Teaching in focus: Johannah Black

Name:

Johannah Black

My pronouns:

she/her/hers

Title:

Sexual Violence Prevention Educator

Faculty/Department/Unit:

Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office

Location:

Okanagan

Year I started working at UBC:

2021

What first motivated you to become an educator?

A close friend of mine gifted me bell hooks' Teaching to Transgress while I was working in retail after completing undergrad and unsure of what I wanted to do next with my life. Upon reading it, I knew that education was my calling. I wanted to create the kinds of radical learning communities that hooks wrote about in her books where students could learn to challenge themselves and the world around them.

Tell us more about your work.

I am a staff member at the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO), where I design and facilitate various sexual violence prevention education and outreach programing. I deliver various workshops, guest lectures, and other educational programming. My work takes a multi-pronged approach that recognizes that sexualized violence is a complex issue that will not end with awareness-raising campaigns alone. I teach consent, bystander intervention, trauma-informed approaches, harm reduction, and healthy and respectful sexual communication.

What inspired your particular approach to teaching?

I have been working in the field of sexual violence prevention education for many years now but also I have years of experience teaching Women's and Gender Studies at the post-secondary level. I have learned so much from my students about the radical possibilities of the classroom. I have always tried to remain open to their ideas and feedback, to encourage their input in shaping our collective learning, and my work is richer for it.

What have you learned while teaching that has surprised you the most?

Over the years I have worked closely with many survivors of sexualized violence. There is so much advice out there about what survivors need to do in order to heal. In my experience, I have found that even in the most distressing situations survivors themselves are able to find creative and life-affirming pathways to healing that may not fit with society's expectations of them. Survivors' own wisdom about healing is the best way forward.

What impact do you hope to have on your students?

If I can teach anyone anything, I hope that the message is that our most utopian visions of society are possible when we take the time to learn from each other and work together. When we lead with empathy, when we do the difficult work of challenging our own, and society's, deeply ingrained world views, we can create new and more inclusive pathways of understanding. A better world is possible.

Are there any colleagues or mentors you’d like to acknowledge and why?

During my MA program at Toronto Metropolitan University I worked closely with Dr. Doreen Fumia and Dr. Allan Sears. Both of these mentors taught me about about holding collaborative space with students. My own chosen family has taught me the most about the challenging work of learning together. In particular, Mariam Ahmed, Charlene Stewart, Mandi Howard, and Aaliya Khan have taught me about the deeper learning that can only happen relationally in community.