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Joseph Ameil, Holder, Faculty of Social Sciences Professorship in Equity, Identity and Transformation | Academic Director, Community Engaged Research and Relationships, Office of Community Engagement | Associate Professor | Graduate Chair

photo of Ameil Joseph

Ameil Joseph

Holder, Faculty of Social Sciences Professorship in Equity, Identity and Transformation | Academic Director, Community Engaged Research and Relationships, Office of Community Engagement | Associate Professor | Graduate Chair

Faculty
School of Social Work

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Research & Supervisory Interests

I am interested in working with contributions from the perspectives of critical mental health, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, and critical disability studies, to study the historical production of ideas about difference, normalcy, sexuality, eugenics, race, ability and mental “illness” as they cohere, diverge, interdepend and perform within policy, law and practice. My projects have looked at issues of social justice, violence, ethics, confluence, historiography and social work using complimentary theoretical and methodological frameworks to engage respectfully with the complexities of our human condition. I come to this work with over a decade of experience in the mental health field, in supportive housing, settlement, crisis respite, forensic assertive community treatment, community-based early intervention, and governance settings.

Access full CV here. 

Education

  • Ph.D., York University, School of Social Work, 2014
  • M.SW., Wilfrid Laurier University, LSH Faculty of Social Work, 2007
  • Diploma in Social Work, Renison University College, 2004
  • B.A. (Psych), University of Waterloo, 2003

Teaching

Recent Graduate Supervision

Doctorate (PhD) in Progress

The Jouissance of Addiction and the Moral Vicissitudes of 'Treatment'

Voices of Children in Family Law: Reflections on Children’s Participation and Access to Information

Courses

  • SOCWORK 721: Changing Communities: Tensions and Possibilities for Citizenship and Social Justice
  • SOCWORK 4J03: Social Change, Social Movements and Advocacy
  • SOCWORK 4C03: Racism and Social Marginalization in Canadian Society
  • SOCWORK 4D06: General Practice II
  • SOCWORK 2A06: Theory, Process & Communication Skills for Social Work,
  • SOCWORK 4Y03: Critical Issues in Mental Health and Addiction: Social, Political and Historical Perspectives from Mad Studies and Critical Disability Studies for Social Work
 
 
 

Research

Books

Joseph, A.J. (Forthcoming). Social Services, Big Data and the Overseers of Violence - Cultivated on the Plantations of Human Suffering. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Joseph, A.J. (2015). Deportation and the confluence of violence within forensic mental health and immigration systems.Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan. 

Book Chapters:

Joseph, A.J. (2021). The subjects of oblivion: subalterity, sanism, and racial erasure. In Beresford, P., Russo, J., & Boxall, K. (eds). Routledge International Handbook of Mad Studies. Routledge.

Joseph, A.J., Double, D. (2020). Critical perspectives in mental health. In Savelli, M. Gillett, J. & Andrews, G. (eds). Introduction to Mental Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives (pp. 240-256). Oxford University Press.

Joseph, A.J. (2019). Contemporary forms of legislative imprisonment and colonial violence in forensic mental health. In Daley, A., Costa, L., Beresford, P. (eds.). Madness, violence and power: A radical anthology. Toronto: UofT Press.

Joseph, A.J. (2018) Traditions of colonial & eugenic violence: Immigration detention in Canada. In Kilty, J., & Dej, E. (eds)., Containing Madness: Gender & ‘Psy’ in Institutional Contexts. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan

Joseph, A.J., (2017). Making Civility: Historical Racial Exclusion Theories within Canadian Democracy. In Daenzer, P. (eds.), Civil Society Engagement: Achieving Better in Canada. (pp. 17-30). New York: Routledge.

Joseph, A.J., (2017). Pathologizing Distress: The Colonial Master's Tools and Mental Health Services for "Newcomers/Immigrants". In Baines, D. (eds.), Doing Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Justice Social Work, (3rd Edition, pp. 233-244). Halifax, Canada: Fernwood.

