Kyra Philbert (she/her) engaged with the qualitative, emergent methodology of a/r/tography to generate openings into the moral fabric of the Canadian Nurse. Based in her own embodied experiences as a brown-skinned queer ciswoman providing direct patient care, Kyra explored “what makes Blackness so surprising in Canadian Nursing?”. This query is an adaptation of Katherine McKittrick’s work on the surprise of Black Canada. Through Black feminist thought and the figure of resistance Marie-Joseph Angélique, Kyra revised history to complicate and unpack the underlying assumptions made about the virtue of nursing within Canada.

Kyra was the 2022 recipient of the Margaret Allemang Scholarship for the History of Nursing Award (Canadian Association of the History of Nursing). In addition, Kyra received a Public Humanities seed grant from University of British Columbia to present the artistic component of her scholarship to a public audience. This presentation happened during National Nursing Week 2023.

Learn more about Nurse Angélique on Kyra’s website: https://kyraphilbert.ca/2022/05/08/nurse-angelique/

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