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By RON FANFAIR
Not one to show her feelings easily, Dr. Njoki Wane was very emotional when past and present students gathered last June to celebrate the distinguished educator who stepped down from her role as Chair of the Department of Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
They shared stories about their time with her and the impact she has had on them.
“Somehow, I couldn’t hold back from showing my gratitude,” said Wane, who held the position for five years. “I could not believe I was crying because of the things they were saying. When students approach me about anything, I let my spirit guide me to provide them with what they are looking for. They talked about that at the celebration and it was very emotional for me. I am very grateful.”
Over the years, Wane has supervised 23 PhD and 44 Master’s students. Dr. Jacqueline Benn-John is one of them. They met in 2003 when she took OISE’s Black Feminist Thought course.
“Dr. Wane’s teaching methods incorporate Western epistemological knowledge with Indigenous knowledge,” the sessional lecturer in OISE’s Department of Social Justice Education said. “This unique approach is applied even beyond the classroom, extending to her research, community development, supervision approaches and activism. She maintains an ability to use different teaching and community development approaches concurrently, fostering inclusion among diverse partners. Over the years, I cannot recount the number of times she has said to me and others, ‘I see you’.”
In the role of thesis supervisor and professor, Benn-John said Wane is a unique leader.
“She takes initiative and great care to mentor, challenge and support graduate students,” said the York Region Women’s Support Network’s executive director. “This mentoring and support are a much-appreciated contribution to graduate students’ experience. In classes and thesis groups, she creates a safe space for students to engage in reflection and critical thinking through open dialogue, divergent and dissenting opinions and ideas…She believed in me sometimes more than I believed in myself and it is her strong belief in and encouragement of her students that helps us to complete our Master’s and Doctoral studies.”
Wane’s classroom discussions and carefully selected course materials, said Benn-John, validate the perspectives of those with lived experience of marginalization and their capacity for resistance.
“Her critical analysis pushed me to understand complex situations in academy and community with greater depth, but also recognize that we have always had the solutions,” she added. “We must call on our ancestors and, like the Sankofa bird, we must look back and bring forward what will guide us in the future.”
Completing her doctorate last June, Dr. Lisa Chinchamie said her thesis supervisor has played a pivotal role in her life and the academic journey of others.
“Her unwavering commitment to social justice and equity has inspired us to strive for the upliftment of the communities we come from and live in,” said the OISE Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development New Academic Programs & Governance Coordinator. “Through her academic leadership and mentorship, she has taught us the true meaning of dedication and resilience. She lights up any room she enters and her smile has the power to provide comfort and reassurance.”
The experience of being a mature student pursuing a doctorate was daunting at first for Dr. Adrian Aziz.
“I was fortunate to have the dedication of the supervisor who, at each step of the journey, provided me with timely and impactful feedback,” said the Toronto Police Service Missing & Missed Implementation Team community representative. “Dr. Wane’s careful consultation with me regarding committee members proved in the end to garner a thesis that I am proud of and successfully defended.”
Aziz said Wane’s supervision approach extended into his thesis study group environment.
“She created opportunities for collaboration and self-expression and useful resources while providing a welcoming space for all students who were in different stages of either the Master’s or doctoral process,” he said. “This allowed for the sharing of ideas and circles of friendships outside the group.”
Dr. Dorothy Nzanwata said Wane stands out as a pillar of inspiration and transformation in academia’s vast landscape.
“Her unparalleled dedication and compassionate nature significantly influenced my doctoral studies and permanently altered my perspective on life,” said the Nelo Immigrant & Community Services president. “As my thesis supervisor, she provided academic guidance and mentorship that transcended conventional teaching. She invested countless hours reviewing my work on critical analysis from an Indigenous perspective, offering constructive feedback and encouraging me. My thesis became a fulfilment of academic requirements and a genuine contribution to the field.”
Doctoral student Angad Kaur holds Wane in high esteem.
“She is a spiritual and whole person,” said the Yoga therapist and educator. “She is not trying to be somebody else or to be someone else’s version of herself or even the academy’s idea of her. Because she lives her truth, she walks and speaks with clarity and light. Because she is whole and vibrates the truth, she sees the truth in her students.”
The recipient of the African Scholars Award in 2018, Wane enjoys teaching and interacting with students.
