United States

U of T sociologist explores homecare workers' capacity to avoid coercive labour conditions

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:00:55 +0000

U of T sociologist explores homecare workers' capacity to avoid coercive labour conditions

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/22/2023 - 10:00

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(photo by Vecteezy)

U of T Mississauga staff

Topic

Breaking Research

Global

Research & Innovation

Sociology

U of T Mississauga

United States

Subheadline

Researchers examined the impact of California’s in-home support service program on homecare providers' ability to advocate for themselves

How much power do homecare workers have to resist being exploited by their employers?

For Asian women working in this occupation in California, the answer is shaped by several factors, including filial obligations, cultural traditions, language barriers, economic status, state employment regulations, labour unions, immigrant organizations and disability rights groups.

Cynthia Cranford, a professor of sociology at the ��߲ݴ�ý Mississauga, examines this complex subject in a new study published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.

Cynthia Cranford (supplied image)

Cranford joined scholars from the University of California, Florida Atlantic University and Brown University to analyze how the inequalities of gender, race, class and immigration shape these workers’ ability to refuse coercive labour conditions.

Their investigation, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant, also examined the role of California’s in-home support service (IHSS) state-funded care program in enabling and inhibiting self-advocacy by care providers.

“The state, in the design of its program, opens the door for homecare workers to slip into servitude,” says Cranford, author of the 2020 book Home Care Fault Lines: Understanding Tensions and Creating Alliances. “How can they collectivize and access supports within their community to navigate these situations?”

The situations to which Cranford is referring were illuminated through interviews with 60 homecare providers. They include:

Being expected to work unpaid overtime and serve members of their family
Being subjected to verbal abuse
Being accused of stealing
Having food thrown at them.

The interviews were arranged with the help of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and three partnering community organizations: Asian Immigrant Women Advocates, the Filipino American Services Group and the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California.

As Cranford notes, the IHSS program in California, which employs more than 500,000 homecare providers, stands out as a model in the U.S. for empowering homecare workers who are members of the SEIU with the right to engage in collective bargaining for fair wages and benefits.

Yet, the authors note the union limits its interventions in cases of homecare worker mistreatment. Due to concessions it has made to disability rights groups, it does not engage in workplace strikes that could jeopardize the health and well-being of people who need continuous care.

As well, they write, the IHSS program grants employers full autonomy over the hiring, firing and supervising of homecare workers, taking a “hands-off approach to regulating employment conditions in homecare,” which leaves workers vulnerable to inhumane treatment.

The IHSS program allows for spouses, parents, children and other relatives to be paid care providers. While it is beneficial for a relative to be paid for work that they might normally perform for free out of a sense of family duty, Cranford and her colleagues found that family dynamics often contribute to a sense of “unfreedom” since they create expectations to perform extra tasks beyond their paid hours, and threats of firing for non-compliance.

This issue is exacerbated by California’s insufficient resourcing of the program, they say, as those who receive care often need funding for more care hours than allotted by the program. Other mitigating factors include the ethno-cultural expectation of female servitude among older care receivers, and the financial precariousness and limited English proficiency of some care providers.

Yet, as the authors note, many of the homecare workers they interviewed found ways to respond to their dilemmas of servitude. Taking advantage of what few supports their union offers, they have engaged in grassroots community organizing to cultivate group solidarity among homecare workers, sought help when facing unreasonable demands at work in order to improve working conditions and sometimes resorted to blacklisting abusive employers.

Some also connected with local immigrant organizations to help advocate for their rights.

“These women are confronting servitude in multiple ways, and when they have collective support from their unions and other community groups, they are capable of confronting it,” Cranford says.

Hampered by 'scientism?' U of T researcher examines the history of American social science

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 14:53:30 +0000

Hampered by 'scientism?' U of T researcher examines the history of American social science

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 04/12/2022 - 10:53

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Mark Solovey, a professor in the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology, explores the historical mistrust of social science in his latest book (photo courtesy of Solovey)

Cynthia Macdonald

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Social Sciences

United States

Early in the Cold War era, “social sciences were criticized for not being really scientific – for being ideological and political in ways that may seem to have been disguised as science,” says Mark Solovey, a professor in the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology at the ��߲ݴ�ý.

"[At the time], there was animosity in the U.S. towards socialism and communism. This caused a lot of problems for social scientists and their supporters, who argued for a science of society which was separate from ideology and politics.”

Social scientists were also pressed about the social relevance of their work regarding problems such as racism, income inequality, and crime, and threats to democracy, Solovey adds.

Solovey’s latest book, Social Science for What?: Battles Over Public Funding for the ‘’Other Sciences’’ at the National Science Foundation, explores the historical mistrust of social science, which he says continues to this day. He argues that when it comes to funding for academically oriented research, American social scientists have been more dependent on the U.S. National Science Foundation than their counterparts in natural science – the latter also find strong support from other science patrons. Yet, at the NSF the social sciences have had to contend with less respect over many decades due to critical attitudes toward the field.

Solovey has long studied the development of the social sciences in the U.S. In the case of the NSF, he says, support has always been hampered by “scientism,” the perception that natural science, governed by immutable laws and grounded in rigorous methods of inquiry, existed on a more elevated plane that the social sciences needed to emulate.

