Insurgent Love: Abolition and Domestic Homicide

by Ardath Whynacht

Domestic homicide involves violence at the most intimate level - the partner or family relationship. The most common strategy for addressing this kind of transgression relies on policing and prisons. But through examining commonly accepted typologies of intimate partner violence, Ardath Whynacht shows that policing can be understood as part of the same root problem as the violence it seeks to mend. This book illustrates that the origins of both the carceral state and toxic masculinity are situated in settler colonialism and racial capitalism. Describing an experience of domestic homicide in her community and providing a deeply personal analysis of some of the most recent cases of homicide in Canada, the author inhabits the complexity of seeking abolitionist justice. Insurgent Love traces the major risk factors for domestic homicide within the structures of racial capitalism and suggests transformative, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, feminist approaches for safety, prevention and justice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Feminism, Social Justice, Education, Indigenous, Sociology

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2021

Reviews

[Victoria Law]

Really going to have to sit with this—and reread the last chapter several times.

[Andree-Anne Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for work. It's and absolutely beautiful (and hard) book

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may not agree with all of the solutions, but this book grapples with the hardest question raised by the call to move away from carceral solutions to intimate partner violence, and does so in a compellingly readable way that blends narrative and "traditional" scholarship.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is less than two hundred pages, and every single one is a punch to the gut. It’s a nuanced and honest look at domestic violence and how abolition movements need to address it. It also ensures to continually tie these interpersonal violences to state violence and to the colonial history and present.

The weaving of personal and political is masterful.

I have my own questions about some small things mentioned, like compassionate containment (e.g., can we actually rely on the state for this? would we need to? could we, eventually, do this through community as well? how might that look? is this not replicating a type of coercive control, and thus still modelling it to our communities? are there other options? who gets to decide where the line between compassionate containment and incarceration is, and could/should this change with time/different situations?), but I will carry this book and its knowledge with me for a long, long time. I am so grateful for the questions it raised (of which I do not know the answers), and I am so thankful for the information it elucidated.

Some quotes that hit me hard:

“[…] a lot of the violence we experience as women and femmes is mediated by men’s social relationships with other men.”

“Critical historical attention to trends in domestic homicides demonstrates that prior to colonization, there was no record of a pattern of family-killing in the Americas.”

“We don’t talk enough about how every killer was once a child who probably needed our help.”

“It feels awful to speak of the shooter as a victim. It feels awful to think about the layers of pain that led up to the tragedy.”

“An abolitionist approach acknowledges that we all have the capacity to harm and that those who harm deserve care and justice, while still holding them (and ourselves) accountable for complicity in violence.”

There are so many more I could put, but just... Read this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Lolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has been interested in learning about abolition from writers such as Angela Davis and Derecka Purnell, I was fascinated by Whynacht's approach to domestic violence. I have found that a lot of abolitionist literature stems from the USA, so being able to learn about the Canadian perspective, as a Canadian, informed me immensely on how I can look at policy around me.

While you do not have to agree with everything Whynacht proposes, being able to imagine a world based on community rather than incarceration is admirable and something I hope to continue to learn about as I enter my professional career. Thank you for sharing your stories, knowledge and wisdom!

[Gemington · Rating 4 out of 5]

TW: homicide, domestic violence, sexual violence, police brutality, incarceration, colonialism, racism, misogyny, anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism

A difficult but very thoughtfully written book in two voices: academic and deeply personal. Reflects on recent homicides in Nova Scotia and how we can use abolition to resist the colonial systems that lead to domestic, police, and carceral violence. Makes the case for an abolitionist feminism in direct resistance to the carceral feminism that is itself an extension of current state violence. I am left wanting to know more and dig deeper into the concept of insurgent love which is addressed only at the bitter end.

[meggerz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, unlike anything I have read before! i thought it was a perfect balance between theory and anecdotal and I loved the local interest as well (the mass shooting, Nicholas Butcher’s trial, etc.)
The author’s perspective having extensively worked with survivors as well as inmates gave this small book such a wide reach and the opposite of one-sided. The book challenges the reader to find the nuance beyond black & white and good & bad, and provides statistical backing that more policing & more prisons is not the answer to keeping women safe
Will definitely return to this book’s teachings during my practice

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Academic and personal review of a toxic state of affairs culturally.
"Working with incarcerated people has given me an intimate glimpse into how—rather than improving the community safety—policing, prosecution and imprisonment intensify the cycle of violence and create more dangerous conditions for us all."

[Madison McMullin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author is a brilliant woman. However, to me this read as an undergrad term paper. I felt there weren’t any actual solutions presented. Just generalized advice like we need community accountability groups run by survivors and rehabilitated abusers but no details of what these groups would look like, what they would do, how often they would meet.

[norarosereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

more thoughts to come. highly recommend IF you are a place where you can read difficult, in-depth descriptions of intimate and state violence

[Chrissy Santillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a little bit more educated on domestic violence, feminism, politics, racism, colonization, the prison system etc. It’s hard to put into words but I found it extremely informational, it was heartbreaking and haunting and introduced me to new ways of thinking and perspectives. It was excellent and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

[Xylia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5✨ rounded up.
Update: I finished this book a couple weeks ago and continue to think about it. I’m not keen on the structure of this book and feel as though there are a lot of ideas which weren’t fleshed out as much as I’d like. However, I work in the Domestic Violence field in the same region as the author, and the book had some good food for thought (particularly around high-risk designations).