Clem Marshall

Professor at The European Graduate School / EGS.

Biography

Clem Marshall is a Canadian educator and writer whose work focuses on race, language, culture, and ancestry. Marshall is president of MangaCom Inc., which offers a range of services aimed at improving equity in education, organizational change, and the arts. He received his doctorate from the EGS in 2011. Clem Marshall’s areas of research include diversity in schools, especially as relating to curricula and community affairs, but also in public and independent education, both elementary and secondary. He is particularly interested in race, gender, community education, community art, equity in education, health and social work, as well as African art.

After receiving his BA (Hons.) in Modern Languages at the University of Toronto in 1967, Clem Marshall went on to study drama at the Université Internationale de Théâtre at the Université de Paris in 1968. Marshall received his MA in 2004 at the University of Toronto, studying at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, in the Adult Education and Community Development Program. The title of his master’s thesis was Du mot juste au mot injuste: Count(er)ing The Costs Of Black Holocausts, A PanAfrikan Approach to Education. Marshall conducted his PhD studies at The European Graduate School / EGS, graduating in 2011 with a dissertation entitled Transcendent Cheddo: The Ritual, Rhythm & Reasoning of PanAfrikan Rebirth.

Clem Marshall is not only fluent in French, English, and Spanish, but also in Wolof, the Niger–Congo language and can read Portuguese. In 1996, Marshall was named Teacher of the Year by the Atkinson Alumni Association at Atkinson College, York University. One of the courses he taught there was an Education Equity Outreach Program, in which he designed, coordinated, and implemented a unique African Nova Scotian Expansion Project that brought an increased presence of African Nova Scotian high school students to the campus. Between 2008 and 2009, Marshall worked for the Nova Scotia Ministry of Education. Prior to that, he worked in collaboration with Enid Lee Consultants Inc. in Nova Scotia to publish the Evaluation of Black Learners Advisory Committee (BLAC) Report. In 2002, he wrote the report Open Windows, Opening Doors: Ethnoracial/Ethnocultural Communities Addiction and Mental Health for the Center for Addictions and Mental Health in Toronto.

In 2009, Marshall wrote the book Talking Cheddo: Liberating PanAfrikanism, which was published by The European Graduate School’s Atropos Press. Wolfgang Schirmacher describes the publication as follows: “What a rewarding read! This unique blend of philosophy, poetry, and personal experience, combined with an impressive scholarship, has enlightened me beyond my expectations. I especially liked the constructive attitude which turns the ugly past into something which contains a futurea dialectics of hope. Like many educated people, I had a certain knowledge of the issues at hand but this work has convinced me that we need to know so much more about it. We must finally recognize how strongly this past still influences our present world view and our actions. […] Talking Cheddo establishes forcefully the key role of language and the power of (forgotten) words…”

Influenced by the ancestral Cheddo (freethinking) tradition of the Senegambian region of West Africa, Clem Marshall also lectures on Afrikan art, language, culture, and race. He has taught community arts at Ryerson University, pioneered the series Learning to Love Africa Through Her Art for the Art Gallery of Ontario, and was a lecturer in the award-winning Ontario Science Center program called A Question of Truth. He has published a number of articles, including: “When the Frame Becomes the Picture” (2008); “From Imhotep to the Internet: Honour Their Ashes, Follow Their Flame” (2006); “End the Violence: Just Play Fair” (2003); “How Black Folks Turned The ROM Around” (2003); “CBC Forum Ignored Reality” (2002); “Building a More Human World” (2002); “Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: A Priceless Gift” (2001); “No Use Of N-Word Acceptable” (2000); ” At What Price Dignity?” (1997); “Demystifying the Terror Called Slavery” (1997); “Understanding Racism: Prisms in the Stream” (1993); and “The Racism that Toronto Will Not Admit To” (1992).

Works

Books

 

Talking Chedo, Marshall, Clem. Talking Chedo. Atropos Press, 2009. ISBN: 0981946232

 

Lectures