Joseph, A.J. & Maiter, S. (2015). Post-national Belonging: Strategies of Racialized Youth in Multicultural Western Contexts. In Baffoe, M. Asimeng-Boahene, L. & Ogbuagu, B. (eds.,). Settlers in Transition: Pathways and Roadblocks to Settlement and Citizenship of New Comers in New Homelands. (pp.23-31). Ronkonkoma: Linus Learning.

Joseph, A. J. (2012). Ancestries of racial and eugenic systems of violence in the mental health sector. In I. Needham, K. McKenna, M. Kingma, N. Oud  (Ed.), Third International Conference on Violence in the Health Sector, Vancouver, BC. (pp. 234-238). The Netherlands: Kavanah.  Link

Journal Articles:

Joseph, A.J. (2021). Simulating the Other in Social Work Pedagogy: Pathologizing the oppressed through neoliberal/colonial practice teaching. British Journal of Social Work.
https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bcab048/6190650?guestAccessKey=3f8a477d-52c2-45b6-9904-a6a4bc418b36

Adjekum, S. A., & Joseph, A. J. (2021). Violence by any other name: constructing immigration crises, the threat of the sick refugee and rationalising immigration detention through moral panic. Critical and Radical Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1332/204986021X16355210292075

Joseph, A.J. (2019) Constituting “lived experience” discourses in mental health: The ethics of racialized identification/representation and the erasure of intergeneration colonial violence. Journal of Ethics in Mental Health. https://jemh.ca/issues/v9/documents/JEMH%20Inclusion%20i.pdf 

Joseph, A.J., Janes, J., Badwall, H., Almeida, S. (2019). Preserving white comfort and safety: the politics of race erasure in academe. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culturehttps://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2019.1671184 

Tobias, H., & Joseph, A.J. (2018). Sustaining systemic racism through psychological gaslighting: Denials of racial profiling and justifications of carding by police utilizing local news media. Race and Justicehttp://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2153368718760969 

Maiter, S., & Joseph, A.J. (2016). Researching racism: The colour of face-value, challenges and opportunities. British Journal of Social Work. Available online at http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/31/bjsw.bcw052

Invited Peer Reviewed: Joseph, A.J. (2015). Beyond intersectionalities of identity or interlocking analyses of difference: confluence and the problematic of “anti”-oppression. Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, 4(1), 15-39.

Joseph, A.J. (2015). The necessity of an attention to eurocentrism and colonial technologies: An addition to critical mental health. Disability & Society, 30(7), 1021-1041.

Lamoureaux, A., Joseph, A., (2014). Toward transformative practice: Facilitating access and barrier-free services with LGBTTIQQ2SA populations. Social Work in Mental Health, 12(3), 212-230.

Joseph, A. J. (2013). Empowering alliances in pursuit of social justice: Social workers supporting psychiatric-survivor movements. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 24(3), 265-288.

Joseph, A. J. (2013). A prescription for violence: The legacy of colonization in contemporary forensic mental health and the production of difference. Critical Criminology, 22(2), 273-293. Maiter, S., Joseph, A., Shan, N., Saeid, A., (2013).

Doing participatory qualitative research: Development of a shared critical consciousness with racial minority research advisory group members. Qualitative Research, 13(2), 198-213.

Joseph, A. J. (2010). Advocacy in social work: Recovery-focused systems for people living with serious mental health issues. Canadian Social Work, 12(2), 25-42.


Conference Papers/Presentations

2021

Joseph, A.J. (2021, June 2). Occidental appropriations of resistance to systemic racism: The erosion of Anti-Racism work & the maintenance of white supremacy. 2021 Canadian Association of Social Work Education, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.

2020

Joseph, A.J., Vaz, C., Millard, B., William Gooding, W.,& Niles, C. (2020, April 1 -paper written but not presented due to cancellation/COVID-19). Frozen, invisible, indefinite: Immigration detention in Canada and the carceral violence of temporal torment. Crime, Justice and Social Harms, Howard League for Penal Reform, Oxford University, Keble College, UK.

