Mental health seeking behaviour of women university students: An intersectional analysis

This research study explored the mental health seeking behaviour of racialized and non-racialized female students at a large size public university located in Ontario, Canada. A sample consisting of 570 students participated in the cross-sectional survey. The majority (n = 413, 84.1%) were identified as Canadian racialized female students. The remainder (n = 78, 15.9%) were Canadian non-racialized female students, identifying with dominant Canadian culture. We contended that intersectionality, an emergent theoretical and methodological public health framework, provides a powerful tool for understanding these complex interlocking experiences in the context of mental health. High levels of depression and anxiety symptoms were reported by both the racialized non-racialized female students. The proportion of students with CES-D scores > 16 (indicating that may suffer from depression) was higher among the female racialized students (n = 265, 64.2%) than the non-racialized female students (n = 39, 50.0%). Approximately, half of the racialized students (n = 202, 48.9%) had BAS scores > 10 indicating that they may suffer from anxiety. About half (n = 38, 48.7%) of the non-racialized students also had BAS scores > 10 indicating that they may suffer from anxiety. The findings of this research study advocate university governance, healthcare professionals, and counsellors need to improve their services to address the specific needs and concerns of racialized students. Future research should focus on how findings can be translated into practice by designing culturally adaptive treatment modalities, that focus on resolving mental health problems in racialized and non-racialized female students especially in times of crisis similar to the Corvid-19 pandemic.

Defeating the Purpose of Multiculturalism: a Case of Hate on Campus

This paper examines the student newspaper at two Toronto universities: Ryerson university and York university to uncover the manifestation of hate motivated activity on campus. The findings capture a striking contradiction between an articulated understanding of official multiculturalism in Canada and the reality of persistent and pervasive hate activity on campus. I argue that hate motivated activity impacts the social processes of exclusion for racialized students in Toronto universities. Using a social exclusion framework I examine how the nature and extent of hate motivated activity materialize as a means of constructing the ‘Other’ within university spaces. Moreover, these systems of meaning support patterns of domination and exclusion, all the while exposing the fallacy multiculturalism in Canada. In order to bring this to light, this study re-conceptualizes, contextualized and problematizes hate activity in the Canadian context, specifically in relation to the university.

Defeating the Purpose of Multiculturalism: a Case of Hate on Campus

This paper examines the student newspaper at two Toronto universities: Ryerson university and York university to uncover the manifestation of hate motivated activity on campus. The findings capture a striking contradiction between an articulated understanding of official multiculturalism in Canada and the reality of persistent and pervasive hate activity on campus. I argue that hate motivated activity impacts the social processes of exclusion for racialized students in Toronto universities. Using a social exclusion framework I examine how the nature and extent of hate motivated activity materialize as a means of constructing the ‘Other’ within university spaces. Moreover, these systems of meaning support patterns of domination and exclusion, all the while exposing the fallacy multiculturalism in Canada. In order to bring this to light, this study re-conceptualizes, contextualized and problematizes hate activity in the Canadian context, specifically in relation to the university.

Exploring the Boundaries of Critical Pedagogy

This visual essay attempts to evoke an aesthetic and affectual entry into the social-spatial terrains I navigate as a Black man and graduate student in Southwestern Ontario. I arrange the relationship between photographs of a factory in my hometown and short reflections into three scenes: The first scene touches on the racial and colonial violence that lingers and manifests in academia, as illustrated through my personal experiences. The essay moves to a second scene, touching on the settler-colonial legacy of the factory, as well as reckons with the anti-colonial implications of photographing the demolition and the troubling of subject-object relationships. The last scene emphasizes that, despite pedagogical efforts, the residue of racial and colonial violence in academic settings will still have some degree of impact on racialized students. Critical pedagogues must contend with the reality that racialized students, by virtue of being and existing in academic spaces, embody a pedagogy that could potentially disrupt and deconstruct learning environments into transformative, radical, respectful and caring spaces.