Like natural scientists, social scientists are concerned with evidence-based research and use both quantitative and qualitative tools to arrive at conclusions. But they are uniquely concerned with human society and social relationships, which are entangled with normative judgments and morality.

“When the NSF was established, its founders had to decide: Is there such a thing as a social science and, if so, how would we know if we see it?” Solovey says. “Certain areas of research have been institutionalized, such as sociology, economics, anthropology, political science. Psychology has areas that are more social, others that are more biological. There have always been boundary disputes.”

Social science funding has only ever represented a small proportion of the NSF’s budget. “In the late 1950s social sciences represented maybe two per cent of the total,” says Solovey. “Then came the 1960s, which was a different era in U.S. society.”

At that point, social science entered a kind of golden age due to its association with bold policy initiatives launched during the presidencies of John. F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Scientists helped to promote federal programs to tackle a wide array of problems, including, as Solovey writes, “juvenile delinquency, urban blight, racial conflict, poverty and unemployment.” By the late 1960s, the NSF allocated around seven per cent of its budget to social science – “the highest it’s ever reached,” Solovey says.

But in the 1970s, the pendulum swung back toward conservative mistrust. Liberals also expressed mistrust of some social science research, especially that which they saw as serving conservative economic or political ideals, practices and policies.

Solovey’s book takes readers to the end of the Reagan presidency and, in a short final chapter, up to the present day, leaving questions about the future of social science support in the U.S.

His book proposes a new funding agency for the social sciences in the U.S.: a National Social Science Foundation, which would seek to support social research on a broad front by welcoming and promoting work grounded in humanistic as well as scientific approaches – perhaps along the lines of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

“This proposal already came up in the late 1960s when there was a fair bit of interest,” Solovey says. “For me, it’s the most interesting episode in the entire story: there was a proposal in Congress, there were national hearings, the Senate voted to support it. But it never got support in the House of Representatives. And, by the late 1960s, the climate had changed and the whole idea disappeared. Since then, this idea has basically vanished.”

In their investigations of employment trends, poverty, political behaviour, human sexuality and so many other domains, Solovey notes that social scientists continue to rely on sources of public and private support. The contributions that they can make to society are all the more critical in times of global illness, war, and climate change.

“I would very much like American social scientists and people interested in the problem of funding to support a proposal for a National Social Science Foundation.”

U of T's Janelle Taylor to study experiences, care needs of Alzheimer's patients

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 16:39:12 +0000

U of T's Janelle Taylor to study experiences, care needs of Alzheimer's patients

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 10/20/2021 - 12:39

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(Photo courtesy of Janelle Taylor)

Chris Sasaki

Topic

Global Lens

Anthropology

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Research & Innovation

United States

For the last 20 years of her life, Janelle Taylor’s mother lived with advanced dementia.

“Toward the end, I had a lot of responsibility for her care,” says Taylor, a professor of medical anthropology in the ��߲ݴ�ý’s department of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“So, dementia was very present in my life. And being a scientist, I used my research ‘tools’ to make sense of my mother’s condition and I learned a lot. Also, maybe because I myself was middle-aged, I found everyone I talked to was dealing with dementia in their lives in one way or another.

“And so, for over a decade now, dementia has been the primary focus of my research.”

Throughout her career, Taylor has studied the social and cultural aspects of health, illness, aging, care-planning and end-of-life decision-making. Her research into dementia examines such aspects as the experience of older adults with no living spouse or children and how dementia affects the nature of friendships.

“The changes that dementia brings pose such a challenge,” says Taylor. “They make us think about memory, personhood, relationships – all the things central to our personal identities.”

Taylor recently became a member of the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) project, a long-term study of individuals aged 65 and older that’s designed to gain a greater understanding of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and make possible more effective prevention and treatment. Since it began in 1994, ACT researchers have tracked an active cohort of 2,000 individuals to see which remain healthy as they age and which develop dementia.

Alzheimer's is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by a deterioration with age in cognitive ability and memory. It is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of dementia diagnoses. Today, hundreds of thousands of Canadians live with Alzheimer’s.

ACT is led by Kaiser Permanente Washington, the University of Washington School of Medicine and the University of California, San Diego, and was recently awarded a five-year grant of US$56 million by the National Institute on Aging, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. With the new funding, those involved in three projects within the study will grow to include 41 investigators at 10 research institutions in the United States and Canada. It will also allow ACT to increase the number of study participants to 3,000.

One of the three projects looks at physical activity and sleep and their relation to brain aging and dementia. A second investigates differences in subtypes of Alzheimer’s and whether patients with different subtypes experience the disease differently. A third examines the efficacy of drugs commonly used for treatment.

Taylor is one of ACT’s 16 co-principal investigators. Her team will be part of the second project investigating subtypes of Alzheimer’s. Unlike the majority of ACT researchers who focus on biological and medical aspects of dementia and Alzheimer’s, Taylor and her collaborators will be taking the study in a new direction by investigating the experiences, care needs, caregiving challenges and caregiving networks of participants.

