Decentering Whiteness Session 2 Resources

Welcome to the White supremacy and anti-blackness session of Decentering Whiteness

Keynote facilitator

Vince Tao, Vancouver Tenant’s Union and VANDU

Vincent Tao is a labour union organizer, housing activist, and educator of social movement history and practice.Previously, Tao was the Education Librarian of 221A, where he stewarded the transformation of the institution’s exhibition space as Pollyanna 圖書館 Library, a hybrid archive and public programming infrastructure. During his tenure, Tao developed 221A’s transdisciplinary research projects, free-to-attend educational programs, and community solidarity initiatives.

Session Recording

Main book discussed

Tharoor, S. (2017). Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India. London: Penguin

Multimodal resources

Secondary Reading:

James, C.L.R. (1938/1989). The Black Jacobins: Toussant L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
Trouillot, R. (1995). Silencing the Past. Ch3.
Tao, V. (2021). “Make Chinatown great again”: Social movements, policing, and the new spirit of gentrification in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Music

Musician/artist: Lynton Kwesi Johnson: Forces of Victory

Videos

Video: 13th (Dir. Ava DuVernay. 2016) Sashi Tharoor’s Oxford Reparations speech

Watch the Trailer

Activity

Photo activity: Prior to the session, please take 3 photos of your worksite, home environment or a social event that you feel comfortable sharing and send them to info.elvlc@ubc.ca. We will use the photos in an activity during the session’s discussion.