violence Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ prof featured in COU's new Research Matters campaign

fmaquito — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Through a new province-wide campaign, Ontario university researchers are reaching out to explain the value and benefits of university research.
The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) launched ��to showcase new stories and ideas emerging from��the research underway at Ontario's universities. The campaign, which features a website and blog, speaks��to daily issues and reflects the full diversity of university research. It��will continue through 2012-2013, with public events held around the province to allow the public to engage directly with researchers.��Ontario's Minister of Economic Development & Innovation Brad Duguid announced the launch of the campaign at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery Conference last week.

Among the researchers featured in the campaign is 91��ɫ humanities Professor Andrea Davis. The campaign profiles the work Davis is doing to alleviate the causes of youth violence.�� Through her research, Davis is working with��community partners to help black youth ��in Canada and Jamaica challenge physical and systemic violence and find new paths toward social and civic engagement. Her work helps young people form new social identities through participation in the arts, social history and literature.�� to view the profile.

"This campaign provides a unique opportunity for researchers across the province to share the wide range of research they do,” says Davis.��“The project my team and I are leading is certainly only one of many amazing research projects at 91��ɫ, but it resonates specifically with Ontarians because it addresses immediate questions about youth violence. There is no doubt that the stakes are high, and the potential for change and transformation is enormous."

“The work of thousands of university researchers in Ontario affects industry, government and community life in a multitude of ways,” says Alastair Summerlee, chair of COU and president of the University of Guelph. “Those stories about how researchers help people build stronger communities, get more out of work and leisure time, and achieve a better quality of life deserve to be told.”

“This campaign will connect more Ontarians directly with researchers and their ideas,” says Bonnie Patterson, COU president and CEO. “Ontarians can rightly take pride in the fascinating and highly diverse research underway here.”

“The Research Matters campaign is highlighting the important contributions that University research makes to the lives of Ontarians through the voices of many of Ontario’s leading university researchers,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation.�� “91��ɫ is most pleased that Professor Andrea Davis and her important research is being highlighted in this initiative. Andrea’s research is making a positive difference in the lives of individuals, locally and abroad. ��Her project identifies youth violence prevention strategies and facilitates opportunities for youth to engage more constructively in their communities.”

Ontario university research is the common thread that ties these and hundreds of other stories together. Visit the COU's website, follow the campaign on Twitter at ,��or join the community on .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Art helps youth in Canada and Jamaica open up about violence

fmaquito — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0000

The Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC) at 91��ɫ launched a research partnership this summer that uses the arts to explore violence among youth in Canada and Jamaica.

The project, Youth and Community Development in Canada and Jamaica: A Transnational Approach to Youth Violence, popularly known as “Project Groundings”, opened with two youth forums in Kingston and St. Mary, Jamaica on July 28 and 31. At both of these events, black youth from Jamaica and Canada confronted the systemic violence that marks their lives and initiated a conversation about how they might interrupt these complex patterns of violence.

Right: 91��ɫ Professor Andrea Davis addressing a youth forum in Jamaica

Andrea Davis, deputy director of CERLAC and the project’s principal investigator, says, “Many youth lack the language and cultural awareness necessary to respond to their environment in a critical and transformative way, and often end up perpetuating forms of social violence themselves.” By bringing Jamaican youth into a conversation with Canadian youth, Project Groundings “seeks to facilitate critical national and transnational dialogue that can open up avenues of collaboration among youth across their shared cultural boundaries,” says Davis. This transformative dialogue seeks not only to change the behaviour and action of youth, but also to increase public awareness, affect public policy and contribute to the ongoing body of research on youth violence.��

In the project’s opening National Youth Forum in Kingston, Jamaican youth grappled with the unique challenges they face, including sexual violence against women, victimization based on sexual orientation, access to education, unemployment, socio-economic disparities in the administration of justice and the absence of effective platforms from which to voice their concerns.