They will focus on questions such as: How do people experience this condition? What are their resulting needs? What difficulties arise for caregivers trying to help them? And what kind of impacts might there be on caregiving networks?

For example, ACT researchers have identified a subtype defined by deterioration in executive function characterized by an increase in impulsive behaviour, a loss of inhibitions or a decline in an individual’s ability to make judgements. Knowing more about challenges specific to this subtype could lead to insights into better care and decision-making for individuals within this group.

“Getting questions about care, caregiving, social experiences and networks onto the radar screen of a big, well-funded medical research study like ACT is important,” Taylor says.

“What we're doing is different from what’s been done in the past in this study. We’re looking at information collected by the ACT study that no one's ever used for research before.”

Taylor hopes that this approach will lead to a better understanding of people's needs, and a better understanding of the challenges and the impacts on their families and social networks.

“We can’t cure Alzheimer’s yet,” she says. “But what we know is that caregiving is the one thing that makes a difference. And with this research, we can gain a better understanding of how best to provide care and make people's lives better.”

Renowned scholar Juna Kollmeier named director of U of T’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:25:48 +0000

Renowned scholar Juna Kollmeier named director of U of T’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/31/2021 - 10:25

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Juna Kollmeier, who will become the new director of CITA on July 1, is an observationally oriented astrophysicist whose research focuses on supermassive black holes, the Milky Way and the intergalactic medium (photo by Bret Harman/TED)

Lucianna Ciccocioppo

Topic

Global Lens

Alumni

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Ted Sargent

United States

Renowned astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier, on faculty at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, has been named the new director of the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), a research centre focused on the origin and evolution of the universe and other phenomena discovered by modern astronomy.

An observationally oriented theorist – uncommon in astrophysics – Kollmeier is the founding director of the Carnegie Theoretical Astrophysics Center and director of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS-V). A scientist committed to public outreach and the “inalienable right to physics” for everyone, she studies how structures grow and evolve in the universe, and focuses on supermassive black holes, the Milky Way and the intergalactic medium. Her 2019 TED Talk has attracted more than 2.6 million views and, among other documentaries, she was in an episode of the series Genius by Stephen Hawking.

“I am thrilled to welcome Juna Kollmeier to the ��߲ݴ�ý to take on this important leadership role,” says Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, which is home to CITA. “This appointment is truly an outstanding ‘brain gain’ for Canada. An impressive scholar, passionate scientist and mentor, she is also brilliant at engaging the public in understanding our universe. She will undoubtedly advance CITA’s remarkable research and novel discoveries in astrophysics and cosmology to new frontiers.”

Kollmeier’s appointment is the result of a comprehensive, global recruitment process and underscores the university’s commitment to diversifying leadership across disciplines. When she begins on July 1, 2021, Kollmeier will be the first woman to lead CITA.

“CITA is Canada’s hub for research and discovery in theoretical astrophysics,” says Kollmeier. “It's been a tremendous global force, has contributed to cosmology, to our understanding of black hole growth and evolution, to star formation and to high energy astrophysics. I think U of T shines brightly as a place where excellence thrives and grows. This is an incredible opportunity to lead an incredible organization.”

Kollmeier holds a bachelor of science in physics with honours from the California Institute of Technology, and a master of science and PhD in astronomy – both from The Ohio State University, where, in addition to her thesis work, she designed, built and deployed instrumentation parts for two telescopes as part of the Ohio State Astronomy Instrumentation Lab team. She was an Institute for Advanced Study Visiting Professor in 2015-16 and a Fulbright Scholar, and received Hubble and Carnegie-Princeton Fellowships. She is a CIFAR Fellow and, most recently, has been selected the 2022 International Solvay Chair in Physics.

“She is an exceptional scientist, mentor and collaborator,” says Norman Murray, current director of CITA. “I'm excited that she will help advance our mission to expand Canada’s capacity in theoretical astrophysics and grow our national and international networks, as our post-doctoral fellows go on to teach and innovate at many other leading universities.”

Kollmeier replaces Murray, who is completing his third term as director. She says she is looking forward to joining an extraordinary community of scholars at U of T this summer.

“We are arriving at an incredibly exciting point in the overall history of astrophysics, where we have these rich datasets. And they allow us to explore a variety of deep questions, all open questions that are on the verge of breaking apart,” she says. “Joining this community will take my own research to the next level, and that's tremendously exciting.”

Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, says Kollmeier is a globally celebrated scholar.

“Her appointment exemplifies the outstanding calibre of researcher U of T continues to attract,” Sargent says. “Under Professor Kollmeier’s leadership, CITA will continue to achieve transformative discoveries, build national and global networks, and will continue to advance as one of the world’s leading theoretical astrophysics research hubs.”

U of T alumna Wendy Freedman, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, hired Kollmeier as the first theorist at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, when Freedman was its director.

“Juna is remarkably bright and enthusiastic about whatever she does, and it's hard not to get caught up in her infectious enthusiasm for whatever problem she’s working on,” says Freedman. “She's unusual in that she has a real interest in observations, not just the theory. And she chooses projects that interface very well with what observers are doing, and what you can learn from the observations. It's a great niche area where she can bring together groups of theorists and observers to initiate new projects that can benefit from that kind of analysis. I was delighted when I heard the news. It struck me as a really good match.”

