My name is Shaquiera Hamilton, I am an Indo-Caribbean woman born and raised in various cities in Ontario. I am entering my fourth year at 捆绑SM社区 with the goal of completing my major in International Development and a double minor in Gender, Sexuality, Social Justice and Feminism (GSFS), and Psychology. As a first generation queer Black Canadian I chose my degree due to my interest in exploring the connection between the mental health of Black people 鈥� specifically within immigrant communities 鈥� and racism within Canada. Very rarely is the mental health impacts of racism and systematic oppression within Black communities acknowledged or discussed. With my degree I hope to not only highlight this phenomenon but work to support my community.
This summer for my internship I spent time working with the Queer Media Database Canada-Quebec Project (Mediaqueer). Prior to this internship I had not heard of this organization, however when my supervisor Professor Thain reached out to me I immediately knew this was a project I wanted to work on. Mediaqueer is a dynamic online catalogue of 2SLGBTQ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) Canadian film, video and digital works, their makes and related institution. Mediaqueer is a free online research tool that allows community members information about queer moving image works from the 1930s to today. I knew I wanted to work with this organization as it allowed me the opportunity to learn more about my community and the media they produced within a Canadian context. The United States has dominated the production of media for a very long time, so I was excited to be given the opportunity to learn about the amazing work being produced here in Canada, especially work created and produced by Black and Indigenous content creators.
Working remotely was not something I had been accustomed to when I first began my internship with Mediaqueer. However, I was able to quickly adapt to the reality of working from home by recognizing my working style and utilizing the free Wi-Fi available at Montreal parks. Having the ability to work outside of my home in a safe way was really helpful in establishing a routine and experiencing a change in scenery.
After consulting with Professor Thain, the goals for my internship were to identify the work created by Black and Indigenous artists on the website, contextualize their work in a greater Canadian context and then determine various ways Mediaqueer could highlight the work of these amazing artists. The highlight of my internship was having the opportunity to create a social media proposal that will be used to highlight the work of Black and Indigenous work later this fall semester. I noticed the growing presence of social media as a communication tool, as our society continues to exist within a global pandemic. Online platforms have become an even more accessible 鈥� and in some cases the only 鈥� way for communities to interact with one another. As someone who recognizes the lack of positive representation of Black and Indigenous communities within dominant social discourses, I was thrilled by the prospect of featuring work that many are not aware exists.
This internship enabled me to discover amazing work that I was unaware existed, while also work on increasing the positive representation of my community. By growing up in predominantly white neighbourhoods seeing people who looked like me within academic spaces was not something I experienced. This internship helped me continue to realize that not only do Black and Indigenous people exist in academic spaces but contrary to popular belief they are able to thrive. This gives me hope as a Black student at a predominately white school and encourages me to recognize my own ability to thrive as an academic. Additionally, this internship helped me determine my research goal for this upcoming semester, which is to put Black and Indigenous work in conversation with one another. Specifically, I hope to explore how these various artists where able to create spaces within dominant white discourse for their content to be created and shared with their communities.
I did not receive credits for this internship; however, I would like to thank Mr. Blachford and Mr. 捆绑SM社区ivray for funding my internship. The funding I received helped me move to a new apartment this summer; something that has greatly aided my ability to work remotely. Furthermore, this funding and this internship in general allowed me to grow as an academic, by gaining new skills and learning more about my community. For that I am eternally grateful.