Above: New research��uses art forms, such as drama, to explore the effects of violence on black youth in Canada and Jamaica��

The second youth forum in Woodside, St. Mary, examined the specific concerns faced by rural youth.��Here, youth identified a lack of facilities and resources, including poor roads and inadequate transportation, as their greatest challenges. While they recognized the necessity of agricultural pursuits, they also pointed to the lack of crop diversification and financial compensation as major deterrents leading them off the land.

The question of violence was also central to the Woodside forum, which closed with an impromptu commemoration of the life of Shauna Kaye Shaw, a community youth leader murdered earlier this year. In defiance of the fear brought on by her death, Woodside youth committed to resume youth activities.

Right: Jamaica Youth Theatre performing The Pickney Dem a Dry

As Peter Cumming, coordinator of 91��ɫ’s Children’s Studies Program and president of the Association for Research in Cultures of Young People, says, “The most exciting development in the research team’s first sessions in Jamaica was the moving demonstration of Jamaican youths’ eager and serious engagement with issues of violence through their sharing of their own experiences, their animated discussion about possible solutions for societal violence, and their strategic use of the arts, particularly theatre, to represent and confront the enormous pain caused by violence.”

One example of the use of the arts was Jamaica Youth Theatre’s (YRT) performance of the skit The Pickney Dem a Dry. The skit explores the grief of a mother who learns of the death of her daughter on the streets. While it begins as a personal mourning, it quickly mounts into collective suffering, a disturbing yet inspiring memorial to young people who have died violently. This performance powerfully deployed a poem, a clothesline on which the names of murdered youth were hung and chants based on street graffiti to acknowledge a shared humanity among youth – “We all bleed red”. It also challenged everyone as individuals and nations to “Live up! Live up!”

Left: Toronto youth Ebthihal Nabag (left) and Nabi Shash from Nia Centre for the Arts participate in a youth exchange

“I was humbled by the honesty and courage of these young people,” says Davis. “Being able to see the transformative elements of the research and the way young people from both countries embraced and empowered each other was enormously fulfilling.”

This innovative approach to youth violence is funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada and brings together researchers from 91��ɫ, McMaster University, the universities of Guelph, Ottawa and Waterloo, as well as the University of the West Indies (Mona campus). It also includes three community partners – JYT in Kingston, the Woodside Development Action Group in St. Mary and Nia Centre for the Arts in Toronto,

The project will host a second youth forum, workshop and photo exhibit in Toronto Oct. 28 and 29.

For more information, visit the CERLAC website or e-mail Andrea Davis at aadavis@yorku.ca.

By 91��ɫ graduate student Jan Anderson

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor and anthropologist David Murray examines homosexuality and hate around the world

fmaquito — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Why does homosexuality incite vitriolic rhetoric, hate and violence around the world, and does homophobia operate differently across social, political and economic terrains? Those are just some of the questions examined in the book , edited by��91��ɫ anthropology Professor .

Published by Duke University Press, Homophobias looks at these questions through critical interrogations and analysis of diverse sites where homophobic discourses are produced, including New 91��ɫ City, Australia, the Caribbean, Greece, India and Indonesia, as well as American Christian churches. The idea is to uncover the complex operational processes of homophobias and their intimate relationships to nationalism, sexism, racism, class and colonialism.

In the book's preface, Murray notes��that the term "homophobia" had moved into the global sphere. This got him thinking about the term's meaning and the existence of homophobia. "Homophobia had gone global, and to be accused of being homophobic was to be accused of something more than just not liking homosexuals; furthermore, this accusation now carried potentially serious economic and political repercussions." He hopes the book will be the initial step in answering some of the questions the term homophobia raises.

Left: David Murray

Murray��gathered researchers from a diverse range of ethnographic sites "to demonstrate how homophobia is a phenomenon that has no centre or origin, but more importantly, to examine how, or if, a transnational, comparative and��ethnographically informed perspective might extend, challenge or change our understandings of homophobia."

