Sunera Thobani

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sunera Thobani (born 1957) is a Tanzanian-Canadian feminist sociologist, academic, and activist. She is a professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her work covers critical race theory, postcolonial feminism, anti-imperialism, Islamophobia, Indigeneity, and the war on terror. She helped found Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equality/Equity (R.A.C.E.) and co-founded the Centre for Race, Autobiography, Gender, and Age (RAGA), where she directed from 2008 to 2012. She was president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) from 1993 to 1996—the first woman of color to hold the position. She has also taught at Simon Fraser University and Evergreen State College, and has been teaching at UBC since 2000.

Thobani was born in Tanzania to South Asian parents and spent her early years in East Africa and the United Kingdom before moving to Canada. She earned a B.A. from Middlesex University (1986), an M.A. from the University of Colorado (1989), and a Ph.D. in sociology from Simon Fraser University (1998). Her activism started during her student years, with involvement in anti-racist, anti-apartheid, and women’s movements, as well as Palestinian solidarity efforts.

Controversies surrounding her work include criticism of her NAC presidency by some Canadians. In 1993, a Conservative MP questioned her citizenship in the House of Commons, prompting strong responses from many. In 2001, a speech she gave after the September 11 attacks criticized U.S. foreign policy and sparked national debate, including a police inquiry into a hate-crime allegation; no charges were filed. Supporters defended her right to dissent and open debate, while critics viewed her remarks as inflammatory. The speech was later included in a collection of Great Canadian Speeches (2004).