Malinda Smith, professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta will deliver a special guest lecture today in advance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21.
Smith’s lecture, titled “Between Words and Deeds: Equity Matters in Canadian Academe”, is organized by the School of Social Work in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and 
will take place at 6pm in Curtis Lecture Hall 1.
Right: Malinda Smith
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated each year on the March 21, the anniversary of the date in 1960 when police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid “pass laws” in Sharpeville, South Africa,. Proclaiming the day in 1966, the General Assembly of the United Nations called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
Smith teaches international relations, comparative politics and global critical race studies. She holds a masters of development administration and a masters of arts from Western Michigan University, and a PhD in political science from the University of Alberta.
Prior to joining the University of Alberta, she was the academic coordinator for Governance, Law & Management and Political Economy programs at Athabasca University. Smith has published widely on anti-racism and equity issues and is the co-editor (with Sherene Razack and Sunera Thobani) of States of Race: Critical Race Feminism for the 21st Century (2010) and the editor of Globalizing Africa (2003), Beyond the African Tragedy (2006) and Securing Africa: Post-9/11 Discourses on Terrorism (2010). Her new book, which will be titled Understudy: Equity in the Academy, is forthcoming.
Currently, Smith serves as the vice-president of equity issues for the Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences and as a member of the national steering committee of the Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equity (RACE) network. Smith is the receipient of the 1998 Black Educator’s Award and the 2010 Centre for Race and Culture Anti Racism Award.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Following the lecture, there will be a reception.
For more information, contact York social work Professor Andrea Daley at ext. 22847.