Ciann Wilson
Ciann Wilson is a PhD student at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. A direct result of her lived experience as a woman of color and youth advocate, Ciann’s research interests include community health; HIV and AIDS; political economy; social determinants; critical ethnic studies; qualitative, quantitative, community-based and indigenous research approaches. Ciann has contributed to books such as a chapter from her masters research titled Let’s Talk About Sex and Money – An exploration of economically motivated relationships amongst young Black Women in Canada In T.A Laveist (editor) The Legacy of the Crossing: Life, Death and Triumph Among Descendants of the World’s Greatest Forced Migration, pending publication by Claybridge Media. In 2011, Ciann also published "Let's Talk About Sex: Photo Gallery in the Girlhood Studies Journal and The Impact of the Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure on the Health and Human Rights of Black Communities in the first issue of Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality Journal, the second issue of which Ciann is a co-editor. A former University Without Walls (UWW 2.0) fellow, Ciann is currently supported by CIHR's Doctoral Award and the Social Research Centre's Research Award.
Beyond the Colonial Divide: Alliance Building Between African Diasporic and Indigenous Communities in HIV Prevention
Ciann’s doctoral workexplores notions of resistance and solidarity building between Aboriginal and African, Caribbean and Black (ACB)- Canadian youth. The legacies of colonization, conquest and slavery have and continue to foster multi-layered similar, as well as different, experiences of discrimination that are embodied and expressed through the health of these communities. Across the Americas, communities of diasporic Africans and Indigenous peoples struggle with their commonalities and contradictions relating to their shared, as well as distinct, histories. As such, relations between diasporic Africans and Indigenous peoples have fostered both magnificent alliances and intense conflicts.In identifying the histories and politics at play that inhibit solidarity building between African diasporic and Aboriginal communities, while recognizing the potential for the critical consciousness raising, resistance and resilience of young leaders in the HIV/AIDS movement - as demonstrated by the reduced HIV prevalence among youth internationally due to programs that focus on youth empowerment and education (UNAIDS, 2010), Ciann will explore the potential for solidarity building approaches for HIV prevention between Aboriginal and African, Caribbean and Black (ACB)- Canadian youth. Towards addressing this complicated geo-spatial embodied history, Ciann will conduct primary and secondary research that: 1. compares and contrasts the way young Black and Aboriginal youth leaders think about HIV, sexuality and the possibilities for prevention and health promotion through collaboration and the use of arts-based approaches.2. interrogates the possibility for, and problematizes the notions of identity and community and the romanticized idea of solidarity/alliance-building across ‘difference’ between these communities. 3. expands upon the history of social, political and colonial relations as they pertain to health between African diasporic and Indigenous communities in the Americas, Canada and more specifically within the context of ‘multicultural’ Toronto. 4. imagines new possibilities for health promotion and HIV prevention that incorporates the arts, history, and alliance-building among young people.
