Structural violence: U of T’s Dexter Voisin on systemic racism, trauma and the Black community

Dexter Voisin, dean of the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, has dedicated much of his career to examining how structural and neighbourhood violence affects youth in urban American communities.

He is particularly interested in the role of systemic racism in contributing to violence – a topic he explores in his book America the Beautiful and Violent: Black Youth and Neighbourhood Trauma in Chicago.

(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Voisin, who spent more than 30 years in the United States as a social worker and academic, has been closely watching news of the Black Lives Matters protests and following the calls to end police brutality.

He recently spoke with University of Toronto Magazine editor Scott Anderson about systemic racism in the U.S. and Canada.

> Read the full Q & A by Scott Anderson in U of T News

Related:

• African Americans have been slowly suffocating under the chokehold of America’s systemic racism, writes Dean Dexter Voisin for the Toronto Star
• Dean Dexter Voisin and Associate Professor Tanya Sharpe discuss the systemic racism that has contributed to recent events in both Canada and the US
• The CRIB’s COVID-19 social media broadcast tackles questions of ‘race, place and class’