African diaspora | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Karine Coen-Sanchez

rebsl — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:34:34 +0000

Dr. Karine Coen-Sanchez is an independent sociologist and Founder and Executive Director of the Coen-Sanchez Research & Policy Institute (CSRPI), a federally incorporated Canadian not-for-profit research institute advancing interdisciplinary research, public policy, governance, and institutional equity. Her research examines institutional governance, race, migration, identity, and public policy.

She is the developer of Human Systems Mediation, an original interdisciplinary framework examining how governance systems, organizational cultures, and human experience interact to shape policy implementation and institutional outcomes. Her scholarship has also contributed conceptual perspectives such as Polite Racism, advancing research on institutional racism, equity, and organizational change.

Her work bridges sociology, governance, organizational studies, and policy research, with particular attention to Afro-Caribbean communities, institutional trust, and democratic governance. Her current research explores governance innovation, artificial intelligence, and evidence-informed policy to strengthen equitable and responsive institutions.

Through CSRPI, Dr. Coen-Sanchez extends this scholarship into applied research, policy development, and knowledge mobilization, connecting critical sociological research with practical approaches to institutional and public-policy challenges.

Keywords: Institutional Governance; Public Policy; Race and Racism; African Diaspora; Afro-Caribbean Studies; Migration; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI); Human Systems Mediation; Organizational Change; Artificial Intelligence and Governance; Knowledge Mobilization; Social Justice; Institutional Trust; Policy Implementation; Qualitative Research.

Margaret Ofori Asubonteng

rebsl — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:58:59 +0000

Margaret Ofori Asubonteng is a Black African Human Resource Management student at 91��ɫ with interests in Black studies, labour, equity, law, student engagement, and community development. Her academic and leadership pursuits explore the intersections of Black lived experiences, institutional systems, social justice, and belonging within educational and professional spaces.

She currently serves as an Upper-Year Experience Mentor and LA&PS Student Ambassador at 91��ɫ, supporting student transition, engagement, and peer connection. Margaret is also the Founder and President of The Story Room at 91��ɫ U, a student-led initiative that creates space for storytelling, dialogue, and the sharing of lived experiences within the university community.

In addition to her work in student engagement, Margaret serves as Vice President of Marketing and Media Relations for the Black Women in Law Association and Associate of Marketing for the Human Resource Management Student Association. Through these roles, she contributes to student programming, community building, communications, and initiatives that support student development and engagement.

Margaret's commitment to student leadership and service has been recognized through several honours, including a Certificate of Distinction for Excellence from Student Community & Leadership Development, the Best College Crew Volunteer Award (2024–2025) from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and recognition for her contributions to the Human Resource Management Student Association community. She was also recognized for her presentation at 91��ɫ's International Career Ready Conference, where she shared insights on navigating university life as an international student.

Passionate about advocacy and community-centred engagement, Margaret hopes to continue contributing to research, dialogue, and initiatives that affirm the richness, complexity, and diversity of African and diasporic experiences while creating spaces where students feel seen, heard, and connected.

Keywords: Black Studies, African Diaspora, Labor, Equity, Social Justice, Student Engagement, Community Development, Law, Belonging, Youth Leadership, International Students

Zachary Scola-Allison

rebsl — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:56:56 +0000

A writer and award-winning artist and curator, Zachary's research focuses on the idea of the artist as brand, exploring the concept's interaction with race, class, and identity. His research offers a decolonising analysis of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artworks, exploring the impact of Basquiat’s Afro-Caribbean heritage, appropriation, and commodification on his work. Central to his study is the popular labeling of Basquiat as “The Black Picasso,” a moniker that both includes and others the artist within the Western art canon. Using theoretical frameworks such as Homi K. Bhabha's concepts of mimicry and hybridity to interpret semiotic analyses of image and text within a postcolonial framework, Zachary critically examines how Basquiat’s art functions as a postcolonial counter-narrative. His work will contribute to the decolonisation of cultural narratives, exploring the effects of commodifying BIPOC artists.

Keywords: Decolonial, Postcolonial, African Diaspora, Basquiat, Branding, Commodification, Capitalism, Anti-Racism

Paul E. Lovejoy

rebsl — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 19:53:44 +0000

As Distinguished Research Professor the Department of History, 91��ɫ, he was Founding Director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas at 91��ɫ and held the Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History (2000-2015). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was a member of Council of the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, serving as Vice President and Acting President. He was a member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO “Slave Route” Project from 1996 to 2012, publishing several books in association with the Project. He was co-editor of the journal, African Economic History, for 37 years and continues as General Editor of The Harriet Tubman Series on the African Diaspora (Africa World Press), having published 40 books in the Series. In 2019, the Journal of Global Slavery and Brill Publishers established the Paul E. Lovejoy Prize, an Annual Award for Excellence and Originality in a Major Work on Global Slavery. In 2021, African Economic History published a special issue in his honor (Vol, 49, No. 1), and in 2024, Toyin Falola published Transformations in History: African Societies and Economies in The Works of Paul Lovejoy (Berlin and Leiden: De Gruyter Brill). He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Extraordinary Global Academic Leadership from Obafemi Awolowo University *the Distinguished Africanist Award of the African Studies Association in 2024. Lovejoy has published more than forty books, including Jihad in West Africa during the Age of Revolutions (1775-1850) (2016), Slavery in the Global Diaspora of Africa (2019), Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua: An Enslaved Muslim of the Black Atlantic (2025), and Ecología, etnografía y comercio musulmán a través del Sahel: interacciones entre el Sahara, la sabana y el bosque en África Occidental (2025). He has co-edited Slavery, Resistance and Abolitions: A Pluralist Perspective (2019), The Atlantic and Africa: The Second Slavery and Beyond (2021), Regenerated Identities: Documenting African Lives (2022), and Boko Haram, Islamic Protest and National Security (2023). His various web-based projects include Equiano’s World: Gustavus Vassa and the Abolition of the Slave Trade (), which is the subject of his current research. His forthcoming book, Olaudah of Ikwuano: The True Origins of an African Abolitionist is being published by Princeton University Press.

Research keywords: African Economic History, Islamic Africa, slavery, biography, African diaspora