Trophy Ewila and Lady Dia believe that Ubuntu – seeking a community where members each have space to shine their own light without diminishing another’s light – is key to rejecting the cultural norms of White supremacy. Ubuntu will be put into action with the upcoming workshop, “I Am Because You Are vs I Am Because You’re Not,” the sequel to their February workshop of the same name.
“The fact that UBC wanted to do it again showed they understood what we’re trying to do with the AUA, specifically with the philosophy of Ubuntu – to reimagine the future of the world,” says
Uganda-born Ewila.
Ewila and Dia are married and board members of the African Ubuntu Association (AUA) which serves the Okanagan’s African community and all those interested in Ubuntu philosophy. They will continue their dialogue on creative resilience and self-governance through Ubuntu and glocal resistance to imposed Western cultural norms like White supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy.
Determining character
“What are White supremacist ideologies trying to achieve, what role are people of colour being forced to play?” asks Ewila. “Within these ideologies, characters like the ‘savage’ exist. The names and descriptions of the characters keep changing because of those who run the narratives and write the characters.”
One of Ewila and Dia’s goals with the AUA is using Ubuntu to help people take charge of their own societal characters.
“One thing we like to do with people on Ubuntu is listening and creating space to hear the stories of others,” says Ewila.
Allowing White supremacist ideologies to determine one’s own character in life, he says, has negative consequences.
“If you play that character, you are going to be treated inhumanely,” explains Ewila. “Characters like the so-called “savage” are supposed to enact characteristics which can be inhuman or not purely human.”
The AUA hosts a program called Ubuntu’s Children, focusing on empowering people to believe and trust their
inner being.
“The beauty of going with the flow is you also have to trust yourself,” says Dia. “This encourages youth and people to trust how they feel and go with that.”
Like Ewila, Dia is an alumnus of UBCO and Board Secretary of the AUA. Ewila, the AUA’s vice-president, believes this mentality helps people deal with anxieties in the modern world.
“In dealing with what you can control and feeling truly uncontrollable, we should see the value in how that plays into life,” says Ewila. “Sometimes, we can want to go in one direction and with uncertainties right like COVID, how do we find harmony within that?”
Rejecting Western norms is not a threat
One topic of the upcoming webinar is choosing to reject the forced imposition of Western cultural norms like White supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy. Dia says it is a matter of taking care of one’s self and community.
“It’s about understanding your own local position,” she says. “On airplanes, you secure your own mask first in emergencies. We as Black people have to get ourselves first, which is why I say it’s not about you.”
Dia emphasizes for White people who feel threatened when people of colour actively reject imposed Western cultural norms.
“There’s so much focus on teaching White people, or not coming off as threatening,” she says. “It’s not necessarily about you, as White people, at the end of the day.”
“It’s not a threat. We’re trying to get people settled in and comfortable, and get that sense of community,” adds Ewila.
Building community connections for the Okanangan’s African community was a major motivation for the couple when founding the AUA. Ewila, a founding member of the UBCO’s African Caribbean Student Club, says that after university, there was little sense of community until the AUA’s creation.
“One thing we are trying to do is create support for people who arrived here alone, with no parents or community resources,” he says.
Ewila says many new Okanagan residents find community resources and support systems inaccessible.
“We want to fill that gap for those that lack representation, or don’t feel welcome within existing community resources,” he says.
Both Ewila and Dia are looking forward to the upcoming workshop as part of UBC’s “Through the Lens” series, and see it as a way to build their community and support.
“There’s a lot of potential and possibilities and it’s a great platform to bring people together,” says Dia.
For more information, please visit:
www.equity.ubc.ca/events/through-the-lens-i-am-because-you-are-vs-i-am-because-youre-not-encore
