I Wasn't Born Where My Ancestors Lived
The Liu Institute Network for Africa (LINA) at the University of British Columbia is a research-based network branching out of the Liu Institute for Global Issues. This network emerged out of the need for a platform to bring together stakeholders and resources within research and policy institutions to address policy issues in Africa.
Their inaugural symposium, Building Connections: Between and Within held on October 18-19th was the official launch of LINA to the wider research community.
With a focus on education, decision-making, and the environment, dialogues, writing, research presentations, music and art was used as a starting point for discussion on how LINA can fulfil their goal of connecting the global African community.
As Chair of the Organizing Committee, I had the honour of opening the symposium with my own story…
Welcome to the LINA inaugural symposium. Thank you all for taking the time to be here today.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Coast Salish nations on who's unceded ancestral land we gather on throughout this symposium today and tomorrow.
As peoples of Africa I think we can stand in solitary with the First Nations communities as we are both deeply aware the impact colonist occupation has on a people, their culture and the environment they live on. It is my hope that as we remember that we are visitors here in Canada and ensure that we support indeginous communities doing the same work here, in order for us to all create a vision for a future that is free from destructive individualist consumer ideologies.
I am Dr. Love-Ese Chile and I am honoured to be the chair of the event organizing committee. I would like to open with this short poem I wrote after the Afrocentrism conference a couple of weeks ago as I was trying to unpack my feelings about being a New Zealander of Nigerian decent trying to make their way in this world...
I wasn’t born where my ancestors lived
And that comes with a lot of privilege
It also comes with a type of oppression
Which at time makes me question
My parents decision.
But they did not create the chaotic stage
Which made them want to leave their state.
Who shall I blame? The colonialists
or their 10th generation children in my primary class?
How do we unravel the pains of the past
When centuries of blurred struggles are all that last?
I refuse to believe the narratives they lay in front of me
Choosing instead to rewrite my history
Reframing my world from the stories we tell
Because no one can tell our stories as well
We are all people of African descent who find themselves in an space that is not necessarily their own, but I believe that we are all here to find and maintain our connection to our home lands.This is what the Liu Institute Network for Africa hopes to achieve. This network was created in 2018 to focus on global issues affecting Africa and African issues affecting the world. It is a diasporic, scholarly platform operating out of UBC.
The network currently has 66 members from the UBC research community and several volunteers, including graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, professors and other staff at UBC. The issues we aim to address include climate change and sustainability, peace and security, human rights, health and big data.
While what connects us is our interest in Africa, the issues we tackle are those of interest to the world, given the involvement of most countries in Africa, through transnational corporations and diplomatic affairs.
The theme of this conference is Building Connections, Between and Within. It was difficult to reconcile the many parts of my identity as an African growing up in New Zealand. I’m excited to be a part of LINA and this conference because it is an opportunity to try bridge that gap by building connections between us all. We may not all have the exact same experiences but we all our experiences create the fabric of the African diaspora, the global African community. Often, we may feel divided by ethnic group, country, birthplace, or a million other nuances that make each of us unique. But we are all here today for the same reason. To find ways to mobilize our collective knowledge, expertise and resources to support development of our homelands.
The time for this work is now. We are now facing global climate catastrophe and these changes will wait for no-one. It may be daunting to look these issues in the face, but I see it as an opportunity to address all the wounds of the past to be able to shape a future we can all be proud of.
So please take this step with me. Step into the safe and brave space that we will be creating over the next two days. You may hear things that you don't completely agree with but when you feel that discomfort try to see the person speaking not as their words alone but as a culmination of experiences that have led them to be sitting with you. Because it's the fact that we are all here in this room that is what connects us today.