claims to the land. Understanding the historical process of settler colonialism goes hand-in-hand with under-
standing the various migrations of peoples of African descent to the land currently identified as Canada and the role
of education as one integral aspect of the settler colonial state apparatus.
Minoritized peoples were admitted into Canada due to the racialization of labour wherein non-white,
non-European immigrants were considered suitable to work in “unskilled” and often extremely dangerous situations.
PILLAY
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