Background
Cecil Foster was born on September 26, 1954 in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados; the son of Fred and Doris Goddard.
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editor journalist writer scholars
Cecil Foster was born on September 26, 1954 in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados; the son of Fred and Doris Goddard.
Foster graduated from Harrison College of Barbados with a diploma in mass communications. Then he earned a B.B.A. and B.A. (with honors) from York University. Foster completed his Ph.D., a phenomenological exploration of the concept of Blackness in Canada, at York University in 2003.
Cecil Foster worked for the Caribbean News Agency as the senior reporter and editor from 1975 until 1977, and the Barbados Advocate News as the reporter and columnist from 1977 until 1979.
Foster emigrated to Canada in 1979. He went on to work for the Toronto Star as a reporter from 1979 till 1982. Foster then began working for The Contrast as an editor between 1979 and 1982, Transportation Business Management as an editor in 1982–1983, The Globe and Mail as a reporter from 1983 until 1989, The Financial Post as a senior editor in 1989, and also served as special adviser to Ontario's Ministry of Culture, through the mid-1990s.
Currently, Foster is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Transnational Studies at the University of Buffalo. Prior to joining the University of Buffalo’s faculty, Foster was Professor of Sociology at the University of Guelph in Ontario.
Foster’s non-fiction books include Distorted Mirror: Canada’s Racist Face (1991); A Place Called Heaven: The Meaning of Being Black in Canada (1996); Island Wings: A Memoir (1998); Where Race Does Not Matter (2005), and Blackness and Modernity: The Colour of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom (2007). His four novels include the highly praised debut No Man in the House (1991), Sleep On, Beloved (1995), Slammin’ Tar (1998) and Dry Bone Memories (2001). His fifth novel, Independence, was published by Harper Collins Canada in 2014. Foster's most recent work is They Called Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada (2019).
Cecil Foster is particularly known for his works which speak about the challenges that Black people have encountered historically in Canada in their efforts to achieve respect and recognition for their contribution to what is now a multicultural Canada.
His book Blackness and Modernity: The Colour of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom won the prestigious John Porter award from the Canadian Sociological Association for the best scholarly book published in the discipline in Canada. A Place Called Heaven: The Meaning of Being Black in Canada won the Gordon Montador Award for the Best Canadian Book on Contemporary Social Issues, and the novel, Sleep On, Beloved, was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award.
Foster was also the editor of Contrast, Canada’s first Black-oriented newspaper.
Cecil Foster is often described as a renaissance man because of his many intellectual interests.
Foster married Glenys Cadogan. The couple has 3 children - Munyonzwe, Michelio, and Mensah.
