Young Black Men's Embodied Experiences of Traumatic Gun Violence

This thesis examines the experiences of 10 young Black men who have been impacted by traumatic gun violence either directly through being shot or indirectly by witnessing gun violence in their communities or losing loved ones to gun violence. Few studies have considered the traumatic and embodied impact of gun violence on young Black men. Using trauma theory and embodiment as theoretical frameworks, this research demonstrates how due to the lack of resources and recognition of young Black men’s experiences of traumatic gun violence, young Black men begin to “embody” experiences of traumatic gun violence physically and emotionally. Young Black men’s experiences of gun violence within the city of Toronto continue to be stigmatized, criminalized, and disregarded as a traumatic issue and the main approaches to solving gun violence have focused on criminal justice interventions and policing which do not engage with the actual “embodied trauma” of gun violence. This thesis demonstrates that to understand how young Black men embody traumatic violence we first need to understand how systemic violence and structural oppression, as expressed through racial profiling, over-surveillance, incarceration, police brutality, and experiences of poverty, coincide with the traumatic impact of gun violence, and directly relate to young Black men’s experiences of ongoing exposure to gun violence.Ph.D