This dissertation is a creative piece that reflects a dual focus in the American Indian Studies program - American Indian Law & Policy and Native American Literature. This "epidemic of violence," as James Anaya labeled it, underpins the writing of this dissertation. Some statistics: One in three Native women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Some sources purport that 88% of assailants are non-Native. Only 13% of reported assaults on Native women are prosecuted. The core of the dissertation is a novella bookended by an Introduction and an Epilog. The Introduction includes the factors and influences that led to the writing of this novella. The novella presents the convergence of the stories of four damaged women and their individual paths toward healing. An Epilog provides a space for thoughts on the writing process and the final product. The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: Bring attention to the problem of violence committed against Native women, to promote the sharing of stories to begin the path to healing, and to add to the scholarship of American Indian Studies.

The present study addresses abused Vietnamese women’s experience of health, as well as other health problems and family conflicts, while also taking into consideration professional dealings with family violence. Women’s health in everyday life is largely affected when they are exposed to violence by their male partners. Such violence exists in most societies around the world, also in the Vietnamese context, where the official policies focus on gender equality, together with a strong family concept. Thus, the present study aims to contribute to an empirical understanding of the relation between women’s health and violence against women within the family, from three perspectives: That of the society (organisations and professionals), the neighbourhood community (family members and neighbours), and the individuals (the abused women). The thesis is based on three qualitative interview studies. To reach the official Vietnamese society, national organisations working against violence were invited to participate and eleven professionals of different positions were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews were analysed with content analysis. To include the neighbourhood community perspectives on health and conflicts in family life, twenty-two men and women of different ages and backgrounds, but without any known history of abuse, participated in sixteen semi-structured interviews. For the third study twelve abused women presented life-stories through indepth interviews. The interviews of study two and three were analysed using narrative approach. On a professional level, the discussion on violence focus on the abusive men’s violent acts, on how to promote good social relations and how to make people in general recognise violence as a public health problem and value gender equality. In family everyday life, the informants consider women as the main responsible for the family well-being, but find cooperative support necessary in daily life. To adjust family life to social change, and to make everyone feel important, means to avoid boredom or distress are strategies used, since such conditions are considered to cause troubled relations, abuse and suffering. Violence within the family is seen as interpersonal problems where both partners are to blame for family dysfunction. Empathic sentiments, mutual support and communication are means to handle problems, and a harmonious and happy family is seen as protecting health. The abused women experience vulnerability, which they see as the foremost threat to their health. Injuries as well as worries cause harm. The abused women blame their husbands, for the violence, but they rarely confront them. Instead they use a number of strategies to handle their situation; through enduring, making their husband’s face others judgements, or divorce. They see violence as part of an everyday life of hardship, and consider that bearing too many troubles harms their health. A coherent approach between the different perspectives is needed if the abused women and their families will have a possibility to experience health. The professionals need to consider both public equality policies and the individuals’ experience of vulnerability. The abused women, and abusive men, would benefit from a neighbourhood community that is open to individual failure but still supportive and encouraging. To experience health this study found that it matters what position a person has, what expectations and judgement a person face, how well a person can manage her obligations, and what room for action she possesses. / Studien fokuserar på vietnamesiska kvinnors hälsa, om de utsatts för våld i hemmet, samt närliggande hälsoproblem och familjekonflikter. Studien behandlar också professionellas hanterande av våld i familjen. Kvinnors hälsa och vardagsliv försämras av att de utsätts för våld från sina manliga partner. Detta våld återfinns i de flesta av världens länder, så också i Vietnam, som dock är ett land med starkt politiskt och officiellt fokus på jämställdhet, samtidigt som man värnar om familjen som enhet och begrepp. Därför är syftet för denna studie att bidra till en empirisk förståelse av relationen mellan kvinnors hälsa och våld mot kvinnor inom familjen, från tre perspektiv: samhällets (professionella organisationer), grannskapets (familjemedlemmar och grannar) samt individernas (de våldsutsatta kvinnorna). Studien baseras på tre kvalitativa delstudier. För att söka förstå det vietnamesiska samhället, inbjöds nationella organisationer som arbetar mot våld att delta, och elva professionella på olika positioner intervjuades. De semi-strukturerade intervjuerna analyserades med innehållsanalys. För att nå grannskapets perspektiv på hälsa och konflikter i familjelivet, intervjuades 22 män och kvinnor av olika åldrar och bakgrunder, utan känd våldshistorik inom familjen. De deltog i 16 semistrukturerade intervjuer. I den tredje delstudien intervjuades 12 våldsutsatta kvinnor genom att de presenterade sina livshistorier. Studie två och tre analyserades narrativt. På den professionella nivån rör diskussionen om våld de våldsutövande männens handlingar, hur man ska främja goda sociala relationer och hur man ska få allmänheten att förstå våld som en folkhälsofråga och värdera jämställdhet. I familjernas vardagsliv ser informanterna kvinnan som ansvarig för familjens välbefinnande, men samarbete och stöd som nödvändigt i familjelivet. För att anpassa familjelivet efter sociala förändringar, och att få alla att känna sig betydelsefulla i familjen, anses det nödvändigt att undvika tristess och leda. Anpassning till samhällets förändring och att främja familjens välbefinnande ses som strategier för att hantera problematiska relationer, konflikter, våld och lidande. Våld inom familjen anses vara ett interpersonellt problem, där båda parter bär skulden för familjens dysfunktion. Empati, ömsesidigt stöd och kommunikation är verktyg för att hantera problem, och en harmonisk och lycklig familj anses främja hälsan. De våldsutsatta kvinnorna upplever sårbarhet, vilket de ser som det främsta hotet mot sin hälsa. Såväl kroppsskador som oro försämrar kvinnornas situation. De våldsutsatta kvinnorna lägger skulden på sina män för våldet, men de konfronterar dem sällan. Istället använder de sig av strategier för att hantera sin situation: genom att uthärda, få maken att möta andras fördömanden, eller skilsmässa. De ser våldet som en del av ett vardagsliv fyllt av svårigheter, och anser att bördan av för många problem är det som skadar deras hälsa. Ett samordnat tillvägagångssätt mellan de olika samhällsnivåernas perspektiv behövs om de våldsutsatta kvinnorna och deras familjer ska ha en möjlighet att uppleva hälsa. De professionella behöver beakta såväl jämställdhetspolicyer som individers upplevelse av sårbarhet. De våldsutsatta kvinnorna, och våldsutövande männen, skulle gagnas av en grannskapsgemenskap som är öppen för individuella misslyckanden, men ändå stödjande och uppmuntrande. Denna studie visar att för att uppleva hälsa är det av betydelse vilken social position personen har, vilka förväntningar och bedömningar en person möter, hur väl hon kan hantera sina åtaganden, och vilket handlingsutrymme hon besitter.