2019

Joseph, A.J. (July 25). Tradition of Colonial and Eugenic Violence: Immigration Detention in Canada. XXXVI International Congress on Law and Mental Health, International Academy of Law and Mental Health, University of International Studies of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Joseph, A.J. (April 29). Invocations of historical colonial, racial, ableist, sanist tropes in contemporary anti-immigration discourse. Mobilities and Transnationalism in the 21st Century, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.

2018

Joseph, A. J. (June 21). Historical and contemporary uses of immigration detention by the mental health system in Canada: Racist, sanist, and eugenic violence in policy and practice. Disability and (Virtual) lnstitutions: lnterventions, lntegration and lnclusion, International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Onati, Spain.

Joseph, A. J. (March 2). Immigration detention in Canada: Constituting ideas of "the threat" and "the Canadian public" through racism, sanism and colonial eugenics. 2018 Canadian Association of Cultural Studies: Carceral Cultures Conference, Simon Fraser University (Downtown), Vancouver, B.C.

2017

Joseph, A., O'Connell, A., Gibson, M., Chapman, C., Good, B., Chambon, A., (May 30). Critical History as Social Work Practice: Epistemic Interventions through Decolonization, 2017 Canadian Association of Social Work Education Annual Conference, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON.

2016

Joseph, A.J. (March, 17). Imprisoning the mind and the body: Contemporary forms of legislative imprisonment and colonial violence in forensic mental health. Experiencing Prison 7th Global Conference. Inter-Disciplinary.Net., Hilton Hotel Castle District, Budapest Hungary.

2015  

Joseph, A.J. (May, 28). The untreatable, the unrehabilitatable and the undeserving: Tracing contemporary eugenic and racial colonial technologies of dehumanization at the confluence of mental health, criminal justice and immigration systems. Presented at the International Journal of Arts & Sciences International Conference for Social sciences and Humanities. Harvard University, Boston, MA.

2014

Joseph, A.J. (March 14, 15). Civilizing disobedience: Contemporary colonization and the regulation of immigrants and indigenous people with mental health issues. Forthcoming at: Fourth International Conference on Health, Wellness and Society, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Joseph, A.J. (November 3). Theorising violence at the confluence of mental health, criminal justice and immigration systems in Canada. Presented at: 6th Global Conference, Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners, Inter-Disciplinary.net, Prague, Czech Republic.

2013

Joseph, A.J. (April 26). The confluence of violence and the accretion of “truth”: Reading deportation decisions for racialized people classified with serious criminality and mentally illness in Canada. Presented at: Social Work’s 6th Annual Research Symposium, York University, Toronto, ON.

2012

Joseph, A., & Maiter, S. (November 1). Postnational belonging: Strategies of racialized youth in multicultural western contexts. Presented at the 2012 Strangers in New Homelands- 5th Annual Conference on the Social Reconstructing of “Home” Among Immigrants in the Diaspora, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB.

Joseph, A. (October 25). Ancestries of racial and eugenic systems of violence in the mental health sector. Presented at the 2012 Third International Conference on Violence in the Health Sector, Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, Richmond, BC.

Joseph, A. (March 31). Authorities on the subject: Colonial ancestries of hierarchy and hegemony in mental health. Presented at the 2012 Canadian Association of Social Work Education Annual Conference, University of Waterloo & Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON.

Lamoureaux, A., Joseph, A., Feris, C. (March, 22). Toward transformative practice: Facilitating access and barrier-free services with LGBTTIQQ2SA populations. Presented at the 2012 Ontario Working Group on Early Psychosis Intervention Conference, Sheraton Centre Hotel, Toronto, ON.

2011

Joseph, A. (June 2). A prescription for violence: The legacy of colonization in contemporary forensic mental health and the production of difference. Presented at the 2011 Canadian Association of Social Work Education Annual Conference, University of St. Thomas, Fredericton, NB.

2010

Maiter, S., Joseph, A., Shan, N., Saeid, A. (May 14). Doing participatory qualitative research: Development of a shared critical consciousness with racial minority research advisory group members. Presented at the 27th Annual Qualitative Analysis Conference, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, ON. 

