Histories of Race and Contagion: Revisiting D’Arcy Island through COVID-19 | One Hour @ UBC

Located in Haro Strait off the coast of Vancouver Island, D'Arcy Island was a leprosy colony from 1891 to 1924. During that time, 49 men – mostly Chinese – were sent to the island to be “quarantined” and to await deportation or death, whichever came first.

Explore the connections between racism, health and nation by revisiting D'Arcy Island through a COVID-19 pandemic lens. Examine how racial anxieties regarding Chinese migration have historically underpinned concerns around health and nation. Inquire what the events and history of D’Arcy Island might tell us about today’s pandemic and its deep underlying structures of racial violence.

RENISA MAWANI, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her publications include Colonial Proximities: Crossracial Encounters and Juridical Truths in British Columbia, 1871-1921 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2009) and Across Oceans of Law: The Komagata Maru and Jurisdiction in the Time of Empire (Durham: Duke University Press, 2018).

In this One Hour @ UBC lecture series developed by Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC) Connections, an initiative of UBC’s Equity & Inclusion Office, faculty members and graduate students examine historical and contemporary race and racisms themes in pandemic, anti-Black and anti-Asian contexts. https://bit.ly/3hOZOAJ

------------------------------------------------------------

Connect with UBC Extended Learning!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/34wCWhF
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/35xjNgT
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2ErM5O3
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2ZHVgne
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2QAEjXG
Website: http://bit.ly/2sGhZU1