Keynote Speakers

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Keynote

Looking back to see our way forward: Recognizing accomplishments and facing challenges in domestic violence prevention
– Myrna Dawson

The past 40 years has been a period of significant transformation in social, legal, and public policy responses to intimate partner and domestic violence. This paper reflects on what has been accomplished in the past 40 years as one way of understanding what challenges remain. Focusing primarily on men’s violence against women and, in particular, the case of domestic homicide, the paper outlines key turning points in legislative and public policy responses and examines what evidence exists as to the impact of the changing social and criminal justice environments that emerged as a result. In doing so, the role played by persistent stereotypes about intimacy and violence is discussed as a major and continuing challenge in domestic violence prevention.

Dr. Myrna Dawson is a Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice and an Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Guelph. Her research focuses on trends and patterns in violence as well as social and legal responses to violent victimization with particular emphasis on homicide. Funded by the Canadian Foundation of Innovation, she has established the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence at the University of Guelph. She is author of numerous reports and publications and co-author of Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perspectives (Oxford 2011). She is a member of Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, Office of the Chief Coroner; an Academic Research Associate, Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children; and co-investigator in the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System’s Response to Intimate Partner Violence, a network promoting inter-jurisdictional analysis across the country and abroad. To study intimacy, violence and the law in the international context, Dawson was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at the Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne in 2011 and a TC Beirne School of Law Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, University of Queensland, in 2012. www.violenceresearch.ca

Keynote

Distinguishing Among Types of Intimate Partner Violence: Research Evidence
– By Michael P. Johnson, Ph.D.

The last 10 years have seen a major shift in our understanding of intimate partner violence, with scholars and practitioners now accepting that there is more than one type of intimate partner violence and that our social policies must acknowledge the differences among them. Dr. Johnson will review the research that demonstrates that there are three major types of intimate partner violence, and that the three types (intimate terrorism, violent resistance, and situational couple violence) differ dramatically in terms of their causes, their effects on individuals and couples, and their responsiveness to intervention.

Michael P. Johnson(Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Women’s Studies, and African and African American Studies at Penn State, where he taught sociology and women’s studies for over thirty years and was designated an Alumni Teaching Fellow, Penn State’s highest teaching award. He is an internationally recognized expert on domestic violence, invited to speak at conferences and universities throughout the United States and around the world. His current research focuses on the implications of differentiating among types of violence in intimate relationships, and he consults regularly with community organizations and government agencies regarding domestic violence policy. He is widely published in scholarly journals, and his work on domestic violence is summarized in A Typology of Intimate Partner Violence: Intimate Terrorism, Violent Resistance, and Situational Couple Violence (Northeastern University Press, 2008). Recent papers are available at his web site at www.personal.psu.edu/mpj.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Keynote

Changing the topic: New ways of thinking about men, women and “failure to protect'" when children witness intimate partner abuse – Julia Krane, Simon LaPierre, Sarah Maiter, Susan Strega

Professionals involved with women who have experienced intimate partner abuse face enormously complicated practice decisions when it comes to concerns about the safety – and protection – of children caught up in these situations. Today’s professionals are increasingly cognizant of discourses about the effects of intimate partner abuse on women’s mothering and on children’s development. They are witness to widespread alarm about the co-occurrence of intimate partner abuse and child abuse, and indeed strive to ensure the protection and well-being of women and children. But given the preoccupation with risk and the infiltration of “failure to protect” policies across Anglo-American child protection systems, front-line practice responses tend to focus almost wholly on maternal responsibility for preventing an assault or protecting children from further assaults. Directed to leave her abusive partner, seek refuge in a shelter or attend a support group to develop strategies for dealing with abuse, with little room for ambivalence, danger and harm to women and children may increase. How do we effectively change this kind of practice response? Drawing on works from their forthcoming book, Krane, Lapierre, Maiter and Strega explore the impacts of current mother-blaming and father-absenting discourses, policies and practices and explain how and why changing the conversation about “failure to protect” is essential for moving forward.

