2024 - 2025 Bissell-Heyd Symposium: Social Control, the State, and U.S. Families

Scholars have asserted that one of the primary goals of governance in the United States is the social control of poor people. In the case of economically disadvantaged families, this supervision is carried out by multiple government systems, including the adult welfare, child welfare, immigration, and criminal justice systems. These administratively distinct systems have each been critiqued for offering more coercion than care to vulnerable families. This symposium will increase our understanding of social control of economically disadvantaged families by bringing together, and facilitating dialogue between, scholars with expertise in different policy areas. By allowing a space where scholars can discuss how these different systems operate, as well as how they shape family outcomes, areas of overlap and disjuncture between these systems will be explored. Along with advancing scholarly knowledge, the symposium also aims to provide insight into current policy debates around abolition, as well as the benefits and harms associated with cross-system service coordination.

 

 Agenda:

 

9:00 - 9:10 am Introduction  

Rick Halpern (Bissell-Heyd Chair of American Studies & Interim Director, Centre for the Study of the United States)

Amanda Sheely (Bissell-Heyd 24/25 Fellow Recipient)

  

9:10-10:40 am Immigration

Asad L. Asad (Stanford University)

Leah Montange (University of Toronto)

 

10:40-10:50 am Coffee break   

 

10:50 am – 12:20 pm Child protection

Kelley Fong (University of California Irvine)

Bryn King (University of Toronto)

 

12:20-1:20 pm Lunch and student posters Student Poster Presentations on Social Control, the State, U.S Families

 

1:20-2:50 pm Historical precedents

Michaela Simmons (University of Wisconsin – Madison)

Amanda Sheely (University of Toronto, Mississauga)

 

2:50-3:00 pm Coffee break   

 

3:00 – 4:30 pm The State, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Populations

Frank Edwards (Rutgers University)

Sofia Locklear (University of Toronto, Mississauga)

 

4:30 – 5:30 pm Keynote: An Unbroken Thread: Efforts to Deter Family Formation Among People of Color In the United States

Kaaryn S. Gustafson (University of California, Irvine)

Kaaryn Gustafson is a Professor of Law and co-director of the Center on Law, Equality, and Race at the University of California Irvine. Her research and scholarship explores the role of law in both remedying and reinforcing inequality. Her research and service has been recognized by numerous organizations, including most recently being awarded a prestigious Outstanding Scholar Award by the American Bar Foundation and the Ronald Pipkin Service Award by the Law & Society Association.

 

5:30 - 6:15 pm Reception with Refreshments    

 

The Bissell-Heyd Symposium is supported by the Centre for the Study of the United States and organized by the 24-25 Bissell-Heyd recipient Professor Amanda Sheely.