“Juna is very knowledgeable and knows lots of people,” says colleague Matias Zaldarriaga, a cosmologist at the Institute for Advanced Study. “And I think that's a very good combination for someone leading CITA, to recruit and attract people with a wider range of research topics, and to create an atmosphere where people can collaborate and learn new things. She will bring this breadth of interest and expertise that I think will be very noticeable and very attractive to a lot of people.”

Hans-Walter Rix, director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, has known Kollmeier since her time at graduate school. “Even back then it was very obvious she just was in a different category than most grad students,” says Rix. “This is a fantastic appointment for CITA because I think it is a role that fits her ambitious capabilities. She brings a vision and an energy that will be a tremendous boost for the place.”

As the first woman to lead CITA, Kollmeier will have a formidable impact, says McGill University’s Victoria Kaspi, physics professor and director of the McGill Space Institute.

“I think she'll be a tremendous role model and a mentor to the next generation of women in astrophysics and in STEM in general,” says Kaspi. “In addition, she also is an incredibly creative, versatile person, and she has tremendous energy and drive. I think she is going to shake the place up and bring CITA to new heights.”

Meg Urry, director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a former president of the American Astronomical Society, says she has seen “Juna’s impressive leadership up close.” Urry serves on the executive committee of the advisory council of the SDSS-V project. “That she is a distinguished theorist selected to lead this important institute – well, it shows Juna is a star on all fronts.”

President Meric Gertler, other U of T leaders express solidarity with Asian community after Atlanta shootings

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 17:31:21 +0000

President Meric Gertler, other U of T leaders express solidarity with Asian community after Atlanta shootings

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/19/2021 - 13:31

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Mourners leave flowers at one of three spas in the Atlanta area that were targeted by a gunman who killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent (photo by Megan Varner via Getty Images)

Topic

President Meric Gertler and other ��߲ݴ�ý leaders are condemning anti-Asian racism and violence against women following mass shootings in Atlanta that killed six women of Asian descent.

“The ��߲ݴ�ý emphatically condemns anti-Asian discrimination and racism, and all forms of hate and racial violence,” President Gertler said in a statement. “We also condemn all forms of discrimination, hate and violence against women.

“To all members of the diverse Asian communities on our three campuses, please know that we stand in solidarity with you at this very difficult time.”

Eight people were killed Tuesday in a series of shootings at three Atlanta-area massage businesses. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent. The suspect, who has been arrested, is a 21-year-old white man. Public officials, including Atlanta’s mayor, have called the shootings a hate crime.

The slaying came as anti-Asian racism has intensified in North America amid the pandemic. Asian Canadians and Asian Americans have reported a growing number of racist incidents, including several violent attacks against elderly Asians.

Fight COVID Racism, a platform dedicated to tracking and reporting anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in Canada, has recorded 957 incidents of anti-Asian racism since March 2020. Stop AAPI Hate, a similar reporting site created by U.S. advocacy groups, has recorded nearly 4,000 incidents, with more than twice as many reports from women as from men.

“It is particularly heartbreaking to hear, as we have done since the pandemic first emerged, that people in the Toronto region and many members of our own University community have been targeted in unconscionable acts of racism,” President Gertler said.

Joseph Wong, U of T’s interim vice-president, international, says the Atlanta tragedy is a manifestation of an anti-Asian sentiment that has been percolating for a long time.

“It gives us a moment to think about the history of anti-Asian racism within our own society,” Wong said. “It’s not something that’s just popped up in the last year or so, but rather something that’s been historically present here in Canada – and it’s important to recognize that.”

Wong added that U of T is dedicated in both word and deed to celebrating the diversity of all its students.

“All students should feel safe,” he said. “They should feel included as part of the U of T community, and they should feel entirely comfortable and empowered to reach out at any time that they feel like they have been a victim of harassment; to call out microaggressions; to seek the help they need if they are feeling anxiety around this wave of anti-Asian racism.”

The rise in anti-Asian racism comes at a time when U of T has intensified efforts to stamp out racism in all its forms and create a diverse, welcoming environment where everyone feels they belong and can fully participate – all in pursuit of a fully inclusive intellectual environment where all can thrive and achieve excellence.

Statements from U of T leaders across the three campuses echoed the acknowledgment that the attacks were part of a spate of violent acts against women and individuals of Asian descent. They also reiterated U of T’s commitment to fostering an inclusive and safe community for all racialized groups.

Alexandra Gillespie, vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, said the attack “represents only the most recent example of violence against people of Asian ethnicity across North America and around the world.”

“I know that people are hurting, both from news of the Atlanta murders and from a centuries-long history of anti-Asian violence, exacerbated in the past year,” Gillespie said in a letter to the U of T Mississauga community.

Gillespie called on non-Asians to join in the shared battle against anti-Asian racism: “Our sympathy must lead to change.”

Similarly, Wisdom Tettey, vice-president and principal of U of T Scarborough, expressed solidarity with U of T’s Asian community members.

