Background

Dr. Devi Dee Mucina has a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, University of Toronto. His MA was in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria and his BA was in Child and Youth Care from the University of Victoria. Before coming to Mount Saint Vincent University, Devi was an instructor in the Child and Youth Care School at Ryerson University. His child and youth care practice ranges from wilderness youth experiential education, school-based youth and children’s intervention, community-based youth led programs, residential care and using team sports as tools for intervening with youth. Devi has practiced child and youth care in southern Africa and across Canada. Devi’s practice is informed by the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which conveys that we are all interrelated and storytelling helps us see our familial bonds across our diversity.

Devi’s academic interests are African philosophy, African children’s lived history, global African education, Ubuntu orality, the social memory of children in colonially dominated spaces, the sociology of interpretation, disabilities studies and children’s experience in colonial engagements.

Selected Publications

Books

Mucina, D. D. (2010). Our Orality Is Our Collective History As Maseko Ngoni: Revitalizing Memory in Honour of Ubuntu. Lambert Academic Publishing

Dr. Devi Mucina, Dr. Njoki N. Wane, James Zirah, Yafet Tewelde, Akena Francis Adyanga, Dr. Bathseba Opini, Energy Manyimo and Nkwame Newman (2009). A Glance at Africa. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse.

Chapters in Books

Mucina, D. D. (2011). Moving beyond Neo-Colonialism to Ubuntu Governance. In Wane, Njoki, Kempf, Arlo & Simmons, Marlon (Eds.). The Politics Of Cultural Knowledge. Sense Publication.

Mucina, D. D. (2007). Emergence from colonialism: Memories and stories of Bantu life. In Cullis-Suzuki S. (Ed.). Notes from Canada’s New Activists: A Generation Stands Up for Change. Vancouver: Greystone Books.

Articles in Refereed Journals

Mucina, D. D. (2011). The First and Only Letter to Amai (mother). The Journal of Pan African Studies, Volume 4, Number 5, (accepted for publication in September 2011).

Mucina, D. D. (2011). Story as Research Methodology. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Volume 7, Number 1, 1-14.

Mucina, D. D. (2010). We Exist Because They Exist. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, Volume 16, Number 3, 81-90.

Mucina, D. D. (2008). Revitalizing Memory in Honour of Traditional Maseko Ngoni Governance. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Volume 4, Number 2, 39-59.

Mucina, D. D. (2004). Transforming Orphanage Care: A Case Example in Zimbabwe. Journal of Child and Youth Care Forum, 33(3), 225-229.

Selected Conference Presentations

March, 2011: Presenter at 5th Annual Decolonizing Conference: Land, Citizenship, Belonging, and the Place of the Spirit. Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies, Ontario Institution for Studies in Education University of Toronto. Closing Remarks: Regenerating beyond colonial mimicking.

March, 2011: Presenter at 35th Annual National Council for Black Studies: Theory, Africana Studies and Black Communities. Westin Cincinnati Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio. Paper title: Re)-searching the Question of Black Orality using Once Upon a Time.

April 2010: Presenter at 3rd Annual Decolonizing the Spirit Conference: Re-building the Community & Re-claiming our Histories. Indigenous Spirituality as a Form of Resistance in Contemporary Times. Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at University of Toronto. Paper title: Albinism

Feb. 2010: Presenter at African Studies Colloquium: Research in the African Context and the Future of African Studies in Canada. New College, University of Toronto. Paper title: How Are We Silent about Albino Killing?

June 2009: Presenter at Society for Disability Studies 22nd Annual conference. Pathways to and from Disability Studies: Past, present, and future. Hilton El Conquistador Tucson, Arizona. Paper title: We Exist Because They Exist.

June 2009: Presenter at 2nd Annual Decolonizing the Spirit Conference: Spirituality, Healing & Renewal. Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at University of Toronto. Paper title: How We Normalize Spiritual Injury. Also gave the closing remarks for the conference, which focused on healing and renewal.

May 2009: Presenter at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences: Capital Connections: Nation, Terror and Territories. Society of the Social Studies: Kapital Connections: Socialism, Nation, State. Carleton University, Ottawa. Paper title: The fragmented Ubuntu family: Homeward through our stories of fragmented memories.

May 2009: Presenter at 5th Annual Critical Disability Studies Student Conference: Disability is a matter of perception as much as it is a matter of fact. Schulich Executive Learning Centre, York University. Paper title: I Feel a Sense of Disquiet.

April 2009: Presenter at The Fecundity of Recognition: The Self/Other in Politics, Sociality, Ethics, and Critique. Eleventh Annual Graduate Student Research Conference Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Paper title: Ubuntu, How It Matters to Those Who Identify as Black.