The Poetics of Anti-Racism

Nuzhat Amin is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Long
Island University's C.W. Post Campus, where she teaches courses in cultural diversity and in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. She has taught English, ESL and EFL in Canada, Pakistan and Poland. Nuzhat's research explores the intersections of race with gender, language and power. Her current research interrogates discourses of Islam in TESOL. She has published in The CATESOL Journal, TESOL Matters, TESOL Quarterly and Canadian Woman Studies.

Born in Asokore-Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, George Sefa Dei did undergraduate education at the University of Ghana, and postgraduate studies at McMaster University and the University of Toronto, Canada. Currently, George is Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Between 1996 and 2000 he served as the first Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at OISE/UT.


Professor Dei's teaching and research interests are in the areas of anti-racism, minority schooling, international development and anti-colonial thought. His professional and academic work has led to many conference and workshop invitations in Canada, U.S., Europe and Africa. He has also appeared on many radio and television shows speaking about my academic and research work.


Professor Dei has received several awards for his work, including the African-Canadian Outstanding Achievement in Education; the Community Builder Award. Continuing Education Department of the Toronto Catholic District School Board; and, the Race, Gender, and Class Project Academic Award (at the Annual Race, Gender, and Class Conference, New Orleans). He is the author, co-author, and editor of several books on anti-racism and education, including Anti-Racism Education: Theory and Practice; Hardships and Survival in Rural West Africa; Reconstructing 'Drop-Out': A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students' Disengagement from School and Indigenous Knowledge in Global Contexts.

Meredith Lordan, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology andEquity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the Universityof Toronto, is an Instructor with the Initial Teacher Education Program atthe University of Toronto. A writer, teacher and community advocate, herresearch interests include equitable education, reframing students at risk,multilateralism and education as a human right.