Despite nearly twenty years of official peace in Guatemala since the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords, violence continues to remain a grave problem throughout the country. In particular, extreme forms of gender-based violence have been reportedly problematic over the past two decades, with a conversation on femicide, the targeted killing of women by men based on their gender, emerging in recent years between activists, politicians and practitioners alike. To respond to the crisis around femicide, in 2008, the Law on Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women was passed by Guatemala’s congress, mandating the creation of a specialized justice system to criminalize such acts. Guatemala’s legal innovations around femicidal violence is widely believed by many observers as a victory for human and women’s rights defenders in the country. However, despite these legal interventions, femicidal violence has continued unabatedly in Guatemala. In this thesis, I present a two-pronged argument. First, I will argue that the tensions inherent to neoliberalism in Guatemala create a landscape in which women are vulnerable to experiencing femicidal violence, beyond the scope explored by both the mainstream and critical literature, and moreover, beyond the scope of the Law on Femicide. Second, I posit that the Law on Femicide, which is inserted as a neutral, technical fix to the ongoing and pervasive issue of femicide and violence against women, depoliticizes femicide in Guatemala, removing it from neoliberal capitalist context and individualizing the responsibility of the crime to perpetrators, rather than the neoliberal state. Simultaneously, the rule of law as expressed through the Law on Femicide must be understood in the context of the neoliberal landscape in Guatemala, in particular, in the context of neoliberalism’s “crisis of social reproduction” (LeBaron and Roberts 2012, 26). / Thesis (Master, Global Development Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-06-18 10:26:03.879

