Patrice Allen

Patrice Allen’s research and teaching interests include the histories of African diasporas, Black social movements, women and gender, and Black radical thought. Her current research examines the transnational activism of Black women within the Universal Negro Improvement Association [UNIA], founded by Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey in the 1910s.

Prior to joining TMU, Professor Allen received a Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University in 2018. She comes from a long tradition of educators who believe, in the words of bell hooks in Teaching to Transgress, that “learning could be liberatory.” Before coming to TMU, she served as course director for “In Slavery and Freedom: Blacks in the Americas” and “African-Canadian History.” 

Professor Allen is the recipient of a SSHRC-funded doctoral award in 2019 for her research, and the Paavo and Aino Lukkari Fieldwork Research Award in 2021. She is also a member of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and African Diasporas, as well as the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC). She is passionate about scholarship and teaching that is rooted in Black liberation and radical social change.