“As a campus community, we pride ourselves on our inclusive culture, and we denounce these acts and stand firmly with our Asian community,” Tettey said in a statement.

“The week’s tragic incidents also reveal, yet again, the dangers that women, in general, and racialized and Indigenous women, in particular, face every day as they go about their daily routines.”

Kelly Hannah-Moffat, U of T’s vice-president, human resources and equity, thanked students, faculty, librarians and staff who are already working on issues of anti-racism, xenophobia and misogyny. She also said her office, along with U of T’s Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office, will announce important tri-campus initiatives and additional supports for the U of T community.

“This horrific act cannot be ignored, and our hearts go out to the families of the victims and all members of the Asian community. Violence and discrimination against any racialized group is unacceptable.” Hannah-Moffat said in a statement that noted fighting racism is a shared responsibility. “As a community, we must continue to work towards eliminating all forms of racism and sexism.

“Human rights, inclusion, and respect are fundamental values at the ��߲ݴ�ý. The University has zero tolerance for hate, harassment, and discrimination.”

President Gertler noted the significant contributions of U of T’s Asian communities, both in Canada and around the world, and called for efforts to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination.

“We are proud of and grateful to U of T’s very substantial Asian communities, locally and globally,” President Gertler said.

“Let us remember that of course we still have work to do in combatting racism, and let us commit to calling out hate whenever we witness it, and redouble our efforts to combat discrimination and violence on every level.”

The following resources are available to students, staff, faculty and librarians in need of support:

For students:

Student Mental Health Resource (Tri-campus)
Health and Wellness Centre (St. George)
Health and Wellness Centre (U of T Scarborough)
Health and Counselling Centre (U of T Mississauga)
My SSP (support available 24-7)

For staff, librarians and faculty:

Employee and Family Assistance Program

Anti-Black police violence rooted in the slave trade: Harvard researcher

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:24:45 +0000

Anti-Black police violence rooted in the slave trade: Harvard researcher

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/09/2021 - 11:24

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Vincent Brown, a professor of American history and African and African American Studies at Harvard University, recently delivered U of T's inaugural A&S Decanal Lecture as part of Black History Month (photo by Sharona Jacobs)

Peter Boisseau

Topic

Global Lens

Black History Month

Faculty of Arts & Science

United States

Police violence against Black people can be traced to the brutal slave trade led by Europe’s great powers centuries ago, says award-winning author and historian Professor Vincent Brown of Harvard University.

Brown made the remarks during the recent A&S Decanal Lecture put on by the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Faculty of Arts & Science, an inaugural community event to celebrate Black History Month 2021.

The title of Brown’s talk, given over Zoom, was “The Coromantee War: Charting the Course of an Atlantic Slave Revolt.”

“One of the things this history reminds me of is that racism is not just about exclusion or impoverishment; it's also about anti-Black militarism as a cultural logic that grows out of slavery,” Brown said.

“If one sees slavery itself as a state of war, it becomes easy to see the execution and the continuity of that kind of anti-Black militarism today.”

While disproportionate police brutality against Black women and men in the United States also has roots in court rulings and gun culture, there is a striking similarity with other former slave societies, Brown added.

“Throughout the Americas, in places like Brazil or Jamaica, for example, one sees that same kind of anti-Black militarism showing up in police violence, even when the police are Black,” he told attendees.

“The violence of slavery has established a kind of continuous logic that I think we're still struggling with today.”

To underscore the point, Brown drew on his groundbreaking scholarship about the Jamaican Coromantee War and his new book, Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War.

He noted that the early movement against the slave trade was not so much about morality as it was about protecting white societies against ever-growing numbers of militant African warriors fighting back against their capture and enslavement. The fear of Black slave revolts was so deeply rooted in events like the Coromantee War, he said, that whites in the antebellum U.S. of the 1800s often referred to rebellious Black slaves as “Tackies,” after the name of the leader of the Jamaican conflict.

The ripple effect this fear created is often overlooked because of a lack of appreciation of the significance of the Jamaican conflict and its impact on the worldwide Seven Years’ War between France and Britain, which also influenced Spain, Brown said.

“These clashes amounted to a borderless slave war – a war to enslave, a war to expand slavery and a war against slaves.”

Clockwise from top left: Malaika Eyoh, Vincent Brown, Melanie Woodin and Melanie Newton.

Tacky’s revolt was one of the hardest fought battles of the Seven Years’ War. It also helped shape the British Empire’s policy toward its colonies in the Americas, with Jamaica being the richest and most profitable.

“It offered a rationale for the reform of colonial slavery,” Brown said. “Fearing further rebellion, concerned Britons put forth pragmatic plans for enhancing the security of the colonies by limiting the dependence on the slave trade.”

Tacky’s revolt encourages a fresh perspective on the political landscape of the period and the distortions that arose from the fact that slaveholders themselves wrote the first draft of the history that dominated the narrative for centuries to come, according to Brown.

“The relative obscurity of these events is also due to the reluctance to acknowledge slavery as an act of war,” said Brown, adding that the social antagonisms established by slavery persist to this day as the descendants of slaves fight for the space to develop their own notions of belonging, status and fairness.