“Listening to them and learning from them is so very satisfying,” she said. “Just going through school and getting my doctorate was just the beginning of my education. I have learned so much from my students. That excites me. And if they ask a question that I don’t have an answer for, looking for the answer is fulfilling. The other thing that excites me is when I look at the offerings within the educational system and there are gaps, I research them, write about them and then share that with my students.”
Why has Wane remained with U of T for such a lengthy period?
“Even though I got a one-year contract, I told the Chair I wanted the job full-time and I got it,” she said. “U of T allowed me to do research in areas I wanted to like enslavement, women in Canada, pre-colonial Africa and what are the commonalities about the conscience of the world. Recognizing that educational and social systems thought Black people had no history pushed me to do colonial Africa and come up with a book, ‘Education, Colonial Sickness: A Decolonial African Indigenous Project’. U of T gave me space and time to investigate things that I love.”
The book was released earlier this year.
“You did not have to be Black to be in it,” said Wane, who was nominated for the TVO Best Lecturer Award in 2009. “I centred it on the humanness and spiritual aspect of our being.”
With two older brothers attending university when she was growing up, Wane knew at age eight that she was going to be a professor.
“I did not know what a professor did, but my brothers always talked about them when they came home,” the 2008 Harry Jerome Professional Excellence Award winner said. “So I said I will be a professor and that was my goal.”
It’s not surprising Wane pursued teaching after completing her PhD in Sociology & Equity Studies at OISE in 1996.
After splitting two years teaching at Trent University and the U of T’s New College, she accepted a one-year contract at OISE 26 years ago and is still there.
Canada was not on Wane’s radar when she was considering her options for pursuing graduate degrees overseas after completing two degrees in Kenya in 1985 and 1987.
“All everyone was talking about was going to America,” she said. “When I saw an advertisement offering scholarships to come to Canada, I applied and was successful.”
Wane was among four Kenyan students selected to attend the University of New Brunswick.
As with most newcomers, the transition was challenging.
“I was shocked by the smallness of Fredericton,” said Wane who has held major research grants from the Social Sciences and Human Research Council of Canada and Kenyan, Brazilian and Spanish universities. “You could have counted the number of tall buildings. There was one main street and a butcher shop where we purchased meat. There were also very few Black people. On some occasions, while waiting for the bus, I approached people asking if they could change five dollars so that I could pay the bus fare. They walked away from me and it was not until later I learned they thought I was a beggar.
“What was even more shocking was people wanted to touch my braided hair.”
Thinking the classroom would be a comfort zone was a fallacy.
“I know I am smart because my family told me that,” the former OISE Teaching Support Office head said. “But when I raised my hand in class, my professors ignored me. One day, I was brave enough to say I would like to answer the question. The professor looked at me and moved away. I didn’t know that was racism.”
Growing up in a rural village in Kenya, Wane received the full support of her parents who owned a small coffee farm.
“If you wanted to do a particular thing, they did not dissuade you,” the University of Embu Diaspora scholar said. “Very early in my life, they noticed I loved to read. When we went to the farm, my mom insisted I bring a book to read while I sat under a tree. That is all she wanted me to do.”
Wane paid tribute to her mother in a memoir, ‘From My Mother’s Back: A Journey from Kenya to Canada’ that was on the Canada Reads 2022 Longlist.
Moving smoothly between time and place, she uses her past to illuminate her present. The childhood confusion caused by nuns at her boarding school dismissing her proper name and demanding she give them a Christian first name she did not possess which resulted in unexpected consequences leads deftly to her requirement as a professor that her students and colleagues learn to use and correctly pronounce her first name. In the end, she never forgets that her story started with the feeling of safety and the clear field view she received as a child carried on her mother’s back.
In 2000, Wane founded Black African Voices Inc. which encourages young people to believe in themselves and focus on what is meaningful to them and their careers. The organization also produces cutting-edge research and publications.
On sabbatical for a year, she is travelling and writing. The celebrated and renowned scholar will revisit the countries she has been to, including Nepal, South Korea, Honduras and Thailand.
“I will also go to countries I have not been to like Australia and New Zealand and just sit and write,” said Wane who served as Director at the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at OISE from 2006 to 2014. “I have a lot of writing to do.”
She is working on books on Black Canadian feminism based on interviews she did with Black women across Canada, and women in leadership positions in Canadian universities.
