Razack, Finding Dawn, and WEAC

            

            Listening in class to Professor Gotell describe Edmonton as a city characterized by a colonialized division of space really resonated with me.  I was born in Edmonton but grew up in Beaumont, a suburban town just south of the city.  My family and I would go into Edmonton all the time, but never ventured into the inner city together.  Moving to the city for university was a scary endeavor, as I did not know what to expect – I had always associated Edmonton with crime and danger; Beaumont was a ‘safe haven’, a space pointedly removed from the effects of poverty. 

Therefore, I could only try to imagine what the inner city held and this helped to foster a fear of the unknown, as it is inherently a “racialized space, a zone in which all that’s not respectable is contained” (Razack 2000: 97).  Looking back now, I can identify this as one of the reasons that contributed to my initial hesitation in choosing WEAC as my CSL placement.  Another of my fears is captured by Sherene Razack’s discussion of the “perceptions of white vulnerability” when entering racialized spaces (2000: 114).  I wondered how the ladies would respond to my presence, feeling as if I would stick out due to my class and race.

Along with the film Finding Dawn, this placement has allowed me to address these fears and put a face to the issues of sexual violence and colonialism – humanizing and returning the personhood to those most affected by these systemic issues.  Entering the staff area of WEAC you are immediately faced with a bulletin board covered with various notices and pictures of faces of missing women.  Today while volunteering, a woman came in searching for help just moments after being assaulted.  It is important to remember that we are probably more like these women than not; they have families who love them and they as people have value.  Unlike us, though, their experiences are discounted due to the space they inhabit as “bodies in degenerate spaces lose their entitlement to personhood” (2000: 129).   

Last week our supervisor entered the room where we were doing activities with the ladies and she commented on the relaxed energy of the space.  I am unable to express how it feels to have the opportunity to bring a few moments of peace to these women in their temporary home; positioned in a location of Edmonton that easily allows us to forget and denigrate their existence.