Dr. Mélanie Knight

A critical scholar, Dr. Knight’s research focuses on Black activism/organizing, Black collective economic initiatives and Black women business owners. Her most recent article published in the Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire entitled “The demise of a Black organization: The Home Service Association (1921-1965),” examines the Association’s valuable place in Toronto’s Black community, its struggles to stay viable and the state’s attempts to delegitimize this organization. She is currently researching Black credit unions in Toronto and Black francophone activism in Ontario. Her extensive research on Black women entrepreneurs and their resistance to anti-Black racism in the labour market has been published in a number of journals, including the Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal, Gender, Work and Organization and The Canadian Geographer. Dr. Knight was sole Principal Investigator on a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant looking at subtexts of race and gender in entrepreneurship curriculum (2012-2016). Outside of her work in the academy, she collaborates with numerous community organizations, including developing initiatives with the Ontario Black History Society and the Rella Black History Foundation. In 2018, Dr. Knight was recipient of the Viola Desmond Faculty Award. 

For the past five years (2020-2025), Dr. Knight served as Advisor on Blackness and Black Diaspora Education in the Faculty of Arts, a role that promoted Black scholarship in all of its complexities across disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences while addressing the underrepresentation of Black scholars in the Faculty. Reflecting on her mandate, Dr. Knight notes: “My work as Advisor focused on collaborating with departments and faculty across Arts to promote Black scholarship and advance curricular changes that deepen our understanding of the histories of oppression faced by people of African descent in the diaspora and on the continent, with specific attention to the Canadian context. I am proud of what we accomplished together and hopeful that the work of building Black Studies in the Faculty will continue to grow.” In addition to advancing faculty initiatives, Dr. Knight provided mentorship and support to Black students in the Faculty. Her leadership helped create spaces for dialogue, fostered community partnerships, and strengthened the foundation for future growth in Black Studies at TMU.

 (PDF file) First Term Report Advisor to Dean of Arts on Blackness and Black Diasporic Education