Passion for community and identity expression inspires undergraduate summer research project

Faith Muzongwe’s interest was piqued to pursue research after hearing about summer undergraduate research award opportunities through one of their courses.

A registered dietitian, Muzongwe discovered a passion for food justice and social justice, but during their studies experienced discrimination and anti-Black racism during the program. After initially feeling discouraged, but with support from her family, made the jump to pursue a Bachelor of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Work’s Edmonton campus.

“I've gotten very frustrated with a lot of talk, but no action being taken. So that's what also kind of motivated me to pursue social work, too,” says Muzongwe. “Research is an area of interest because I felt the frustration as a dietitian working within a system you don't fully agree with, so, if I'm going to work somewhere, I want to be able to actually change the framework as opposed to being frustrated all the time.”

She then started to develop a research question they wanted to explore based on their curiosity after hearing a presentation from Rae Madge, the Two-Spirit program co-ordinator for Where the Rivers Meet (an education initiative at the University of Alberta) about the history, knowledge and wisdom of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer people. 

“I remember sitting there and feeling healed from the presentation and was thinking, ‘Well, is there something like that for us? For me who is a second-generation Zambian Canadian? Is there stuff for Black people?’ and it's really hard to find that,” Muzongwe says.

Muzongwe was successful in finding the support of supervisor, associate professor, Dr. Régine Uwibereyeho King, PhD, for the summer and received an Undergraduate Student Research Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for the project, “Is There Pre-Colonial Africentric Perspectives on Queerness and/or Queer Identities?”

“I knew I would have a good experience working with Dr. King, especially as her breadth of expertise included critical pedagogies, African Indigenous knowledge, Africentric perspectives, anti-colonial and anti-oppressive praxis, and transnational research. I saw this first-hand in the ways she would challenge my thought processes to deepen my research. She is warm, supportive and encouraging from the moment I reached out to her. Having all of that — alongside her also being a Black researcher — truly enriched and empowered my experience.”

Under the research supervision of King, Muzongwe learned how to design and conduct a scoping review that includes academic and non-academic sources to determine existence of pre-colonial Africentric perspectives on queerness and queer identities, and identify themes of epistemologies and attitudes towards queerness.

“You learn with research that before you find the answer, there are all these pre, pre-steps you need to take first. So first it was devising search terms. So how do we describe queerness in a way that decenters from whiteness? How do we describe Africentric perspectives? And with this process, I was surprised it took a while because you have to really nail down what you're trying to say when you're putting it into the library database. And that was also part of the learning, too.”

Through their summer research project, Muzongwe discovered that her research question needed to shift and expand and is passionate about continuing to pursue this topic through graduate studies after completing their degree in November. “As I was doing the research, I ended up with more questions than I had answers," says Muzongwe. "Even though I went in thinking, ‘Oh, I'll be able to find my answer,’ I do not have the answer yet.”

Muzongwe encourages other Black students to explore opportunities to have an impact through research.

“If someone sees themselves represented when they look at me, I want to show them you don't have to sacrifice parts of yourself to be a researcher. You can be a pierced, tatted, colourful, Black queer neurodivergent womxn pink-loving-Elle-Woods-type who dresses eccentrically and do research. Find a supervisor who is supportive of not only your work but your person — it makes a world of a difference."

Muzongwe received the 2023-24 Cullen Ramsay Recognition of Excellent Award for Personal Achievement for their commitment to social work education through their inspirational attitudes and behaviours in class, and is currently doing her practicum with Social Work associate professor Dr. Patrina Duhaney, PhD, supporting the faculty’s Anti-Black Racism Taskforce with initiatives, including organizing virtual cafés for Black students, the upcoming Mobilizing For Change: Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Alberta conference on Feb. 27 and 28, 2025, and other projects to highlight Black excellence on campus.

“I think Black people should take up space; we are far too beautiful not to. I think we should especially take up space when we have multiple intersecting identities that complicate our worldview and experiences, just as Coretta Scott King. It's scary to be bold but it's lesson when we are bold together; in the words of MLK (Martin Luthor King), ‘I can't be who I ought to be until you be,' and vice versa. We truly are our ancestors' wildest dreams."