Joseph, A., (April 16). Empowering alliances in pursuit of social justice: Social workers supporting psychiatric-survivor movements. Presented at: Social Work`s Annual Research Symposium, York University, Toronto, ON.

Knowledge Exchange

Television/Live Interviews

• Science table finds lower-income and racialized communities are more frequently ending up in the ICU - CHCH (2021, November 13)

•Hamilton vaccination program to prioritizes black & other racialized populations ages 18+ in hot spots, CHCH Evening News (2021, April 23). https://www.chch.com/hamilton-vaccination-program-to-prioritizes-black-other-racialized-populations-ages-18-in-hot-spots

• White Supremacy in Hamilton. The O Show, Cable 14 (2021, January 12). https://cable14now.com/video-on-demand/video/?videoId=5591

• COVID-19 Stay-at-home order, policing. CHCH evening news (2021, January 13). https://www.chch.com/news/evening-news/

• Sir John A. Macdonald statue in Hamilton vandalized. CHCH (2020, November 9). https://www.chch.com/sir-john-a-macdonald-statue-in-hamilton-vandalized/

• What is Antifa? CTV Newsday (2020, June 1). https://link.quibi.com/PGRFjSUCZ6

• Group urging council to reverse decision to take over setting up anti-racism centre. CBC. (2019, December 11). https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/harrc-1.5391472

• Hate in Hamilton. The O Show, Cable 14. (2019, September 17). https://www.cable14.com/tv-shows/o-show-the 

• Hate in Hamilton: what went wrong and how we make it right. CBC. (2019, August 7). https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-hate-live-1.5218029 

• Diversity and Representation. City Matters, Cable 14. (2019, April 10). https://cable14now.com/video-on-demand/video/?videoId=4271 

• Diversity advocates call recently appointed member to Hamilton Police Board a missed opportunity. CHCH evening news (2019, April 6). https://www.chch.com/diversity-advocates-call-recently-appointed-member-to-hamilton-police-board-a-missed-opportunity/ 

• Stoney Creek hate crime exemplifies disturbing trends in racism. CHCH evening news (2018, July 29). http://www.chch.com/stoney-creek-hate-crime-exemplifies-disturbing-trends-racism/

• What you need to know about political extremism in 2017, Your Morning with Ben Mulroney, CTV (2017, February 15) http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/is-antifa-activism-a-necessary-answer-to-the-alt-right-1.3327449

• Race and Identity, The Morning Show, Global T.V. National (2015, June 16). http://globalnews.ca/video/2057575/race-and-identity-interview-with-ameil-joseph/

Radio Interviews

• Ontario Today with Rita Celli. CBC. (2020, June 17). Renaming Dundas Street: Is it a way to right a wrong?  https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/15782717-renaming-dundas-street-is-it-a-way-to-right-a-wrong

• AM900 CHML the Bill Kelly Show. (2019, September 19). Three instances of Justin Trudeau in brownface have emerged. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-bill-kelly-show-31080203/episode/three-instances-of-justin-trudeau-in-49416209/ 

• Newstalk 1010 Moore in the Morning. (2018, September 30). The Rise of Hate. http://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/audio/the-rise-of-hate-1.8470727?mode=Article&autoplay=1.8470727

• AM900 Radio Interview with Anthony Urciuoli (2016, November 26). Anti-Racism Action Initiative https://omny.fm/shows/anthony-urciuoli-show/disappointing-ticket-sales-for-the-grey-cup-game-m?t=29m31s

• 60 Seconds with Ameil Joseph PACBIC (President's Advisory Committee on Building Inclusive Community) (2016, November 8), Morningfile, CFMU 93.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW-BMRylrQI

Magazine Articles:

• Joseph, A.J., (2020, June 16). Equity data as an ethical necessity: Understanding the viral confluence of injustice through COVID-19: Canadian Dimension. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/equity-data-as-an-ethical-necessity-understanding-the-viral-confluence-of-injustice-through-covid-19 

