Fonds 1607 - Roxana Ng fonds

Identity area

Reference code

UTA 1607

Title

Roxana Ng fonds

Date(s)

  • 1970-2013 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

6.50 m of textual records (50 boxes and 1 oversized folder)
0.27 m of graphic records (3 boxes)
14414 digital files (2 GB)
1 poster
2 VHS tapes
1 cassette tape

Context area

Name of creator

(1951-2013)

Biographical history

Prof. Roxana Ng (28 May 1951 – 12 Jan 2013) was a Professor at OISE (The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) whose research and activism focused on issues facing immigrant women and garment workers, especially in the Canadian context. The first woman of colour to hold a tenure track position at OISE, Prof. Ng was also a key researcher in critical pedagogy, decolonizing pedagogy and embodied learning.

Prof. Ng was born in Diamond Hill, a hill in the east of Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, which used to be a large urban squatter village. In 1968, she left for a Quaker boarding school in the United Kingdom. She moved to Vancouver with her family in 1970 and received her BA and MA in Sociology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). She moved to Toronto in 1978 to begin her PhD at OISE, which she received in 1984. Prof. Ng then taught at the University of New Brunswick and Queen’s University before returning to OISE in 1988 – first teaching sociology and then adult education.

Prof. Ng spent most of her academic career as a member of OISE’s Adult Education and Community Development Program. She was also Director of OISE’s Centre for Women’s Studies in Education and a key member of OISE’s Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies (CIAR) and the Anti-Racist Network. She was an active opponent of racism and sexism in both academia and society at large. Her own experiences with these issues is documented in her article title “A woman out of control: deconstructing sexism and racism in the university” (Canadian Journal of Education, 1993 18(3), p. 189).

Prof. Ng’s research was focused on the experiences of immigrant women in Canada, including their exclusion from the labour market. Prof. Ng authored numerous books and articles, including co-authoring Anti-Racism, Feminism, and Critical Approaches to Education (Bergin & Garvey, 1995). She also served as principal researcher for “Professional immigrant women navigating the Canadian labour market: a study in adult learning.” Prof. Ng also advocated strongly for healthy living choices, and developed a strong interest in Eastern medicine, trying to reunite mind, body, and spirit, which have been traditionally segregated in academia. To this end, she taught courses such as “Embodied Learning and Qi Gong,” “Applications of Embodied Learning,” and “Toward an Integrative Equity Approach in Higher Education.”

Prof. Ng was involved in many community groups and grassroots organizations that supported immigrant women. She co-founded the Vancouver Women’s Research Centre in 1977, a centre that helped immigrant women address issues of economic development, domestic violence and sexual harassment. She subsequently helped set up similar centres for immigrant women across the country. She served as a board member of Inter Pares (1999-2013), a “Canadian social justice organization working in Canada and around the world to support people's struggles for peace, justice, and equality” (from their website). She was also a member of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) since 1986 and served as a board member and then President in 1994/95.

Prof. Ng was also a key member of the Homeworkers Association (HWA), a group that began as part of the Toronto Chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council. The HWA organized training, support, and social events for home workers, particularly those in the garment industry.

She died of cancer on January 12 2013, at the age of 61.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Fonds consists of correspondence, subject files, course material, research records, and conference and publication files documenting the life and career of Prof. Roxana Ng, professor at OISE and community activist. Fonds also includes administrative material from OISE, in particular from AECP (Adult Education and Counselling Psychology) Department, the AECD (Adult Education and Community Development Program), CIARS (Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies), and the CWSE (Centre for Women’s Studies in Education).

Fonds also includes records relating to Prof. Ng’s involvement in various community groups, NGOs and grassroots organizations, including the Apparel Textile Action Committee (ATAC), CERIS (The Ontario Metropolis Centre), the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), INTERCEDE (International center to End Domestic Exploitation), Inter Pares, The Jade Garden Adjustment Committee, the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada (NOICMWC), UNITE (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees), Women Working with Immigrant Women (WWIW), and the Homeworkers Association (HWA)

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

All files are open with the exception of the following:

Series 3: Restricted. Files are restricted to protect the privacy of third parties.

  • B2014-0005/002(04)-/008(08)

Series 5: Restricted. Files are closed for 20 years until 2035-01-01 to protect the privacy of third parties.

  • B2014-0005/010(01)-/012(12)

Series 9: 7 files containing interview data are restricted, to protect the privacy of third parties.

  • B2014-0005/030(01), (07)-(11)
  • B2014-0005/031(01)

Series 11: 1 file is restricted until 2041-01-01.

  • B2014-0005/038(08)

Series 12: 3 files are restricted, to protect the privacy of third parties.

  • B2014-0005/042(12)
  • B2014-0005/044(08)
  • B2014-0005/044(12)

Series 14: 6 disks containing interview data are restricted, to protect the privacy of third parties.

  • B2014-0005_FD3_013
  • B2014-0005_FD3_015
  • B2014-0005_CD_003
  • B2014-0005_CD_007
  • B2014-0005_CD_010
  • B2014-0005_CD_011

Contact the University Archivist for additional information and/or for permission to access these records.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • Chinese
  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Some records are in Chinese. These are primarily found in Series 13 (Homeworkers Association).

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

  • A spreadsheet inventory of all digital files is available by email, upon request.

Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

B2014-0005

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

Original finding aid by Karen Suurtamm, 2016
Revised in AtoM by Maya Pasternak, July 2019.
Access terms revised by E. Sommers, Aug. 2023

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Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

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