In part one��– "Displacing Homophobia" – some of the issues the contributors examine include��homophobia in New 91��ɫ's gay central, American Christian homophobia and homophobia as racism. In part two – "Transnational Homophobias" – they look at homosexual hate in Jamaica, political homophobia in Indonesia, as well as the Barbadian media. In examining these issues, Homophobias provides innovative analytical insights that expose the complex and intersecting cultural, political and economic forces contributing to the development of new forms of homophobia.

Murray, the director of the Graduate Program in Women’s Studies at 91��ɫ, is the author of .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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CBC covers Professor Stephen Gaetz's study of Toronto's young homeless population and crime

fmaquito — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Almost three-quarters of homeless young people in Toronto say they have been the victim of multiple crimes, a new survey suggests, wrote :

“Being homeless means constant exposure to dangerous people and places,” said the report, "Surviving Crime and Violence: Street Youth and Victimization in Toronto". It was released Monday.

While most criminal cases involve property, almost two-thirds of the people interviewed for the study said they have been the victim of a violent crime at least once. And more than three-quarters said they had been victimized in the past year, says the 2009 survey of 244 homeless young people aged 16 to 25.

That group is “perhaps the most victimized street youth population,” authors Stephen Gaetz, Bill O’Grady and Kristy Buccieri wrote. Gaetz is associate dean of research & field development in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, O’Grady is a sociology and anthropology professor at the University of Guelph, and Buccieri is a PhD student at 91��ɫ.

The piece was also covered in�� , , , Sept. 28.

, who is the associate dean of research & field development in 91��ɫ’s , also spoke about his latest study that shows homeless youth are often victims of crime, on CBC Radio and Radio Canada stations across the country and on OMNI-TV Sept. 27.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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LaMarsh Centre to research violent crime’s impact on victims and families

fmaquito — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ will launch a unique study into the impact of extreme violence on victims and their families, thanks to a generous new gift.

The (CCVF) has pledged $25,000 for the research initiative which will help address a critical gap in crime research, according to the lead researchers. “Victims of extreme violence, and their family members, have long been ignored in the halls of science, as well as in the legal system,” said 91��ɫ psychology Professor Jennifer Connolly, immediate past director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution.

CCVF co-founders Joe and Lozanne Wamback (BSc Spec. Hons.��’77) presented a cheque to the LaMarsh Centre during the foundation’s annual gala on May 28. The couple formed the foundation after a 1999 near-fatal assault on their 15-year-old son Jonathan, who is currently studying English and French at 91��ɫ.

Right: From left, Jennifer Connolly and Harvey Skinner

“91��ɫ was chosen as the best research environment to invest in a more compassionate and understanding future for all Canadians,” said Joe. “This exciting partnership with one of Canada’s most esteemed academic institutions will set new standards into understanding the needs of survivors of violence and families of homicide victims.”

About one in five crimes reported to the police are of a violent nature. In 2008, there was an average of 932 incidents of violent crime for every 100,000 Canadians, according to the annual Vital Signs report from the Community Foundations of Canada. Through the LaMarsh Centre, the research program will provide clinicians with new insights into effective counselling and will guide important policies on victims’ rights.

Harvey Skinner, dean of 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health, affirmed the importance of the gift which will help cement 91��ɫ as a leader in research on victims of extreme violence. “Therapeutic treatment for crime victims and their families is largely uncharted territory,” Skinner said. “This kind gift allows the Faculty of Health, the LaMarsh Centre and the 91��ɫ Psychology Clinic to research and then apply that research to serve victims of crimes and their loved ones.”

Left: The donation from the CCVF was presented at their��eighth annual gala on May 28. From left, Lozanne Wamback, co-founder and victim support chair of the CCVF; Harvey Skinner, dean of 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health; Stephen Fleming and��Jennifer Connolly, both professors in 91��ɫ's��Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health; and Joe Wamback, co-founder and board chair of the��CCVF.

