A Conversation with Abdulrazak Gurnah

Monday, April 24, 2023

6:00 – 8:00 PM 

Morse Auditorium
602 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA

An Annual Conference Event Presented by

The Center on Forced Displacement

 

Join Prof. Muhammad Zaman, Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) board member and Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) director, for a conversation with Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. At this event inaugurating the first CFD Annual Conference, Gurnah, Prof. Zaman, and Prof. Carrie Preston will discuss research, art and activism.

Abdulrazak Gurnah is known for his novels and critical studies of post-colonial literature. Gurnah grew up in Zanzibar and was forcibly displaced in the 1960s when the oppression and persecution of Arab citizens were widespread throughout the country. Eventually, Gurnah was able to secure asylum in England. Based on his own personal experiences, Gurnah’s novels portray the impacts of decolonization in East Africa.

The CFD Annual Conference is sponsored by the Center on Forced Displacement, the Mellon Foundation, Kilachand Honors College, the Pardee School of Global Studies, the BU Arts Initiative, and the College of Arts & Sciences Center for Humanities.

This event is open to the public, but registration is required. 

Learn More and Register Here

This conversation is followed by a full-day research symposium on April 25 (register for the symposium HERE.)

The Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) is a research center within Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW). CISWH achieves its mission by building strategic partnerships with those working at the intersection of social work and public health. Leveraging  the expertise of faculty and researchers across BU who focus on the social determinants of health and social justice, the center is committed to improving the health and well-being of vulnerable populations nationally and globally.

As pandemic-era benefits come to a close, families experiencing food insecurity are increasing at a rapid rate. Prof. Margaret Lombe, associate professor at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) and faculty affiliate at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Public Health (CISWH), shares her expertise with US News and World Report, suggesting local resources to help families during this stressful time. 

Lombe tells US News & World Report that “food insecurity has increased considerably among the working poor, families with children, older adults, rural communities and communities of color.” 

Food costs are expected to continue to rise, but it is important for families to know they don’t have to endure this uncertain road alone. 

Excerpt from “How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?” by Geoff Williams, originally published in U.S. News & World Report: 

“Lombe suggests some of the same avenues that Zydonik does and adds Meals on Wheels being an option for senior citizens, local churches and USDA’s Hunger Hotline (1-866-3-HUNGRY) for information on community-based emergency food providers and other resources.

‘The road ahead appears uncertain for many Americans. It is highly unlikely that we will see a break in the rising food costs in the near future,’ Lombe says.”

Read the full article.

The Child Tax Credit (CTC), which helps qualifying families receive a tax benefit, was expanded for 2021 and 2022 to increase the credit’s maximum value and ensure that more families were eligible. A new report from the Catalyst Center at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) and partners at the Social Policy Institute at Washington University of St. Louis and the Family Economic Policy Lab at Appalachian State University reveals how these temporary benefits led to improved outcomes for families who were at a higher risk of financial hardship, particularly those families raising children with disabilities.

The report, which summarizes data from a nationally representative survey, explores how the CTC impacted families with children with disabilities, comparing them to CTC recipients without children with disabilities and how usage varied among race and ethnicity, as well as different income levels.

Researchers found that families of children with disabilities used the CTC funds differently to meet their children’s unique needs. This included paying off debt, buying better food, and covering health expenses. These families reported greater impacts from the CTC on their financial lives compared to other families surveyed.

“We know that at nearly all income levels, higher proportions of families raising children with disabilities experience financial hardship compared to families that do not have children with disabilities,” says Allyson Baughman, Catalyst Center director. “Our findings indicate that the CTC has the potential to reduce family financial hardship and ultimately improve the ability of these children to play, learn, and grow. The experiences of these families are an important part of the continued conversation about the CTC.”

Nearly 20% of children in the United States live with a disability, yet 19 million children under the age of 17 receive less than the full credit under the current CTC because their parents earn too little or are unable to work due to their child’s needs. While the future of the CTC remains up for debate in Congress, it’s essential that policymakers consider the needs of families raising children with disabilities.

Read the policy brief and full report here.

Prof. Astraea Augsberger, faculty affiliate at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) and BUSSW assistant professor, received a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand Project Impact, a preventative service program for parents with intellectual disabilities. Working in partnership with Montclair State University (Wendy Zeitlin) and Community Partners at the Westchester Institution for Human Development (Trupti Rao and Danielle Weisberg), Prof. Augsberger will use the funding to build upon the  pilot study.

Initially, the  study found that 88% of all families participating in Project IMPACT and 98% of families completing the program remained intact one year after ending the program (i.e., their children were not placed in foster care). Those findings, however, were not enough to show that Project IMPACT was actually responsible for those high rates of success. 

The proposed research funded by the new NIH grant will expand on the study by examining how effective Project IMPACT is at reducing foster care placement, an indicator of serious child maltreatment, for this high-risk population.  While this is a public health priority because maltreated children are at high-risk for long-term negative health outcomes, there is a lack of research that focuses on targeted interventions for families of parents with intellectual disabilities. 

“Given my expertise in community-engaged health equity research,  the findings from these analyses will be shared with key stakeholders in a series of listening sessions that are designed to  present and contextualize the key findings, as well as gather feedback for additional rigorous research, policy advocacy, and service provision.” says Augsberger.   

CISWH will assist the research team in dissemination of the research findings.

Learn more about Project IMPACT

Boston University’s (BU) Mexico-US Border Studies Program provides students with the unique opportunity to collaborate with and learn from community organizations supporting immigrants in transitional housing camps. BUSSW Prof. Luz M. Lopez, CISWH’s Global Health Core director, lends her expertise by ensuring students are properly informed and educated in trauma-informed care prior to connecting with migrants at the border.  Knowing how to engage with migrants who have experienced trauma and violence is crucial for relationship-building and providing ongoing support. 

Excerpt from, “Innovations in Social Work: Social Work Brings Trauma-Informed Care to Border Studies Program” by Lindsey Getz: 

“We emphasize being open when meeting migrants, how to ask questions, and how to engage in conversation without triggering them during that interaction,” López explains. “We also talked about how to connect migrants to other services. One gap that we hope our BU School of Social Work CISWH can fill is the need for more consultancy and resources in trauma and mental health.”

Read the full article here.