The work of Jen Rinaldi and Kate Rossiter in Population Control captures the nuances of institutional violence and how it is created, maintained, and reproduced across a variety of settings. It helps readers understand that this violence encompasses more than just forms of direct harm. This structural approach reveals both the supposed care and ultimate loathing that result from such systems. The edited collection speaks to the idea that “the reinforcement of the logic of institutional violence – the structured, organized provision of care to loathed populations – remains intact” (5). Ultimately, it demonstrates that while several large-scale institutions no longer exist, their approaches and discourse continue to inadvertently influence those deemed part of an unruly population.
The collected chapters provide an opportunity for individuals who have endured institutional life to share their experiences, shedding light on how violence has manifested and how we might avoid these patterns in the future. The book is organized into three main sections. The first section explores the lives of children, focusing on how they are forced to assimilate into new identities while leaving behind what are deemed shameful pasts. This section illustrates how institutions strip children of their presumed innocence and fail to meet their basic needs. The second section considers the implications of neoliberal systems and their influence on measuring productivity. Those deemed inefficient in contributing to a productive workforce reveal patterns of labor and poverty tied to a sense of worth. Additionally, this section recognizes social factors that may contribute to institutional violence, including “humiliation, socioeconomic deprivation, and forms of community surveillance” (18). The final chapters narrow the focus to the lives of women, specifically those who are impoverished, Indigenous, and disabled. This section highlights not only the ways these populations are harmed but also how legal systems reinforce this behavior by isolating and further marginalizing them due to a lack of protection, effectively forcing them into a carceral pipeline—a means of policing and imprisoning vulnerable populations.
A key theme throughout the chapters is the historical guise of large-scale institutions, such as residential schools, psychiatric facilities, hospital schools, and emergency shelters. These institutions were allegedly meant to provide resources, safety, and transformation for individuals within their care. The overarching message is that while these institutions are intended to protect, they often create and perpetuate more harm than good, leaving participants to grapple with long-term internalized violence.
Rinaldi and Rossiter effectively highlight the importance of this work for scholars from multidisciplinary backgrounds, including disability studies, gender studies, and critical studies, by addressing how the chapters present interlocking forms of oppression, such as colonialism, sexism, and racism. For instance, Chapter 4, written by Annalise Clarkson, examines the parallels between the Huronia Regional Centre and the Mohawk Institute, revealing how both institutions isolate, control, and conform othered bodies to fit a standard heteronormative ideal. This process influences gendered socialization into a productive workforce through a binary gender divide. By understanding these various forms of oppression, scholars can better grasp how colonial powers in Canada have “policed labour practices to limit progress for non-normative folks” (99).
While the consolidated chapters provide an overview of the long-term victimization of individuals subjected to institutional life, they also challenge and identify the implications of epistemic violence. Chapter 8 addresses the “urban crisis” in Windsor, Ontario, highlighting how the downtown core has been labeled a risky neighborhood due to increased homelessness and poverty, compounded by drug use and mental illness, “resulting in an exodus of people and businesses” (177). The authors argue for an acknowledgment of epistemic violence, which involves the domination of knowledge and its impact on affected individuals. This practice illustrates how epistemic violence serves as a mode of justification that results in routine slow violence—a form of marginalization enacted through “government policies, economic systems, and colonial exercises of power” (184). While this chapter explicitly highlights the connection with epistemic violence, other chapters indirectly address how systemic practices reinforce the discourse, socialization, and laws that keep certain populations in a vulnerable state.
Overall, the edited collection effectively demonstrates how institutional violence permeates various historical institutions through case studies that reveal existing patterns concerning institutional models for vulnerable populations across Canada. It argues that the connection between violence and an approach of loathing is detrimental to the lives of unruly populations. However, the book could be strengthened if the authors considered expanding their audience. While Rinaldi and Rossiter indicate that the key audience is scholars, future editions may benefit from including strategies for engaging community members, non-profit organizations, and government officials in advocating for transformation within these systems.