Connolly will lead the research component that aims to further enhance an understanding of the devastating effects of extreme violence on victims and their families, as well as the coping strategies that lead to recovery. “This generous gift from the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation will break new ground in focusing attention on the profound and far-reaching effects of violent crimes on youth and their families,” she said.

91��ɫ psychology Professor Stephen Fleming will lead the clinical component through the 91��ɫ Psychology Clinic, providing enhanced clinical training in trauma intervention for graduate psychology students. A member of the CCVF Professional Advisory Committee, Fleming noted the need for increased training to help victims cope with the immediate and long-term effects of their experience with violence. Many are re-traumatized long after their initial ordeal while navigating the legal system.

“Through the 91��ɫ Psychology Clinic and the generous donation from Joe and Lozanne Wamback, 91��ɫ graduates will be uniquely qualified and trained to provide critical assessment and treatment to victims of extreme violence,” said Fleming.

A workshop in intervention for traumatized children and adults is in preparation for the fall.

For more information about giving to 91��ɫ, contact Nicole Arnold, chief development officer for the Faculty of Health in the 91��ɫ Foundation, at 416-650-8076 or visit the 91��ɫ Foundation Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Surprised Canada's the 12-worst country for bullying? Professor Debra Pepler says examine adult behaviour

fmaquito — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Canada’s ranking as the 12th worst country for bullying among 40 wealthy nations is an eye-opener, say the organizers of a childhood bullying prevention conference held at McMaster University, wrote The Hamilton Spectator May 29:

91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor in psychology,��Debra Pepler, a co-director and member of 91��ɫ’s , said people don’t understand the level of the problem. “Canadians see ourselves as nice...(but) our children are not doing well.”

Crucial to preventing youth bullying and violence is for parents and other adults to show and teach healthy relationships, said Pepler. “Parents need to help kids think critically about their behaviour and how to treat people respectfully.”

If Canadian children are to do well despite all the media and societal exposure to violence and aggression, then they require a lot of guidance and exemplary behaviour from adults, she added. “What children observe is far more important than what they’re rewarded and punished for. We need to be much more mindful of what we teach them through our own behaviour as we get excited over hockey and ultimate fight clubs when they hear us say ‘kill them’.”

Pepler is also a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at 91��ɫ. The complete article is .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Debra Pepler: Bullying is not a rite of passage

fmaquito — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

In last week’s Globe and Mail, there was a disturbing story about how passengers failed to help a 79-year-old man who was being mugged on a Toronto subway car, despite his cries for help, wrote Wendy Craig of Queen's University, Tracy Vaillancourt of the University of Ottawa and Debra Pepler, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology in 91��ɫ's , in a letter to The Globe and Mail May 7:

Why does this inaction surprise and shock us? After all, it happens to about 10 per cent of children every day at school. About 30 per cent of students are involved as witnesses or as fellow aggressors. Peers, teachers and other adults rarely intervene to help a child who is being victimized – they either fail to recognize the problem or they turn a blind eye.

For Yusuf Hizel, the poor man on the subway, this was a terrible, random act. For children who are bullied at school, it is sanctioned violence. They know who is going to bully them, when it is going to happen and where it is going to happen. They experience the equivalent of a mugging every day.

Bullying is a significant social problem. More than 1,100,000 school-aged Canadian children are victimized by bullying at least once a week, and more than 550,000 school-aged children report bullying others at least once a week. Bullying isn’t a normal or expected part of childhood. It is a hurtful and aggressive act with lasting consequences.

Being bullied can lead to physical and mental health problems – and in extreme cases, suicide. At its core, bullying is a relationship problem. It is about an imbalance of power with repeated aggression, with harm as its intent. It takes many forms – social, verbal, physical, cyber. This is not a rite of passage.

Pepler's research has changed the way we think about bullying, aggression and other forms of violence, especially among marginalized and alienated young people. She has has edited four volumes in the past four years on understanding and addressing children’s aggression, bullying, and victimization. Pepler is a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution and , a Web site that provides bullying resources for children, educators and parents.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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