Endowed Chair in Criminology and Criminal Justice Lecture: Defunding the Police: A Slogan or a Vision and a Way Forward?

6:30 PM  

Kinsella Auditorium, McCain Hall  

Please join us on Tuesday, November 22 in Kinsella Auditorium for the Endowed Chair in Criminology and Criminal Justice Lecture, “Defunding the Police: A Slogan or a Vision and a Way Forward?” delivered by Dr. Sulaimon Giwa.

The evening will also include a presentation by Dr. El Jones related to her new book, Abolitionist Intimacies, which examines the movement to abolish prisons through the Black feminist principles of care and collectivity, as well as a presentation from poet Thandiwe McCarthy, author of Social Oblivion; Raised Black in Canada.

Sulaimon Giwa is an associate professor and associate dean of social work at Memorial University, as well as the endowed chair in criminology and criminal justice at St. Thomas University. His work as a scholar-educator-activist is informed by a wide range of criminal justice experience, which includes positions as a community parole officer at an Indigenous healing lodge and as a clinical case manager for a gang exit initiative. His most recent book, Transforming Community Policing: Mobilization, Engagement, and Collaboration (2nd ed.), which he co-authored with Hugh C. Russell, will be published by Emond in 2023.

El Jones is a poet, journalist, professor and activist living in Halifax. She teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University, where she was named the Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies in 2017. Her work focuses on social justice issues, such as feminism, prison abolition, anti-racism and decolonization. In Abolitionist Intimacies, she examines the history of prisons in Canada in their relationship to settler colonialism and anti-Black racism. Copies of the book will also be available for purchase at the lecture. 

Thandiwe McCarthy is a writer, spoken word poet and seventh generation Black Canadian. His essays exploring his Black identity were published by the Nova Scotia Advocate. In 2020, he performed his poetry at the Frye Festival. As a community advocate, he co-founded the New Brunswick Black Artist Alliance and helped to republish the book The Blacks of New Brunswick. His memoir, Social Oblivion; Raised Black in Canada, was published earlier this year.

A reception will follow the lecture.

Please note that masking is required in indoor spaces.