“Few things terrify the wealthy and powerful more than the prospect of losses to the poor and the weak, which would signify dishonour and a world turned upside down.”

In her introductory remarks, Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, noted the inaugural lecture had attracted nearly 1,200 online registrants.

She said the strong response illustrated that the pandemic had not only created challenges, but had also presented opportunities to reaffirm U of T’s core values – even as it forces events such as the lecture to be held virtually.

“By promoting inclusive excellence with important events such as this one, and through many other ways, we can provide an enriched environment for all our faculty, staff, students and alumni to better reflect not only on the lived experiences of our community, but also on this wonderful multicultural city that is our home.”

The New Normal with Maydianne Andrade (Ep. 14): Wisdom Tettey on citizenship

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:16:28 +0000

The New Normal with Maydianne Andrade (Ep. 14): Wisdom Tettey on citizenship Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 02/04/2021 - 11:16

Topic

Download a transcript

What does a more inclusive society look like – and what are the responsibilities we hold as citizens when it comes to building one?

In the latest episode of her podcast, The New Normal, Professor Maydianne Andrade explores these and other questions with Professor Wisdom Tettey, vice-president and principal of the ��߲ݴ�ý Scarborough.

It’s the first in a series of episodes that will feature Andrade in conversation with university leaders. Upcoming instalments include a conversation with President Meric Gertler and a conversation with Professor Alexandra Gillespie, vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga.

“The pandemic has shown us how interconnected we are,” says Andrade, Canada Research Chair in Integrative Behavioural Ecology. But can that offset “the lasting effects of Trumpism, the laying bare of selfishness?”

For Tettey, a political scientist and leading researcher on African diaspora, politics and media, a crucial first step is recognizing inequities in our society and confronting difficult truths about their causes. Only then can we talk about “how to heal by making one another better,” he says.

“Those are conversations that are sometimes uncomfortable, but are necessary.”

For example, Tettey says the phrase “that’s not who we are” has dominated recent conversations around white supremacy and fear.

“It actually is who we are,” Tettey says. “This is fundamental to who we are. It goes to my point about recognition as a fundamental prerequisite for making the changes that are necessary.”

To build a more inclusive society, he says, we must “have the humility to challenge ourselves and to be willing to let go of things that have no basis,” so that we can learn and grow.

“It takes all of us doing our part and continuing to challenge ourselves, to learn, to reach out, to get into spaces that we're not comfortable with.”

The New Normal is created in collaboration with a ��߲ݴ�ý Communications team led by Lisa Lightbourn. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify or listen on SoundCloud. You can also find it on Apple or listen on Google.

Republican Party needs to wage ‘internal war’ on conspiracy theories: U of T’s Ryan Hurl

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 17:19:23 +0000

Republican Party needs to wage ‘internal war’ on conspiracy theories: U of T’s Ryan Hurl

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 01/12/2021 - 12:19

Cutline

(photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn)

Topic

As U.S. President Donald Trump’s term draws to a close, many are wondering what the future holds for him and for the Republican Party in the wake of last week’s violent pro-Trump riots at the Capitol, which left five people dead.

On Monday, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution to impeach Trump, charging him with inciting an insurrection.

This comes on the heels of technology companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon all taking steps to suspend the use of their platforms by Trump and far-right elements.

U of T News spoke to Ryan Hurl, an assistant professor in the department of political science at the ��߲ݴ�ý Scarborough, about the push to impeach Trump, the social media bans and where the Republican Party goes from here.

Why are Democrats moving to impeach Trump now, given that his term ends in just over a week?

I think that the simplest explanation is many Democrats want to discourage the kind on contentious politics that Trump has engaged in, particularly after the election. Trump has acted in a politically irresponsible way and it is necessary to send a statement that this is unacceptable – if you challenge the legitimacy of the electoral system, or, I should add, the constitutional-political order or the economic system, if you tell people that ordinary politics have failed and are hopelessly corrupt, then it isn’t very surprising if people take this to its logical conclusion and engage in political violence.

Of course, not all Democrats support this – presumably because, even if Trump deserves it, impeachment is unlikely to reduce political tensions in the short term.

What repercussions could Trump and his allies face over the rioting and broader damage to the democratic system and processes?

It isn’t clear to me that Trump has engaged in criminal conduct as opposed to making very, very bad decisions after the election. Political speech can be punished in the United States, but only when the speaker encourages imminent, lawless actions. That is an exacting standard.

Impeachment need not be based upon criminal actions, but, of course, the main punishment associated with impeachment is removal from office. It is very difficult to know how the public would respond to a “fast-track” impeachment trial.

However, there are additional punishments that can be imposed other than removal from office – specifically, Trump could be barred from holding appointed federal office. It is also possible to impeach a president after they have left office, so it isn’t absolutely necessary to proceed with impeachment over the next few weeks.

As for the rioters, they engaged in criminal conduct and should be punished accordingly. It is difficult to know what the long-term effects will be because we don’t know if the events of Jan. 6 are part of an ongoing campaign of political violence or if it was a protest that turned into a riot. The next few weeks will shed light on this question.

