Anti-Black Racism, Bio-Power, and Governmentality: Deconstructing the Suffering of Black Families Involved with Child Welfare

This article focuses on how colonialism, anti-Black racism and white supremacy are embodied by Ontario’s child welfare system in relation to narratives of suffering experienced by Black families involved with this sector. We discuss how these experiences are an embodiment of the Foucauldian concepts of bio-power and governmentality. Understanding this embodiment is crucial for deconstructing how anti-Black racism, colonialism, and white supremacy are manifested in the day-to-day policies and practices of child welfare. To explicate these policies and practices we discuss three inter-related factors: 1) the historical rise of the welfare state, 2) anti-Black racism, and 3) bio-power and governmentality.