Beyond the Colonial Divide: African Diasporic and Indigenous Youth Alliance Building for HIV Prevention

This dissertation examines the history of and potential for solidarity building approaches in HIV prevention between Aboriginal and African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) - Canadian communities, through the utilization of arts-based research approaches. Colonization, conquest and slavery have and continue to shape the experiences of discrimination that are embodied and expressed in the health of these communities. This is exemplified by the disproportionate rates of HIV within both Aboriginal and ACB communities. In unpacking this complicated socio-historical embodied health issue, data was collected from two focus groups and a two-day mural-making workshop. Black and Aboriginal youth leaders were encouraged to think about and artistically express the possibilities for, and challenges to, HIV prevention and health promotion through cross-community collaboration. The analysis offered here situates these discussions in the history of social, political, and colonial relations between African diasporic and Indigenous communities in the Americas. It interrogates the possibilities for health promotion activism and HIV prevention that incorporates the arts as a communicative medium for honouring the lived experience of embodied health ills a direct opposition to Western, top-down, bio-medicalized and individualized explorations of health disparities. This dissertation includes an introduction chapter, three core chapters written in manuscript format, and a concluding chapter. In the introduction, I outline my dissertation, providing context for my inquiry and situating it at the intersections of HIV, public health, critical theory and arts- and community-based research. Each of the three core chapters are written from different perspectives. Chapter 2 is intended to highlight the large breadth of scholarship that informs my work. As such, it examines the history of racial formation and anti-colonial and anti-racist aims as they contribute to Indigenous-Black relations in the Americas. Chapter 3 is a reflective paper, written as a first person account of how I reconciled my personal history, world views, and community commitments with my engagement with different qualitative arts- and community-based methods. Chapter 4 highlights the voices of the youth participants and examines the empirical findings of my arts-based approach to engaging Black and Indigenous youth in a cross-community HIV focused health promotion intervention. Lastly, I conclude with the implications of my work for theory, practice and social mobilizing between African diasporic and Indigenous communities in envisioning possible futures

“Because we have really unique art”: Decolonizing Research with Indigenous Youth Using the Arts

Indigenous communities in Canada share a common history of colonial oppression. As a result, many Indigenous populations are disproportionately burdened with poor health outcomes, including HIV. Conventional public health approaches have not yet been successful in reversing this trend. For this study, a team of community- and university-based researchers came together to imagine new possibilities for health promotion with Indigenous youth. A strengths-based approach was taken that relied on using the energies and talents of Indigenous youth as a leadership resource. Art-making workshops were held in six different Indigenous communities across Canada in which youth could explore the links between community, culture, colonization, and HIV. Twenty artists and more than 85 youth participated in the workshops. Afterwards, youth participants reflected on their experiences in individual in-depth interviews. Youth participants viewed the process of making art as fun, participatory, and empowering; they felt that their art pieces instilled pride, conveyed information, raised awareness, and constituted a tangible achievement. Youth participants found that both the process and products of arts-based methods were important. Findings from this project support the notion that arts-based approaches to the development of HIV-prevention knowledge and Indigenous youth leadership are helping to involve a diverse cross-section of youth in a critical dialogue about health. Arts-based approaches represent one way to assist with decolonization for future generations

Resisting the Coloniality and Colonialism of a Westernized Community Psychology: Toward a Critical Racial Justice Praxis

The institutional violence we are now experiencing, coupled with historical and ongoing waves of oppression, is a result and continuation of the legacy of colonialism. The outward eruptions that we are seeing over the last years are a result of American and Canadian settler nation-states that have taken hold in North America but are now in decline. Yet, the perpetuation of imperialism and white supremacist ideologies via the academe and other noneducational entities reproduced through curricula, pedagogy, and institutional policies and practices must still be addressed. The discipline of community psychology (CP) is no exception. As a part of the imperialist empire, CP, a mainstream academic discipline born at the heart of the empire of the colonial ruling class, continuously asks: What can we do? We, the authors of this paper, are troubled by this question and respond with a question of our own: Can community psychology really be part of the solution if it does not acknowledge that it is part of the problem? Through the lens of five Indigenous, Black, and racialized scholar-activists, educators, and practitioners, we identify three community psychology principles and argue that in practice within Black and Indigenous communities, they are not sufficient. Further, we illustrate that, related to these principles, community psychology is situated within what is termed the industrial complex, and we elucidate the implications of this situating. Lastly, we offer a proposal for how we, as part of the academe and practice, can decolonize community psychology and move it forward to align with current liberation movements and Indigenous sovereignty

Condoms and Contradictions: Assessing Sexual Health Knowledge in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer Youth Labelled with Intellectual Disabilities

Background: Accessible, culturally relevant data collection tools to assess the sexual health knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) young people labelled with intellectual disabilities are sparse. Materials and Methods: Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) we piloted a variety of interactive activities designed to assess the sexual health knowledge and decision making skills of LGBTQ young people with intellectual disabilities. Results: Posters created by youth participants suggested substantial sexual health knowledge and empowerment, while individual knowledge assessment scores indicated a range in understanding of risks and strategies to avoid pregnancy, HIV and herpes. Conclusions: These findings reinforce the importance of using multiple strategies to assess sexual knowledge with this population. Creative evaluation strategies catering to the cultural specificities, sexual experiences, and cognitive abilities of diverse youth help to clarify gaps in knowledge and areas for renewed attention. Keywords: HIV/AIDS; community-based participatory research; intellectual disabilities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT); sexual health Les outils de collecte des données, accessibles et culturellement appropriés, afin d’évaluer les connaissances sur la santé sexuelle des jeunes LGBT (Lesbiennes, Gais, Bisexuel-les et Trans) ayant des handicaps intellectuels sont rares. Nous avons pilotés une variété d’activités interactives ayant pour but l’évaluation des connaissances en santé sexuelle et des compétences pour la prise de décision de jeunes LGBT ayant des handicaps intellectuels. Les affiches créées par les jeunes participants indiquent une responsabilisation et une connaissance approfondie de la santé sexuelle. Les résultats des évaluations de la connaissance en santé sexuelle indiquent une bonne compréhension des risques et des stratégies pour éviter la grossesse, Le VIH et l’herpès. Les résultats obtenus renforcent l’importance d’utiliser diverses stratégies pour évaluer la connaissance en santé sexuelle de cette population. Des stratégies d’évaluation créatives qui adressent les spécificités culturelles, les expériences sexuelles et les habilités cognitives de différents jeunes aident à clarifier les lacunes en connaissance et les domaines qui nécessitent une attention accrue. Mots-clés: VIH/SIDA; recherche participative axée sur la communauté; handicaps intellectuels; (LGBT) lesbiennes, gais, bisexuel-les et trans; santé sexuell

Criminal Code reform of HIV non disclosure is urgently needed : Social science perspectives on the harms of HIV criminalization in Canada

The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure represents a significant issue of concern among people living with HIV, those working across the HIV sector, public health practitioners, and health and human rights advocates around the world. Recently, the government of Canada began a review of the criminal law regarding HIV non-disclosure and invited feedback from the public about potential reforms to the Criminal Code. In light of this public consultation, this commentary examines social science research from Canadian scholars that documents the intersecting damaging effects of HIV criminalization. Canadian social scientists and other researchers have shown that HIV criminalization is applied in uneven and discriminatory ways, impedes HIV prevention efforts, perpetuates HIV stigma, and has a damaging impact on the daily lives of people living with HIV. We argue that there is an urgent need for reforms that will significantly restrict how the criminal law is applied to HIV non-disclosure