GTA: A Critical Analysis

This essay will critically analyse domestic violence experienced by South Asian communities living in the GTA. It will compare and contrast running themes of oppression, marginalization and multiples forms of violence. I selected this article because of an interest I have on the issue of domestic violence/intimate partner violence, as it is a serious on-going problem, in many communities throughout Canada, including South Asian communities. Although domestic violence is not only experienced by women, the ways which this violence is interpreted within society will differ. Factors which lead to domestic violence need to be further analyzed and viewed from multiple perspectives.

From my social location as a single, white, able-bodied and middle

Both argue that the most effective frameworks are Critical Race Feminism and Anti-Colonialism, with an emphasis on race being a primary source of oppression. While George and Rashidi’s article also includes an anti-oppression framework, Pon et al. (2011), assert that AOP frameworks are limited in addressing racism as it is too mainstream and does not include concepts of white supremacy. The articles differ, in that the authors Pon et al. (20011), disclose their social locations and positions, clearly having a long term connection with the communities represented in this article, however holding a privileged status in comparison. They clearly use a racialized lens, with emphasis on critical reflexivity and white privilege. They argue that to achieve social justice, it is important to battle both institutional and micro level racism in order to achieve equality with power sharing being the ultimate goal (Pon et al., 2011). These articles have a similar focus of empowering the people that are silenced and face systemic and institutionalised racism suggesting race as the starting

The authors do not reveal their social locations. The grad students example of systemic racism and her challenge of addressing it to a social work professor and fellow minority student emphasizes their point of AOP being preached rather than practiced, exemplifying the rift between theory and practice. This continues a culture of silence and complacency. Students need to be challenged to translate theories into their practice. (Sinclair & Albert, 2008).

Like the women represented in George and Rashidi’s article, racism and oppression are easily ignored in the public. Like the forgotten history in Pon et al. (2011) article, racism and oppression are publicly visible but easily ignored. When institutions do nothing about it, the issue becomes systemic. Social Workers, need to practice to support clients.

We need to look at origins of AOP to explore further and question and examine if we are really practicing AOP. What does practicing an AOP framework really look like? How can we prove that we are practicing this framework with