'Black Canadian Literature and the Aesthetics of Spatial Justice' by Karina Vernon

Heather Hart’s 'Northern Oracle', with its evocation of the uncanny house that is not one, gives shape to the central preoccupation of black Canadian literature with the problem of spatial justice. Black writers turn time and again to the metaphor of the unsafe house to relate and rework the histories of slavery, colonialism, forced removal and erasure that have left black Canada spatially vulnerable—in a home that is not one. This talk by Karina Vernon (Assistant Professor of English, University of Toronto Scarborough) offers a tour through some literary homes for blackness from Halifax to Winnipeg in order to trace a black Canadian aesthetics of spatial justice. This lecture accompanies the exhibition ‘Heather Hart: Northern Oracle' at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough (January 25 - April 1, 2017). Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council, Equity and Diversity in the Arts (Department of Arts, Culture & Media, University of Toronto Scarborough) and U of T’s Affinity Partner Manulife.