Veena Dwivedi, Psychology Professor at Brock University, published a first-person piece in The Globe and Mail where she reflects on her multiple cultural identities, the societal awakening to racism and how she still remains hopeful for the future. 

She writes:

“After years of research and hard work, this summer I was promoted to full professor by Brock University. It’s ironic that this progress for a visible minority happened during the “great pause” of COVID-19, and when society was finally – remarkably – awakened to racism by the killing of George Floyd. 

Like a lot of people in these never-before-seen times, I took a long look in the mirror. How could this be happening? I had been in academia for a quarter-century and thought I was making a difference. How to find hope now? Just because I had “made it” in academia? What next?

Incidentally, my research is on brain and language, which means I could be in either linguistics or psychology departments. Out of curiosity, I did a web search of those department types at major Canadian universities. My search revealed that just a handful of full professors at those schools are both female and non-white. That reality alone says, “Houston, we have a problem.” 

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