Following two years of virtual meetings and gatherings at a distance, the IBPOC Connections Faculty and Staff Lunch provided a much-welcomed space to rekindle in-person connection and a sense of belonging at UBC.
Hosted in partnership with St. John’s College, the event sought to break through some of the usual and formalized expectations of meetings and gatherings and offer a casual environment for fun, community building and connection. Some 100 participants attended, including faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows.
“When planning this event our dream was that we all leave this place reminded that being racialized, Indigenous, Black, a Person of Colour means that we are part of a joyous, creative, and playful community,” says Madison Tardif, co-organizer of the event and programming lead for the IBPOC Connections Faculty & Staff program with the Equity & Inclusion Office.
Dr. Arig al Shaibah, Associate Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion, and Dr. Henry Yu, Principal, St. John’s College delivered welcoming remarks, after which the guests were invited to participate in several activities curated to inspire joy and creativity. Those activities included arts and crafts, a slam poetry performance from Pablo Akira Beimler and a salsa dancing class from Natalie Armendariz and Aisha Sallad from the UBC Salsa Rueda Club. “Crowd-sourced” lists of books, films, podcasts and music ideas by IBPOC authors and artists were also generated:
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
- A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
- Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner
- The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Principles of Tsawalk – An Indigenous Approach to Global Crisis by Umeek/Eugene Richard Atleo
- Militarized Currents: Toward a Decolonized Future in Asia and the Pacific by Setsu Shigematsu and Keith L. Camacho
- Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans by Fred Ho
- Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
- This Place 150 Years Retold
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jumpa Lahiri
- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
- They Said This Would be Fun by Eternity Martis
- A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
- Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller
- The Years I Lived Inside by Nicolette Richardson
- Augustown by Kei Miller
- Brother, I am Dying by Edwidge Danticat
- Ocean Vuong (poet)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Awkwafina is Nora From Queens
- Asian Boss Girl by Melody Cheng, Helen Wu and Janet Wang
- Leading Equity Podcast by Sheldon L. Eakins
- Fraudsters by Seena Chaznavi and Justin Williams
- All My Relations by Matika Wilbur, Adrienne Keene, and Desi Small-Rodriquez
- The Michelle Obama Podcast
- Tuning into the Forest by the UBC Forestry JEDI Team
- The Grownup Millennial
- The Read by Kid Fury and Crissle
- Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday
- Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell
- I Weigh by Jameela Jamil
- Nav
- Prateek Kuhad
- Sampa the Great (Song: Final Form)
- Tems
- Burna Boy
- Koffee
- Lila Ike
- Jesse Royal
- Protoje
- Mortimer
- Sean Paul
- Valiant
- Keshi
- Niki
Affinity spaces have an important and much needed role in helping to intentionally build communities of support and well-being for IBPOC community members of shared identities and lived experience. These spaces also provide opportunities for mentorship and celebration of those identities and help mobilize advocacy for equity and inclusion.
Find Connection
If you are a UBC IBPOC faculty or staff member or postdoctoral fellow, explore the following spaces for connection or visit our Connections + Support page for more opportunities.
IBPOC Connections Faculty and Staff program
The program delivers engagement and connection opportunities for IBPOC faculty and staff. Learn more about the program overall and sign-up for the IBPOC Connections listserv to hear of upcoming events and opportunities.
Learn more
IBPOC STEM Network
The network is an affinity space for IBPOC women, transgender and non-binary faculty, staff and graduate students to find mentorship and support. Learn more about the program and join the IBPOC STEM Network Slack channel for upcoming events and opportunities.
Learn more