Avatar :: Though visually breathtaking the movie has many issues in basic plot and storytelling, without even the problematic narratives about the noble savage, “primitive” native cultures and the way in which colonization, white privilege and white guilt is played out.

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like “Avatar”?
Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it’s about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy.

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In the past few weeks, we’ve been experimenting with some new things on the website to keep our items stocked and relevant.  Notably, we’ve added a calendar feature (a simple Google Calendar that highlights relevant …

Just another way to keep up-to-date with Worldtown Hearsay. Always fresh!

Diaspora Youth Speak (DYS) is a project based in Toronto for youth who identify as part of a Diasporic community. DYS uses multi-media arts to explore themes of displacement and mobility to reflect on personal stories and the roles that we play in local and global contexts as Diasporic peoples– fostering leadership & participation; strengthening the voice of Diasporic youth.
Find out more…watch the video…

On October 10th 2009, the Canadian Arab Federation hosted an evening entitled ‘Disowning Canadians Abroad’ where a number of guest speakers discussed the trend of Canadian citizens from racialized backgrounds being abandoned by the Canadian government when facing challenges while abroad. Many spoke from first-hand experience. Faraz Siddiqui was one of the speakers.

Chasing Mirrors is a multimedia/multi-medium based project focusing on youth identity in London. The exhibit itself is set up with three constantly changing plasma screens showing the amalgamation of the faces of members of the collective. The purpose is to show differences and similarities between them. Additionally, Abdu’Allah asks members of the collective different questions about themselves like their favorite food, who they would raise from the dead, their star sign and what makes them laugh, placing the responses on a large composite board. We interview Faisal Abdu’Allah and reveal some of his inspirations for the project as well as some of the greater social questions his exhibit raises.

Slums, townships, shantytowns. Living at the edge of society but being in the centre of resourceful entrepreneurship and coulorful life amid dire circumstance. This isn’t always the common association made with slum life (except of course, the simplistic glamorization of shantytown life thanks to Slumdog Millionaire and the like), but it’s well captured in this Foreign Policy Photo Essay. The photos from slums in Venezuela, India, Kenya and Indonesia resonate with a sense of ethereal beauty over anguish.

We trawl the news media so you don’t have to.

A Sorry State :: “Canada is becoming a world leader in official apologies. Do they benefit anyone but the people offering them up?”

The Walrus - December 2009 :: Read the entire story here

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
How do you get there?