University of Calgary Press

About the Book

An interdisciplinary collection that brings together voices across religious, cultural, and class backgrounds to explore the ways women experience illness, diagnosis, and the healthcare system.

Surviving in the Hour of Darkness addresses the health issues—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—of black women, First Nations women, and other women of colour. The book is a collection of scholarly essays, case studies, personal essays, poetry, and prose written by over 45 contributors. It illustrates, through the voices of many women, that gender, religious, cultural, and class background strongly influence how one experiences illness, how and when one is diagnosed, and how one is treated within the healthcare system.

The book also focuses on the need for cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness in the delivery of health services. Surviving in the Hour of Darkness aims to promote and generate knowledge with and about minority women while identifying key strategies for promoting their health, thus contributing to a broader understanding of how the experience of being a minority woman affects one’s health and well-being.

About the Editor

Grisselda (Sophie) Harding is a student and employee at York University in Toronto. Her writing is an expression of her desire to change the world and help make life better for herself and others. Sophie’s first anthology was entitled Our Words/Our Revolutions: Di/Verse Voices of Black Women, First Nations Women, and Women of Colour in Canada. Some of Sophie’s work has been used in projects such as the Teen Violence Prevention Initiatives with Women’s Habitat and the Women, Violence, and Adult Education Project Source Book, which is aimed at examining the effect of violence in terms of learning and education for women.

With Contributions By:  Karen Flynn, Ingrid Waldron, Notisha Massaquoi, Wanda Thomas Bernard, Carla R. Riberio, Farah M. Shroff, Talata Reeves, Crystal E. Wilkinson, CiajDiann M. Harris, Rosamond S. King, Judith K. Witherow, Naomi North, Layla Hassan, Heather MacLeod, Valerie Wood, Lorraine Thomas, Bishakha Chowdhury, Roxane Tracey, Troy Hunter, Sima Quadeer, Randa Hammadieh, Neeta Singh, Wendy Vincent, Kristine Maitland, Ingrid Rivera, Nora Burrell, Beldan Sezen, Vera M. Wabegijig, Marisa Maharaj, Anakana Schofield, Shirley Bozzo, Pitche Wasayananung, Rolanda C. Kane, Gitane Williams, Ana Bodnar, Charmaine Crawford, and Linda Cornwall 

Praise for Surviving in the Hour of Darkness

The women whose narratives envelop readers of Surviving in the Darkness are no longer in the dark. Their stories are full of light and light a path towards transcendence. This text is a celebration of life, health and wisdom. It is a podium—wrapped in cedar and sage—from which its readers can now go forward—in good company and in the light.

—Cheryl Van Daalen-Smith, York Journal

The book clearly serves its purpose of enhancing the understanding of factors contributing to the health and well-being of women of colour from both the holistic and the hermeneutic perspectives . . . [A] valuable piece of health literature.

—Swarna Weerasinghe, Canadian Ethnic Studies 

Table of Contents

 

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Byllye Y. Aery
Preface
Introduction

Perspectives on Health and the Diaspora: Understanding the Challenges

Nurses in Resistance
Karen Flynn

African Canadian Women Resisting Oppression: Embodying Emancipated Consciousness through Holistic Self-Healing Approaches to Mental Health
Igrid Waldron

Think Globally Act Appropriately: A Community Health Centres Response to Violence Against Women in the Context of Black Women and Women in Color
Notisha Massaquoi

Black Women’s Health in Nova Scotia: One Woman’s Story
Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard

Misogyny and Mental Illness
Carla R. Riberio

All Colours of the Rainbow: Recently-Arrived Immigrant Women of Colour and HIV/AIDS in Canada
Farah M. Shroff

A Model of Women Services in the HIV Epidemic
Talata Reeves

Her-Story: Living with Illness

Healing Warrior Marks: Battling Stress, Taking Care
Crystal E. Wilkinson

A Better Woman Because of It
CiajDiann M. Harris

Endo Poems
Rosamond S. King

Help, I’ve Fallen, and No One Has Even Noticed
Judith K. Witherow

Secrets, Generations
Naomi North

Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories
Layla Hassan

Bone Doctor, Token of Chastity
Heather MacLeod

Four Forces, Windows, Freeing the Inner Child
Valerie Wood

Wolf Cry, Erect in Green Pride
Lorraine Thomas

Anjali, untitled
Bishakha Chowdhury

The Struggle of One and Many, Sad Paper
Rodxne Tracey

My Aunt Pasty
Troy Hunter

Neelum
Sima Qadeer

Promised Land
Randa Hammadieh

Hands that Care
Neeta Singh

Enter the Lion’s Den: A Journey to the Centre of My Uterus—One Black Woman’s Story of Fibroids
Wendy Vincent

Women’s Health in Scary Hands
Kristine Maitland

I Died in My Dreams
Ingrid Rivera

Oh My Aching Feet
Nora Burrell

ethnic ph.d, thin line
Beldan Szen

I Crawl Into the Earth
Vera M. Mabegijig

Untitled
Marisa Maharaj

Spake Ginty Spake, By Euston Station she sat down
Anakana Schofield

My People Paid
Shirley Brozzo

The Circle of Life
Pitche Wasayananung

The Room of Silence, Mother’s Prayer, This Body of Mine
Rolanda C. Kane

Gitane’s Voice
Gitane Williams

Ode to Marie, Learning with the Women: My Travels in First Nations Country
Dr. Ana Bodnar

When the Body Attacks: A Black Woman’s Fight against Lupis
Charmaine Crawford

Talking About Our Health: In Our Hardship We Have to Learn to Be Strong

Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Rooftop Gardeners
Linda Cornwell