Rinaldo Walcott

Rinaldo Wayne Walcott (born 1965) is a Canadian academic and writer.

Work

Walcott published Black Like Who? in 1997, coming out of research related to his PhD studies which focused on, in Walcott's own words, "questions of popular culture and exploring how rap music in the early 1990s was emerging as an important social and political force across North America". The collection of essays in Black Like Who? expand this inquiry into areas such as poetry, literature, diasporic studies, film criticism and other discussions central to issues surrounding Black space, place, and landscape in Canada. Walcott was formerly an assistant professor at York University. From 2002 to 2007, he was the Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies.

Walcott's work focuses on Black studies, Canadian studies, cultural studies, queer theory, gender studies, and diaspora studies.

He was prominently profiled as a key builder of LGBTQ Black Canadian culture in the 2019 documentary film Our Dance of Revolution.

Life He wrote in 2021 "I was born in the Caribbean Barbados and have lived most of my life in Canada, specifically Toronto."

He is out as queer.

Selected publications 1997, Black Like Who?: Writing Black Canada (Toronto: Insomniac Press). 2000, Rude: Contemporary Black Canadian Cultural Criticism [editor] (Toronto: Insomniac Press). 2003, Black Like Who?: Writing Black Canada (Toronto: Insomniac Press). [Second Revised Edition] 2016, Queer Returns: Essays On Multiculturalism, Diaspora and Black Studies (Toronto: Insomniac Press). 2019, BlackLife: Post-BLM and the Struggle for Freedom with Idil Abdillahi (Winnipeg: ARP Books). 2021, On Property (Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis). 2021, The Long Emancipation: Moving toward Black Freedom (Durham, NC: Duke University Press)