Daliso w. mwanza (HE/HIM)

UBCO Graduate Researcher (2020-2022)

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (digital arts + humanities)

University of British Columbia | Okanagan Campus | Sylix Okanagan Nation Territory

Research Interests: Critical Race Theory, Leisure, Visual Anthropology, Digital Ethnography, Immigration, Labour, Black Diaspora, Gender, Multiculturalism, and Body politics.

Daliso W. Mwanza is a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program, in the Digital Arts and Humanities theme at UBCO. His thesis project, Remediating Black Experiences of Leisure in Western Canada, explores first and second-generation Black immigrants' racialized realities when accessing leisure activities in Western Canada's physical and digital landscapes. The production of an online space that allows Black immigrants to map their experiences as an act of self-recognition is his goal. Dali was awarded a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's Award for this project in 2021.

Daliso graduated from MacEwan University in 2019 with a focus in Linguistic and Visual Anthropology. Throughout his undergraduate studies, Daliso completed two ethnographic films: Hear my Words and Zikomo that examined Black artists' experiences in Edmonton, Alberta. As a linguistic and visual anthropologist, Daliso sees the importance of interrogating how power and language play vital roles in understanding who is granted access to Canada's leisure time and activity.

Daliso's research is influenced by his work with Edmonton's Black community. As co-founder of Edmonton's first Black arts Facilitation organization, pepper'd, he has seen the importance of art leisure for many young Black people in Edmonton. The organization focuses on producing, educating, and advocating for Black artists in Edmonton and surrounding areas. Daliso's main charge is a managing film production and community outreach through archive work and digital storytelling. He believes that art and imagination's transformative nature is integral to shaping Black digital and physical landscapes today.

In 2021, Dali was awarded a Society for Visual Anthropology / Lemelson Fellow award. His project Mapping Black Leisure in Alberta: A sensory ethnography using 360˚ VR technology looks at how a digital prototype he is creating with his own ArcGIS map could host immersive 360˚ images of spaces that reflect Black narratives of leisure space in urban and rural areas in Alberta. By capturing these images and placing them on an interactive online map, my exploratory visual research of place starts from the ground level and allows the Black community to start expanding and enhancing their multimodal narratives of leisure in a community that has not always accepted Black leisure. Dali will carry out his fellowship through the CE2 Lab and in collaboration with Senior Emerging Media Specialist Joel Thiessen at the University of British Columbia Media Studios.

Education

MacEwan University Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology/Sociology) 2019