• Joseph, A.J., (2016). Putting alt-Right’s Racism in Context. Our-Times: Canada’s Independent Labour Magazine. http://ourtimes.ca/Between_Times/article_513.php 

Newspaper Articles:

• Joseph, A.J., Jama, S. & Linton, M. (2022, January 23). Our long-term care system must be dismantled | TheSpec.com

• Joseph, A.J. (2021, December 3). Misusing the language of safety and social justice | TheSpec.com

• Joseph, A.J., Damptey, K. (2021, June 7). It’s time to be honest about racism in Hamilton | TheSpec.com

• Joseph, A.J. (2020, October 18). Systemic injustices, policing, and mental health. Hamilton Spectator. https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/2020/10/18/systemic-injustices-policing-and-mental-health.html

• Joseph, A.J. (2020, September 27). Hamilton police not mental health professionals. Hamilton Spectator. https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/2020/09/27/hamilton-police-not-mental-health-professionals.html

• Joseph, A.J., (2020, June 15). How Much More Do You Need to See: Black Lives Matter. Hamilton Spectator. https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/2020/06/15/how-much-more-do-you-need-to-see-black-lives-matter.html

• Joseph, A.J., (2019, April 12). Police board ignores city’s promises of inclusion and diversity with latest appointment. Hamilton Spectator. https://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/9281084-police-board-ignores-city-s-promises-of-inclusion-and-diversity-with-latest-appointment/

• Joseph, A.J., (2016, December 30). Hamilton Police Still not Getting it On Racism. Hamilton Spectator. http://m.thespec.com/opinion-story/7041880-hamilton-police-still-not-getting-it-on-racism

• Joseph, A.J. (2014, November 14). ARRC more than a ‘hotline’: Centre will be step toward equity, social justice and preventing racial tension. Hamilton Spectator, Retrieved December 10, 2014 from http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/5013061-arrc-more-than-a-hotline-/

Online Publications:

• Joseph, A.J., Kumbhare, S. (2021). Mental health, grief, loss, and bereavement through COVID-19 - Academic Matters

• Joseph, A.J., Daniel, J., Ibhawoh, B., Deen, J., Coleman, D., Abebe, A., Ogunkoya, F., Kapiriri, L. (2021). Beyond cohorts and clusters: redressing systemic anti-Blackness in higher education — University Affairs

• Joseph, A.J., (2021). Expanding MAiD could worsen discrimination against people with disabilities. https://ipolitics.ca/2021/02/19/expanding-maid-could-worsen-discrimination-against-people-with-disabilities/

• Joseph, A.J., (2018). Erasing race but not racism in the Peter Khill trial. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/erasing-race-but-not-racism-in-the-peter-khill-trial-99337 also published on CBC, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/erasing-race-but-not-racism-in-the-peter-khill-trial-1.4736894

• Joseph, A. J., (2017). We must speak out against racism. University Affairs/Affaires Universitaires. https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/must-speak-racism/

Recent Community Connections

Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC) Year 1 Report. (2020, February). 

On Freedom, Voice, Protest and Dissent: My last letter as Chair (2016-2018) and Co-Chair (2018-2019) of PACBIC. McMaster University, Hamilton ON. 

Dismantling Racism in Hamilton, (2019, February 15). Vital Signs, Hamilton Community Foundation. Mulberry Café, Hamilton, ON

Disability Justice Network of Ontario & The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants(October 25, 2018). A round-table discussion on supporting newcomers with in/visible disabilities access safe, affordable, and accessible housing, Hamilton, ON

Hamilton Living Together Symposium (2016, March 29). Canadian Race Relations Foundation, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON

Joseph, A. J., Dei-Amoah, M., Cameron, R.W., Komlen, M., Otite, Y. (November 18, 2015). Hamilton’s Anti-Racism Resource Centre Proposal: Presentation to the City of Hamilton’s General Issues committee. City Hall, Council Chambers, Hamilton, ON.

Houselink Community Homes, Toronto, ON  (July 2011 – June 2014)
Board of Directors- Vice President (2013), President (2014)