Long-term, the GOP will have to find a way to address the “QAnon” wing of the party – and by address, I mean get them to abandon their beliefs. The party will have to conduct an internal war on conspiracy theory and get people to focus on the unglamorous work of ordinary politics.

What are your thoughts on Trump being banned from using Twitter?

I think there is a huge difference between banning someone for spreading poorly thought-out conspiracy theories and banning someone in the context of violent insurrections. Facts are the best cure for conspiracy theory – the best available cure, anyway, and certainly not foolproof.

It seems to me that banning Trump from Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the election would have done little to convince his supporters that the election was legitimate. In all likelihood, it would have made things worse. There are ways to communicate and share information besides Twitter.

What happens next?

I doubt my ability to predict the future at this stage. I do not envy the task of President Biden, who has to find a way to respond to the assault on the Capitol without enflaming political tensions even further.

At the very least, I assume that the relevant officials will not, in the future, simply assume that Trump supporters can be easily controlled. The difference between a protest and an attempt at insurrection and murder was probably several hundred members of the National Guard.

Social media's decision to dump Trump too little, too late: U of T's Megan Boler

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:22:10 +0000

Social media's decision to dump Trump too little, too late: U of T's Megan Boler

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 01/11/2021 - 16:22

Cutline

(photo by Stephan Schulz/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Topic

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Social Media

Twitter

United States

U.S. President Donald Trump no longer has access to the massive social media following that was a feature of his presidency after Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon all took actions to halt or limit his use of their platforms in the wake of last week’s violence on Capitol Hill.

Twitter and Facebook both locked Trump’s accounts, while Apple, Google and Amazon removed the app Parler – favoured by Trump’s supporters and the far right – from their web hosting services.

The moves came after a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers worked to count electoral votes from the presidential election, won by President-elect Joe Biden. Five people died.

U of T News spoke with Megan Boler, a professor in the department of social education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), about how Trump’s presidency has impacted the social media landscape, why social media companies have chosen to act against him now and what the future holds for him and his supporters in the online world.

How vital has social media been to the Trump presidency?

It’s so important to recognize that it was an absolute historical precedent having a president who had a direct, unmediated line of communication to his base in this way.

In the past, we would have had a president holding press correspondent meetings and that would give journalists and editors an opportunity to ask questions and perhaps to mediate some of the lies, but he was essentially able to produce – as everyone has spoken about – “alternative facts,” or an alternative reality with his base, culminating in this last, most damaging lie regarding the allegation that the election had been stolen.

It was absolutely vital to his presidency and part of what was necessary for him to begin to systematically erode the foundations of democracy – both in terms of setting new precedents for how he spoke to his base to his attacks and erosion of trust in the fourth estate and in journalism. So I can’t emphasize strongly enough how vital social media has been.

There have been calls for social media companies to ban Trump’s accounts for some time. Why have they taken this step now?

Most obviously because if they had not, they would have looked so bad and it would’ve hurt their reputation. They simply had to or their integrity would’ve been in question, although for many, it already is and was in question for the past four years – particularly, one could say, since Charlottesville, Va. Because one can argue – and I think one of the most dangerous arguments we’re seeing – is that hate speech equals free speech. And that is something that we have to educate all quarters of the public about.

As long as things remain solely online and solely expressions and text, everybody can say “This is a matter of free speech.” But in the instance of Charlottesville, and in the instance of what we saw happen last week, it was an occasion in which the violence poured over from online to offline, and that was what was particularly disturbing.

People are debating what it was that we witnessed at the Capitol and whether it was actually a coup attempt. I don’t understand how people can even question whether it was, but people seem to question what kind of violence that was – if it was just a mob gone crazy or a one-off.

In any event, it was violence that moved from online into the real world, and that’s part of what pushed this over the edge and forced the social media companies to make this decision.

In making that decision, have companies such as Facebook and Twitter set a precedent by taking responsibility for content published on their platforms?

We’ve seen such a rollercoaster over the past four years in terms of Facebook in particular having been called to the stand to face censure and legislative challenges as to why they are not taking action. So Facebook’s record in terms of not taking any responsibility for what they have fomented is just shocking.

There are occasions – such as when Facebook took InfoWars off [the platform]. So, there are moments here and there where they decide something has gone far enough.

But I think we’re all on the edge of our seats waiting to see what the next move is going to be.

What does the future hold for Trump and his supporters on social media, now that he’s no longer on Twitter and Facebook?

The thing that’s most disturbing is that lots of other stand-ins are doing Trump’s work for him. The far right is extremely well-orchestrated. I suppose in many ways, Trump has clearly been the newly born Christ-figure and saviour of this movement, but I think he has mobilized a movement and there are plenty of other leaders in the wings who can take up that slack. So it doesn’t really matter whether he has a Twitter account or not.

What are they going to do about Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and other names like Jack Posobiec and Candace Owens? There are plenty of other people who are fomenting the far right and keeping this movement alive and radicalizing new members.

This also touches on something I think is so crucial: In 2017, the scholar and journalist Whitney Philips wrote a study called The Oxygen of Amplification in which she outlined the ways in which journalism has to be so careful about how it reports on this. I have been so disturbed by the repetition of those images that we saw at the Capitol. That is doing the publicity for the far-right and for white supremacists. Those images have emboldened people. That is success for them.

