Ismael Traore

Dr. Ismaël Traoré is a racial diversity, equity and inclusion educator and specialist. At the heart of his work is anti-racist organizational change through evidence-based practices. He is interested in issues of power and privilege, community engagement, multicultural organizational development, and the social determinants of health. In his role at UBC, he supports the implementation of equity, inclusion, and anti-racism plans across the university and within faculties.

Dr. Traoré completed his dissertation in 2017. His study explores how thirty-eight white persons conceptualize and do anti-racism in their everyday lives and in organizations, the enablers and barriers they experience, and how they implicate themselves as subjects in a racially stratified society. Ismaël has worked in the (re)settlement and integration sector, the civic engagement sector, and as an adjunct professor. On his spare time, he produces educational documentaries on issues of culture and belonging, available for viewing on his website. Ismaël is grateful and humbled to live in Vancouver, on the unceded, ancestral, and traditional lands of the Coast Salish people—more specifically, of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. He brings with him to these lands his ancestors, the Dioula (djou-la) people of West Africa.