Julia Krane, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University and Clinical Consultant for a number of shelters for women and children experiencing intimate partner abuse and service providers for both abusive men and abused women. Her research endeavors centre on child protection, child sexual abuse, and intimate partner abuse from feminist, critical, and intersectionality perspectives with particular attention to disrupting attributions of mother blame in front line social work practice with vulnerable women. At present, Julia is working on a funded project with cultural and linguistic interpreters that aims to determine the needs of ethnoracial minority women following temporary residency at a shelter in order to develop a model for assisting them to establish their independence following experiences of intimate partner abuse.

Simon Lapierre, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at the University of Ottawa, where he teaches courses on feminist practices as well as on the theoretical and methodological foundations of social work intervention. His research, conducted in both Canada and the United Kingdom, has focused on women's and children's experiences in the context of domestic violence, and has proposed a feminist perspective on policies and practices in this area. Simon is currently leading two studies funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, one investigating children’s and young’s people’s perspectives on domestic violence, and the other focusing on mother-child relationships in the aftermath of domestic violence.

Sarah Maiter, MSW, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. She brings more than 20 years of practice experience in child welfare and children's mental health services to her teaching and research that explores services from a critical race framework for ethnically and racially diverse individuals, families and groups. Sarah has conducted research with families who have been involved with the child welfare system; racialized youth about their experiences of racism, violence and healing; and mental health services for diverse ethno-racial families. In her current Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funded project, Sarah is exploring services to families in the child welfare system when interpreter services are needed or when language barriers exist.

Susan Strega is a long time feminist activist who currently she teaches in the School of Social Work at the University of Victoria where she is responsible for the Child Welfare Specialization. Susan is one of the co-editors of Failure to protect: Moving beyond gendered responses (Fernwood, 2012) and the co-editor, with Sohki Aski Esquao (Jeannine Carrière) of Walking this path together: Anti-racist and anti-oppressive child welfare practice (Fernwood 2009). She has conducted research with young mothers in care, fathers whose children are involved with child welfare, and sex workers and their families.

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Keynote

Blessed are the Peacemakers: Religiosity, Religious Self-control, and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence
– Claire M. Renzetti, Ph.D.

Sociologist Byron Johnson, in his book, More God, Less Crime (Templeton Press, 2011) argues that the “last acceptable prejudice” is that commonly held against “highly religious people.”  Among violence against women researchers and practitioners, religion has often been viewed as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Despite the prejudices and concerns about religion’s association with various forms of violence against women, little research has been conducted to empirically gauge religion’s effects.  The studies that are available typically use limited measures of religiosity or religious commitment and, not surprisingly, arrive at conflicting or inconclusive findings.  Religious commitment, however, is complex and multi-dimensional.  In this presentation, I will discuss research that examines religiousness as a multi-dimensional construct and how various forms of religiousness may serve as a protective as opposed to a risk factor for perpetration of intimate partner violence among a national community sample of men. The implications for violence prevention and intervention will also be discussed.        

Claire M. Renzetti is the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair in the Center for Research on Violence Against Women, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Kentucky. She is editor of the international, interdisciplinary journal, Violence Against Women; co-editor with Jeffrey Edleson of the Interpersonal Violence book series for Oxford University Press; and editor of the Gender, Crime and Law book series for Northeastern University Press. She has authored or edited 16 books as well as numerous book chapters and articles in professional journals. Much of her research has focused on the violent victimization experiences of socially and economically marginalized women. Her current research includes an ethnography of a faith-based organization involved in anti-trafficking work; a pilot study of NGOs in the United States that provide services to domestic sex trafficking victims; a national web-based survey examining the effects of religiosity on intimate relationship quality and conflict; and an empowerment education project with Women’s Justice Programs, in the Cook County (Chicago), IL Sheriff’s Office. Dr. Renzetti has held elected and appointed positions on the governing bodies of several national professional organizations, including the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Eastern Sociological Society, and Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociological honors society. In 2009, the Women and Crime Division of the American Society of Criminology honored her with the Saltzman Award for Contributions to Practice, an award that recognizes a criminologist whose professional accomplishments have increased the quality of justice and the level of safety for women. She is also the 2011 recipient of the Lee Founders Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems in recognition of significant lifetime achievements in research, teaching, and service leading to the betterment of human life.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm