African Ancestry Project: Highlighting the diversity of Black people in BC and implications on health research

SUMMARY

The African Ancestry Project is a research and dialogue project aimed at bringing awareness of the diversity of Black people in British Columbia. Over 160 project participants offered a glimpse into the diverse histories, identities, and experiences of those socially categorized as Black and often treated as a monolith in Canadian academic, policy, and public discourse. Alice Mũrage challenges this discourse by sharing the project’s findings and reflecting on the implications to Canadian health research.

In Dr. Jude Mary Cénat’s article ‘Who is Black? The urgency of accurately defining the Black population when conducting health research in Canada’, he calls on researchers to do their homework to accurately define and recruit Black participants, and account for their diversity. Lack of race-based health data in Canada is negatively impacting Black people’s health. Qualitative and quantitative research offers unique opportunities to fill such data gaps and contribute to health equity. However, for this research to be useful, it needs to accurately represent the demographic group it claims to target. Canadian health research often relies upon inconsistent racial categories and self-identification; however, how do Black people identify? What is the extent of their diversity? Why and how do we account for this diversity in health research?

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PRESENTER

Alice Mũrage is a PhD student at the SFU Faculty of Health Sciences and a Research Fellow at the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society. She is also the director of the African Ancestry Project, a community research and dialogue project she initiated in 2020 in partnership with the BC Black History Awareness Society.

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This event is a collaboration initiative between BCCDC and SFU Faculty of Health Sciences to commemorate Black History Month.