New McMaster course aims to spark conversation about context, history behind 'We The North'

'We The North' — It's a phrase that's familiar to Raptors fans across the country, but a professor is hoping a new course at McMaster University will help students start thinking about the history behind the slogan.

It's called Public Memory, Media and African Diaspora Studies and aims to kick start conversations about the history of slavery and how Black freedom struggles are remembered and impact life and politics today, Lyndsey Beutin said.

"A combination of building critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills."

That's how the assistant professor of communication studies and media arts at McMaster describes the class.

"I also think that understanding the history of slavery and settler colonialism throughout North America is everyone's job." she said, adding the course seeks to engage students in that history and its effects on social movements today.

That's where #WeTheNorth comes in.

Beutin said she first heard the tagline when she was in the U.S.

"I immediately thought 'Oh my gosh, this is a reference to the Underground Railroad' and I started tagging some of my Canadian friends about it and they were like 'Absolutely not. It has nothing to do with the Underground Railroad,'" she said with a laugh.

But the professor moved to Canada in 2019 and said since then she's seen how important being the last stop on the Underground Railroad is to people here, along with the country's reputation as a multicultural place and a home for refugees.

That's the context in which the class will think about the slogan, said Beutin. Not so much about proving it's linked to slavery and the Underground Railroad, but digging into why "The North" is something Canada is so proud of.

"This is a nice example of provoking the students to think about ... how it infuses Canadian nationalism, Canada's nation brand, Canada's sense of self," she said.

"I think that it's more to get the students thinking about how the concepts of imagining Canada as the northern site of freedom infuses so much of the public sphere, including a fandom for basketball. The symbol of this very diverse community of basketball fans coming together to support the Raptors."

It's a course Kwasi Adu-Poku said he would have taken had it been offered when he was a student at McMaster.

Adu-Poku played for the university's basketball for five seasons and has cheered for the Raptors for years.