Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the entire history department, I would like to congratulate our Ph.D. student Francesca D’Amico and the Performing Diaspora Organizing Committee (Ph.D. students Funké Aladejebi and Katie Bausch, and undergraduate history student Amanda Girgis) for a most impressive conference last weekend.
“Performing Diaspora: the History of Urban Music in Toronto” was an inspiring example of public history. It brought academics together with celebrated Hip Hop artists and deejays, music producers, journalists, and fans in an interdisciplinary and academically rigorous exploration of Toronto Hip Hop and African-Canadian contributions to the Canadian music industry.
As our colleague Anne Rubenstein observed, Performing Diaspora “created a space in which people could engage with each other deeply and respectfully across all kinds of difference; it was rooted in the local – not just Toronto but York’s own campus and neighborhood – while providing the global context for hip-hop music as well.” The Performing Diaspora conference represents York at its best.
Francesca, Funké, Katie, and Amanda worked incredibly hard to create an extraordinary event. Congratulations and many thanks!
Best wishes,
Molly