On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace is a new collection of essays and poetry by professor, activist, and McMaster alumnus Phanuel Antwi
The On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace book launch will be held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Mar. 14 from 7-9:30 p.m.. This event is co-presented by the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Big Brother House and Pluto Press, with the support of local bookstore Epic Books.
Author Phanuel Antwi uses the concept of cuddling in essays and poems to explore the suffering of Black people at the hands of state violence and racial capitalism, as well as to address how racial violence occurs through intimacy.
Antwi is the Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies. He is a McMaster University alumnus and a current curator, activist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia.
He started writing this book during a peak of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 when there were massive protests against racial violence from police. In his book, Antwi recalled the killing of Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man who was choked to death by a police officer in 2014.
By connecting cuddling, an action that people typically enjoy, to racial violence and to the Black Lives Matter movement, he wanted to make people rethink what they may take for granted.
“A lot of folks would now pause to think about cuddling, not as an innocent practice, but also as a practice that can also be used as a weapon to actually end someone's life. And at the same time, it is also a practice that gives joy, ” said Antwi.
Antwi aims to portray cuddling as a philosophical idea that has different meanings depending on the situation while relating it back to issues that are important to him and wants to bring awareness to.
“It means a lot that I can use [cuddling] to have conversations with many people about Black lives, about something that really matters to me, which is, "How do we actually think about Black lives in a very robust way?"" explained Antwi.
It means a lot that I can use [cuddling] to have conversations with many people about Black lives, about something that really matters to me, which is, "How do we actually think about Black lives in a very robust way?"
Phanuel Antwi, On Cuddling, Author
Antwi hopes that his readers can feel like they are being cuddled after reading this book. Pre-registration is recommended for the event.
C/O Ainsley Thurgood
McMaster Aiding Women’s Shelters Canada sets up gift card drive for the holidays
CW: domestic violence
Domestic violence, also referred to as intimate partner violence, is an ongoing issue that has seen increasing numbers in Hamilton over the last several years.
In 2019, Hamilton police responded to 7,090 calls regarding domestic violence and laid 1,657 charges.
Domestic violence refers to situations of power and control that an individual has over their intimate partner. This can lead to abuse in many different forms, including physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people in abusive relationships face an increased risk of being trapped in the same home as their abusers.
At McMaster University, the McMaster Aiding Women’s Shelters Canada is a McMaster Students Union club that works to address domestic violence. MAWSC’s goals include spreading awareness within the McMaster community around domestic violence, raising money for women’s shelters in the Hamilton area and creating a safe space for people to discuss domestic violence and sexual assault.
According to Sarah Coker, one of MAWSC’s co-presidents, MAWSC holds a variety of fundraisers, workshops and events throughout the year in order to achieve these aims.
For the holiday season this year, MAWSC is holding a gift card drive for the Eagle’s Nest Association of Waterdown. The Eagle’s Nest Association, located only a few minutes outside of Hamilton, is a community organization that helps women and families.
The Eagle’s Nest Association owns the HOPE Centre, which offers a variety of services, such as positive parenting programs, programs that help children understand emotions and counselling for people of all ages.
According to Coker, the Eagle’s Nest Association holiday gift card drive goes towards providing holiday experiences to the people who access their services. The Eagle’s Nest Association recommends that donors buy specific types of gift cards for people who access different services at the HOPE Centre.
For those accessing counselling, the Eagle’s Nest Association recommends a Canadian Tire or Esso gift card to help them get to their counselling sessions.
For those accessing coaching, the Eagle’s Nest Association recommends a Starbucks or Tim Hortons gift card.
For those in a support group, the Eagle’s Nest Association recommends an Indigo or Amazon gift card.
For children and youth, the Eagle’s Nest Association recommends a restaurant or Walmart gift card as these gift cards create opportunities for children to have fun experiences with their families.
“They're asking for gift cards so that they can give something back, so that these people on Christmas don't have to leave without anything,”
Sarah Coker
Coker reflected on the importance of supporting women’s shelters in the holiday season.
“It's a way to give back to the community and [for] a lot of people who may be less fortunate than you, [you can] give them that chance to experience what you might consider a norm in your life — to go home for the holidays and get a gift,” said Coker.
In Hamilton, women’s shelters such as the Martha House, Inasmuch House and the Native Women’s Centre offer emergency shelter for women and their children fleeing from an abusive situation. All three shelters are accepting monetary donations on their website.
In addition, Native Women’s Centre is accepting in-kind donations including various hygiene products and household items.
Although they are not providing emergency shelter, YWCA Hamilton is another organization that works to find housing solutions for women and their families. YWCA Hamilton is also accepting donations including various clothing items, transportation cards, hygiene products, toys and games.
By: Areej Ali
The Trudeau government has granted over $3.4 million to McMaster researchers to fund a study that aims to identify and combat systemic causes of domestic violence.
Andrea Gonzalez, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster, is currently overseeing the “Triple P” program, which stands for the positive parenting program.
Triple P is a public health parenting intervention initiative that aims to improve the “knowledge, skills and confidence of parents” while working to reduce the pervasiveness of emotional and behavioural problems in children.
