Humber Liberal Arts Academic Conference: Displacement and Diaspora

According to UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, at the beginning of 2022, of the 89 million people displaced worldwide, over 53 million people were internally displaced, meaning despite being separated from their homelands, they have not crossed a border to find refuge. In settler colonial states like Canada, there is also a growing understanding of the effects of Indigenous displacement (historic and ongoing) and an increasing understanding of urban Indigenous communities as forming a diaspora as well.

The ninth annual Humber@TIFA seeks to explore displacement and the concept of diaspora through an interdisciplinary lens. Covering topics such as war, colonialism and environmental deterioration, panelists will dive into studies of diasporic literature, analyses of environmentally-influenced migration and provide glimpses into what it means to be part of a digital diaspora.

The key note speaker is Billy-Ray Belcourt. Belcourt is a writer and academic from the Driftpile Cree Nation. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of four books: This Wound is a World, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field, A History of My Brief Body and A Minor Chorus.

The Humber Liberal Arts Academic Conference 2023 is running as part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors (September 21 – October 1, 2023).

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