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I am an assistant professor in Community Psychology, in the Psychology Department at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo Campus, Ontario. I received my PhD in Community Psychology in 2024, where I also received my master’s degree in Community Psychology in 2018. My undergraduate university is Mount Saint Vincent in Halifax Nova Scotia, where, in 2016, I received an honours degree, BA in Psychology. I also attended the Nova Scotia Community College, where I received an honours diploma in Child & Youth Care, October 2010.
As a Two-Spirit L’nuk, that is African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq from the territory of Mi’kma’ki, my ongoing research focuses on Afro-Indigenous identity and relationships in the settler nation-state known as Canada. I am interested in a reversal of the colonial gaze by critically examining imperialism, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and capitalism, and the ways these interlocking systems affect the lived realities of Afro-Indigenous, Black, and Indigenous Peoples and communities. Central to my research program are education and curriculum, along side critical analyses of gendered and racialized violence. I also examine how colonial systems structure environmental dispossession, the protection of Mother Earth and sustainability, as well as the production of dis/ability and ableism within marginalized and minoritized communities.
Recent and Ongoing Projects
Principal Investigator / Founder: Wele'g Dwenninmmen Roots of Survivance Institute (SSHRC 2024 - )
Co-Investigator: Youth Climate for Justice International Collaboration (SSHRC 2025 - )
Co-Investigator: Black & Indigenous Lives, Artificial Intelligence and Data Management in a time of Transition: Implications for Ethics and Self-determination (SSHRC 2024 - )
Co-Investigator: Community Safety Monitor: Indigenous and Decolonial Review (MITACS 2024)
Co-Investigator: Living Memories: Community-based Storytelling of Indigenous and Black Histories and Realities in Canada (SSHRC 2022 - )
Co-Investigator: Proclaiming Our Stories for Indigenous-Black Community Mental Health (CIHR 2021 - )
Co-Investigator: Proclaiming Our Roots: Sharing the Stories of Indigenous-Black People's Identities for Health and Wellbeing in Canada (CIHR 2020)
Principal Investigator: Indigenous Gender and Wellness: Idea Fair and Learning Circle (CIHR 2019)
Co-Investgator: Proclaiming our Roots and Making Connections for the Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous-Black Communities in Canada (AHA Centre, A Project of CAAN Community Engagement 2018)
CPA Certificate of Academic Excellence - July 2025 Top Doctoral Thesis, Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University
Award for Outstanding Work at the Graduate Level - September 2024 Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) - September 2021 National Members’ Scholarship
Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Community Psychology - June 2021 Graduate Student Award for Promotion of Anti-Racist Praxis
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate - September 2018 (CGS) Doctoral Scholarship
29th International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) - June 2018 Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Section Women and Psychology (SWAP) Student Paper Award – First Place
29th International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) - June 2018 Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Section Community Psychology Student Presentation Award – First Place
Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) - June 2017 Biennial Conference 2017 Student Presentation Award – First Place
Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) - May 2017 Section 3: Community Psychology Student Presentation Award – First Place
Canadian Council Department of Psychology - April 2017 Professional Development Award
Frederick Banting and Charles Best - September 2016 Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGSM CIHR)
Rosemarie Sampson Award MSVU Psychology - April 2016
Mount Saint Vincent University Library Research Award - April 2016
Pauline A. Jones Memorial Endowed Scholarship MSVU - September 2015
The Leonard Foundation Scholarship - September 2014
Nova Scotia Community Colllege African Nova Scotian Graduate Achievement Award - October 2010
I welcome opportunities to work with undergraduate and graduate students in co-learning and the co-creation of knowledges. I seek students who engage with critical analysis of systems of oppression, practice liberatory and ethically grounded approaches to community engagement, and want to employ critical Indigenous, Black, anti racist and anti oppression frameworks to their research.
Beals, A. M. (2025). Where the Land remembers us. Public Issue 72.
Beals, A. M., Wilson, C. L., & Persaud, R. (2025). Proclaiming Our Roots: Afro-Indigenous identity, resistance, and the making of a movement. Religions, 16(7), 828.
Wilson, C. L., & Beals, A. M. (2024). Making space for Afro-Indigenous community (Special issue: The Black radicalism issue). Briarpatch.
Beals, A. M., Douglin, M., Jewers-Dailley, K., Ranco, S., Reimer-Watts, K., & Sharma, R. (2023). The COVID-19 crisis: Using the cracks in neoliberalism for transformation towards a more just society. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 14(2), 1-27.
Beals, A. M. (2021). Zoo – Decolonization: An alphabet. Tatamagouche Centre.
Beals, A. M., Thomas, D., Fernández, J. S., Wilson, C. L., & Palmer, G. (2021). Resisting the coloniality and colonialism of a westernized community psychology: Toward a critical racial justice praxis. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 12(2), 1-22.
Wilson, C. L., Singh, A. K., Beals, A. M., Furman, E., Sharma, R., Darko, N. A., Liu, V., & Kivell, N. (2021). Dialogues of disruption: Confronting oppression in the academy. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 12(3), 1-25.
Beals, A. M. (2020). The Student and the Elder. in:cite journal, 3(rhythm), 10-23.
Beals, A. M., & Wilson, C. L. (2020). Mixed-blood: Indigenous-Black identity in colonial Canada. AlterNative, 16(1) 29-37.
Wilson, C. L., & Beals, A. M. (2019). Proclaiming our Indigenous-Black roots at a time of Truth and Reconciliation. In S. Wilson, A. V. Breen, & L. DuPré (Eds.), Research and reconciliation: Unsettling ways of knowing through Indigenous relationships (pp. 29-45). Canadian Scholars.
Beals, A. M., Fernández, J. S., Jimenez, T. R., Smith, C., & Thomas, D. (2019). Statement in support of Christchurch, New Zealand, in condemnation of white supremacy: Call to action. The Community Psychologist, (52)3, 3-5.
- PS606 Research in Community Settings
- PS389/HE305 Positive Psychology
- PS282 Introduction to Community Psychology