It’s not lost on Gertrude Mianda that a York University essay prize named in her honour to promote racial harmony was funded by an anonymous donor in the year after George Floyd uttered his final harrowing words, “I can’t breathe.”
“It’s my own recollection that it was after the summer of George Floyd and it came from an anonymous person who follows my teaching,” says Mianda, professor of gender and women’s studies at Glendon College and past director of York’s Harriet Tubman Institute. Mianda has gained recognition as a leading sociologist, feminist and Africanist with research interests in gender and development, globalization, post-colonialism and decolonialism, with a focus on Africa.
“There was a lot of conversation, obviously, at that time about anti-Black racism and the prize was based on a recognition that we have someone who has committed to this work, to strive for excellence so that we can create a space that is welcome for everyone, so that we share a common humanity.”
Since it was established in 2021, The Gertrude Mianda Prize for Excellence in Essay Writing has invited students at Glendon to write work that challenge race inequity and to advance anti-colonial and anti-racist perspectives as Mianda has in her work for more than three decades.
What’s emerging are examples of the many ways racism plays out in our society. As are inspirational ideas generated by students to achieve a fair world, where all races are treated equally.
In the prize’s second year, Glendon student Vernetta Avril looked at how Canadian immigration policy has marginalized people who migrate to Canada as children or youth and go on to live their lives without legal immigration status. She advocates for "sanctuary cities" that create pathways to citizenship for these so-called "dreamers."
Geneviève François-Kermode, a self-described mixed-race Haitian disabled queer woman, argued that Haitians have relied on memory to maintain anti-colonialist attitudes long after the Haitian Revolution of 1804 in which self-liberated slaves rose up against French colonial rule. She argues that dance and art have allowed Haitian peoples to “tap into collective memory and deconstruct hegemonic histories of colonialism.”
In her prize-winning paper, she argued that as a Toronto resident, it is her moral obligation to carry forward those anti-colonialism views.
“As a person born on colonized Indigenous land, it is my duty to ensure that my decolonial actions and approaches include the decolonization of this land,” François-Kermode wrote. “Underscoring all of this, is the practice of being human, of asserting my humanity and that of those around me who are oppressed.”
Mianda says universities exist to foster this kind of critical thinking and to push for a better world. York U in particular is committed to creating positive change for its students, and the world around it.
“That is the role of the University,” Mianda says. “It starts by questioning our coloniality of thinking and being, so that we change things for a humanity that is rich in diversity.”
She says she and the Glendon Race Equity Caucus that adjudicates the Mianda Prize are thinking through ways on how to promote the ideas generated through the prize submissions.
“Our purpose is to have an impact, to push people to think through, how do we improve the world?” she says. “How do we create a better space?”
The essay prize is awarded to undergraduate or graduate students at York's Glendon Campus and comes with a $500 honorarium.
The submission period is now open for the 2025 Gertrude Mianda Prize, and closes April 30. Nominations should be sent to cerrec.glendon@gmail.com with The Gertrude Mianda Prize 2025 indicated in the subject line. A one-paragraph description of why the work is worthy of the prize and an electronic copy of or link to the project and contact information for the student or students should be included.