The Triple P program is part of a larger project that originally began in Australia over 30 years ago.
Gonzalez will be evaluating preventative intervention of child maltreatment, leading one of the first Triple P program studies to be conducted in Canada.
“We have a number of main objectives but really we are looking at the impact of the Triple P in promoting family relationships and improving parenting practices and prevention of child maltreatment,” said Gonzalez. “The Triple P has been widely evaluated in multiple countries actually around the world, but it has never been evaluated in Canada.”
According to the Triple P program’s website, the program does not advocate how to be a parent, but rather provides tools and strategies to promote healthy families, focusing on children who are in the age bracket of three to eight years old.
The program is being implemented in Ontario and Manitoba.
It is anticipated to entail a multi-method evaluation network and will most likely also consist of a ‘quasi experimental design’ in Ontario, according to Gonzalez.
This involves choosing various communities and areas that fit the age bracket and particular population sizes.
Community agencies will be asked to participate in the program and the evaluation will be facilitated in these specific communities.
There is one study to date that focused on efficacy of early intervention of child maltreatment. The McMaster researchers will be drawing information from and referring to this particular study.
Gonzalez hopes to study the impact of Triple P in fostering healthy and sustainable family relationships and and preventing child maltreatment at its roots.
McMaster students will have the opportunity to participate in the program.
For instance, Triple P will rely on “environmental scans,” specific type of data collection, regarding existing parental programs in Ontario.
Once the project is launched, there will be opportunities to contribute to the researchers’ collection of questionnaire data.
In addition, there will be opportunities to contribute to behavioural data and to be trained in techniques that will be used in the project.
Many teams on campus that work on family violence prevention, partner violence and other aspects of violence will also be able to aid in the evaluation.
For instance, the Triple P will be partnering with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative, an organization that has a site on the McMaster campus.
“They have all the data linkage,” Gonzalez said. “We will certainly be partnering with those investigators as well as the ones in Toronto.”
For more information about the project, students can contact Gonzalez directly at gonzal@mcmaster.ca. Students can also visit the Triple P website to learn more about the program.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Alexandra Killan
On Sept. 8, a video of football player Ray Rice physically abusing his then-fiancée was released to the public. This high-profile case once again opened the difficult, sensitive, and serious discussion about the realities and complexities of domestic violence.
Domestic violence is any kind of abuse (physical, sexual and/or emotional) perpetuated by an intimate partner or ex-partner. Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. It is prevalent in all social groups, regardless of race, religion, gender, or income. Importantly, while domestic violence is often presented as a women’s issue, recent statistics support that men and women are affected almost equally, but with a higher degree of reporting among women.
In addition to being classified as a human rights violation, domestic violence can also have serious health consequences that can haunt the survivor after the tumultuous relationship has ended. Research has documented a wide range of serious problems that manifest themselves among victims, ranging from physical injuries and chronic pain, to sexual health issues, to mental health disorders, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. The physical, mental and sexual consequences of domestic violence are often not addressed in a timely manner and because of this they can worsen, partially due to the shame many victims feel is associated with seeking help.
Where does this shame come from? It stems from the silence, stigma, and societal taboos around domestic violence. Those abused stay silent for a variety of reasons. As many victims are in long-term relationships, there is often some level of emotional involvement . They often blame themselves and excuse the behaviour of the abuser, while believing that they are the only ones that can help the abusers confront their demons.
Most importantly, the silence surrounding domestic violence means that many victims do not recognize the warning signs and patterns, which means they may fail to identify that they are being abused—and that they are not alone. One does not enter a relationship with an abusive partner willingly. That is, abusive and violent character traits are not visible from the beginning. In addition to bringing attention to the horror and prevalence of domestic violence, the Ray Rice case also demonstrates a lack of societal understanding and sensitivity to this issue. Janay Palmer, now Rice’s wife, was his fiancée back in February, when the initial video of the abuse was recorded. In the aftermath of the video release, people were incredulous towards Palmer in her decision to stay with a man who beats her. In contrast, there was seemingly less outrage at Rice’s behaviour than one might expect. American author Beverly Gooden turned to Twitter in support of Palmer. She chose to disclose her reasons for staying in an abusive relationship and ended the tweet with the now iconic hashtag, #WhyIStayed. Soon, many joined in solidarity with Palmer, Gooden, and countless others who remain silent in the face of pain and suffering. The plethora of tweets and stories surfacing through other media emphasizes the prevalence and complexity of the domestic violence that surrounds us. As well as ignoring the intricacies of an abusive relationship, we often fail as a society to think about the consequences of ending an abusive relationship. The abuse doesn’t always end after the relationship is terminated; the abuser often stalks the victim, can manipulate related court proceedings, and may even resort to murder. Over 70 percent of domestic violence murders happen after the victim has ended the relationship.
While the stories and their victims are unique, many of the themes are common: Family. Isolation. Love. Fear. Shame. Guilt. Dependency. These are some of the many emotions involved. Other considerations, such as careers, finances, and social status, are also taken into account. Most dangerously, silence and loneliness pervade. In breaking down the silence, encouraging discussion, and offering a support, we can take the first steps in preventing more men and women from falling into the psychological trap of domestic violence.
