Alka Kumar

Research fellow at CERC Migration and Integration, Toronto Metropolitan University

Alka Kumar uses narrative approaches, including creative writing and collaborative and participatory methods, as alternative research methods for migration knowledge production. Her current project Stories of Impact focuses on migration journeys and re-settlement experiences of refugee women from Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, in Ontario, Canada.  The project is funded through Mitacs and is made possible through a partnership between CERC Migration and the immigrant serving non-profit organization Catholic Crosscultural Services (CCS) (external link) .

For her doctoral work in the interdisciplinary Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of Manitoba, Alka examined the ‘experiential’ aspects of economic integration in relation to racialized skilled immigrants in Canada, using qualitative methods, a practitioner lens, and a solution-focused approach.

Alka is an educator and an instructor. Prior to moving to Canada in 2008 as a skilled economic migrant, Alka was an Associate Professor of English at the University of Delhi. With a Master’s in English from University of Delhi, and doctoral studies completed at University of Pune, in (Nobel Laureate) Doris Lessing’s major fiction, Alka taught courses in fiction, postcolonial literature and theory and pursued teaching and research in Canadian studies, and diasporic and immigrant writing.

With education and work experience spanning the humanities and in interdisciplinary social sciences – literary studies, migration and peace studies – Alka’s work lives between research and practice, spanning across sectors, with a focus on social justice and capacity building for racialized immigrant and refugee communities.

Drawing on her expertise in building capacity for racialized communities across sectors, Alka also works in a consulting role with the not-for-profit Coalition of Manitoba Cultural Communities for Families (CMCCF) as a Project Advisor on their Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I) initiative; she writes a monthly blog (external link) , published on the organization’s website.

You can read more about Alka’s work at CERC Migration and Integration.