I really hope that, in addition to social media companies taking responsibility for censoring people, we will also take stock of the fact that we have to be very careful with how we report on this.

Could there be a broader fallout for social media companies?

There was a movement after the Cambridge Analytica scandal where there was a big cry to get off Facebook – and many did. In particular, it was not just to get off social media, but specifically to get off Facebook and use different kinds of social platforms. So we may see that.

Right now, the focus isn’t on what the broader public will do but what’s going to happen to the far right. It’s really great that you’re asking that question because it is a moment where we all have to say: “What are the social implications of social media?” We clearly have not taken them seriously enough.

Many would say the genie is out of the bottle, the Pandora’s box has been opened and there is no going back – and I think, in many ways, that is true. So now we’re faced with really difficult questions of legislation, policy and reform – and it’s going to be a long, uphill battle.

What are the lessons to be learned from the social media landscape of Trump’s presidency?

I really fear that it’s too late, but I think some directions are important to think about.

First, we should think about what it would mean to reinvigorate local news because that has just devastated the news media landscape. Local news is essentially happening through these social media platforms. So, thinking about whether there could be greater funding for publicly funded media. That would create shared media that’s responsible for certain kinds of standards. That might be a model to think about. So, really encouraging people to unplug from social media.

The other key aspect of this is demanding there be policies that social media monopolies abide by, and that there be limits on the monopolies. We know that major lawsuits have begun against Facebook and there are hopes that maybe that will have an effect.

As well, thinking about how we’re going to deal with the rise of white supremacy and this kind of fascism is really, really critical. What I mentioned about ensuring that we begin to educate the public about why hate speech is not free speech is really crucial. In my mind, that’s the first and foremost thing because any move that is made right now to limit these other accounts of the far-right is going to be seen as censorship.

So, we need to have really critical public education about what constitutes hate speech and what constitutes free speech – perhaps particularly in Canada because the U.S. does have more of a history of legal debate about this, and I think it’s important for Canada to rethink its legislation around hate speech policy.

How have traditional news media been affected by Trump’s use of social media?

One thing I find really interesting is that Trump has made so much money for media and for the news. He has kept the news alive for four years. So, there’s an interesting tension in the news industry – on the one hand, we can have a great deal of sympathy that the news industry, in light of the internet, has been losing so much revenue and that they have to do what they have to do to stay alive.

That said, after 2016 it was very clear that the news had been responsible for giving Trump an incredible amount of free advertising and publicity – far more than they’d given Hillary Clinton – and that’s because Trump filled news. We have some sort of phenomenal, insane fascination around the world with Trump.

There are real, moral questions about the news having reported on Trump’s Twitter feed because so often those posts were lies and yet the news would repeat them. As we know, that’s highly problematic. The repetition of a lie makes it seem true – and even if you do counter it, it never really succeeds in correcting information.

I’ve noticed that in the absence of Trump having Twitter, there’s still just as much conversation – we’re still talking about it – and I’m so curious to see the extent to which we will continue talking about Trump even when he’s not president. I predict he will still be on the front pages of most of our news sites.

How a researcher at U of T's Citizen Lab helped ID Capitol Hill rioters: Toronto Star

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:59:38 +0000

How a researcher at U of T's Citizen Lab helped ID Capitol Hill rioters: Toronto Star

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 01/11/2021 - 14:59

Cutline

Members of a violent mob enter in the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 as Congress held a joint session to ratify the results of the 2020 election (photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Topic

Global Lens

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Citizen Lab

Donald Trump

Faculty of Arts & Science

United States

After a mob stunned the world last week by laying siege to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the ��߲ݴ�ý’s John Scott-Railton sought to identify the masked men and women behind the violence.

Scott-Railton, who works for Citizen Lab at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been using photo enhancement techniques, open source search techniques and public tips gathered from social media to identify members of the violent throng that sought to overturn the results of the U.S. presidential election, according to a profile of Scott-Railton in the Toronto Star.

In collaboration with the New Yorker magazine, Scott-Railton determined that one individual was a U.S. Air Force combat veteran. Scott-Railton notified the FBI of his suspicions after piecing together the man’s identity through the insignias adorning his helmet and body armor, the New Yorker piece said.

Scott-Railton's Capitol Hill project – which has drawn interest from media outlets in the U.S. and around the world, including CNN, USA Today, the Independent and Germany’s Bild online – is part of his broader Citizen Lab work, which focuses on malware, phishing, online disinformation and other digital threats to civil society.

Scott-Railton told the Star that he has been overwhelmed by input from the general public.

“The volume of tips and information now is unlike anything I have ever seen,” he said.

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Download a transcript

Republican Party needs to wage ‘internal war’ on conspiracy theories: U of T’s Ryan Hurl

Social media's decision to dump Trump too little, too late: U of T's Megan Boler

How a researcher at U of T's Citizen Lab helped ID Capitol Hill rioters: Toronto Star

Read more about John Scott-Railton in the Toronto Star