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| Marilyn Thomas-Houston is the Fulbright University Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies. (Danny Abriel Photo) |
When Marilyn Thomas-Houston tells a student, âI donât know the answer but Iâll look into it and get back to you,â she really means it.
Dr. Thomas-Houston, assistant professor of anthropology and African-American studies at the University of Florida, made the promise more than 10 years ago. While talking about the African diaspora â the scattering of African people across the globe â to her students, she mentioned that a significant number of people of African birth, who were brought forcibly to the colonies to provide slave labour, made their way to Nova Scotia following the American Revolution. And thatâs when she saw a hand go up at the back of the class.
âNova Scotia?â queried the student. âWhy would they go to Nova Scotia?â
âI donât know the answer but Iâll look into it and get back to you,â responded Dr. Thomas-Houston.
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âThere are ways of being that seem to be a part of black culture,â muses Dr. Thomas-Houston, ensconced at ±«Óătv University for a year as a Fulbright University Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies. âI donât know, for example, how many times Iâve been asked, âWhat church do you belong to?ââ
The South Carolina native and author of two books, âStony the Roadâ to Change and Homing Devices, admits she first arrived with stars in her eyes, anticipating that in Nova Scotia she âwould see the future for black people in the United States given the difference of years in freedom.â At the time, she entitled her research proposal âHarmonies of Liberty.â
Instead, she discovered a difficult history. Promised free land and rations in exchange for their loyalty by the British, the Black Loyalists found those promises had evaporated once they arrived on Nova Scotiaâs rocky coast. In any case, most Black Loyalists couldnât make a living from farming because the land was unsuitable for growing crops. Those who didnât have a trade to fall back on were forced to indenture themselves or their children to survive; their lot turned out no better than what they had left behind.
Dr. Thomas-Houston is interested in whether that immigrant experience â and that of the Jamaican Maroons from the 1790s and refugees from the War of 1812 â continues to colour the lives of descendants. Sheâs also examining more recent migrations of Africans to the Maritimes and whether this further complicates issues of identity and citizenship in Nova Scotian and Canadian society.
âBasically, what I want to know is, âWhat does it mean to be a black citizen of Nova Scotia?ââ she says.
As a Fulbright scholar based at ±«Óătv, she hopes to set up a Nova Scotia field school, which she envisions as an interdisciplinary, interuniversity centre where students could learn about the socio-cultural history of colonial Nova Scotia and discuss how this history affects the provinceâs black population today. Moreover, students would be taught qualitative research design, ethnographic methodology and research ethics. Theyâd also be required to carry out individual research projects and âservice learning projectsâ by volunteering for local community groups.
âI see the field school as an immersion experience in which students might be assigned a family to live with or to live nearby,â says Dr. Thomas-Houston. âI see this as a wonderful, enlightening experience by which students can take their knowledge and make the world a better place.
âThatâs not too much to ask, is it?â she says with a laugh.Â