Decolonizing Research on the Carceral in Canadian Political Science

Abstract

In Canada, there is renewed attention to the violence experienced by Indigenous peoples in residential schools, by police, through hyper-imprisonment and child removal, in hospitals, and in the contemporary education system. All of these issues are interlinked and outcomes of the carceral state—defined as the policing, monitoring, surveillance, criminalization and imprisonment of people, especially Indigenous and other racialized peoples. In this article, I define and illustrate what the carceral state looks like in Canada. I articulate the current approach to studying the carceral in political science, note the paucity of research in the Canadian context and show where attention has been cast previously. I describe an improved approach to studying the carceral, arguing that a decolonized approach to studying the carceral must be relational and abolitionist, seeking to reduce and eliminate the use of carceral interventions.

When a “Feminist” Government Tackles Gender-Based Violence: A WPR Approach to the Speeches of Canadian Cabinet Ministers (2015–2019)

“…3I echo the argument made by Linda Mussell (2023) in this journal: understanding the racialized and gendered structures, policies, discourses and effects of the Canadian carceral state will advance Canadian political science.…”

“…2 By defining gender-based violence, I am also constructing and problematizing it. 3 I echo the argument made by Linda Mussell (2023) in this journal: understanding the racialized and gendered structures, policies, discourses and effects of the Canadian carceral state will advance Canadian political science. 4 Bacchi (2018) explicitly distinguishes WPR from Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis (CDA).…”

Salient Indigenous Acts of Resistance in Canada, 2010–2020: Current Trends

“…Although Indigenous peoples’ colonial experiences with the criminal justice system are well documented (Stark, 2016; Monchalin, 2016; Chartrand, 2019; Starblanket and Hunt, 2020), Indigenous resistance in these contexts is often siloed from the literature on Indigenous land defenders. Examining resistance movements that challenge colonial criminal justice outcomes may reveal how Indigenous peoples challenge the settler carceral state and broader systems of colonial control (Mussell, 2023). Resistance against the criminal justice system included 5 issues that garnered solidarity events across the country and constituted 3 of the 14 most salient issues between 2010 and 2020.…”