Feminist activism has a rich history in Canada, but mobilization on the issue of violence against women specifically gained considerable momentum during what is often referred to as the “second wave” of the feminist movement. Since this time, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have seen a proliferation of both grassroots and public policy responses to intimate partner violence and sexual violence. This study is an effort to construct a feminist history of the activism that occurred between 1970 and 2010, as well as to make sense of feminist claims-making strategies using a social constructionist approach to social problems and to make sense of feminist activism as a social movement using social movement impact theory. In constructing a feminist history, documents from the Canadian Women’s Movement Archives were consulted and interviews with current and former feminist activists were conducted. The historical component of this study focuses on how feminist activists first recognized and responded to the problem of violence against women. This analysis suggests that throughout the last forty years, feminist activists have engaged in a multi-pronged project of providing feminist services for victims of intimate partner and sexual violence, advocating for social and legal change as the “official” response to violence against women, and conducting their own research on the extent and nature of violence against women. Various strategies were used in this process, including forming partnerships and coalitions, but activists also faced challenges from within and outside the movement, including internal debates, struggles to fit in, and backlash from counter movements. The final chapter discusses how the history of feminist activism on violence against woman cannot easily fit into strict constructionist approach to understanding social problems and, as a social movement, is difficult to evaluate given the myriad goals, mechanisms for reaching those goals, and interpretations of success associated with the movement. Future research directions are also suggested, including looking at evidence of claims-making from other sources; bridging the gap, theoretically and pragmatically, between the “mainstream” feminist movement and other streams of women’s activism; and, more conceptual work on feminist movements and the separation between intimate partner and sexual violence.

This is a sociological essay, named Reshaping Samoan Relations – a study on the increasing reports and regarding violence against women in Samoa, written by Shahab Mirbabaei. The aim of this study was to explain the reason, or reasons, for the increasing reports of violence against women to the police and help-organizations in Samoa.The study was done in Samoa by conducting semi-structured interviews with women, from the rural and urban areas, and with workers from relevant organizations that are involved with questions regarding violence against women. The women were primarily asked for general Samoans changing views of gender, violence and trust for police and help-organizations. The workers were primarily asked for changes in the working process in their organization.The main theoretical choices were Outsiders, by Howard S. Becker, and Masculinities by R.W. Connell. These theories allowed this this study to capture all the important elements by offering a terminology that focuses on gender and deviance.The main results show that different organizations have created a new set of rules for the Samoan society, which in the same time has weakened the Fa’a Samoa system. With the help of awareness, these organizations have criminalized domestic violence towards women in Samoa and offered solutions to women to combat violent occurrences. The awareness has extended the possibilities of women in Samoan society, and allowed them to challenge the authority that upholds the hegemonic rule of men. This challenge is partly seen by the increasing number of women that work in the public, and by women combating the violent occurrences by reporting the matter to outside parties.

Este estudo buscou compreender a experiência das mulheres em situação de violência doméstica e familiar. A partir da clarificação desta questão central, buscou-se contribuir para a divulgação de meios jurídicos e jurisdicionais, melhorar a assistência integral à mulher vítima de violência doméstica na região leste do Município de São Paulo e viabilizar novas políticas públicas no tema violência contra a mulher. A opção foi pela pesquisa qualitativa, método etnográfico e conceitos da antropologia interpretativa. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com oito mulheres, que vivenciaram situações de violência doméstica e/ou familiar e que tenham procurado auxílio no Centro de Cidadania da Mulher de Itaquera, localizado em São Paulo/SP. Adotou-se para a coleta de dados a observação participante e a entrevista semi-estruturada composta por questões norteadoras. Os dados foram apresentados na forma de narrativas. Os resultados se resumiram em seis categorias, agrupadas posteriormente em três grandes temas. A discussão teve seu eixo na violência simbólica descrita por Bourdieu. A violência simbólica fundamentada nas crenças sociais, caracterizada pela invisibilidade, por não enxergar, pela submissão encantada, vinculada a aceitação de um papel subalterno e passivo frente à uma força de dominação. O resultado deste estudo foi a expressão viva do sofrimento à recuperação, da baixa autoestima à reconstrução do eu, histórias de mulheres e sua experiência na violência vivida. / The present study seeks to analyze the experience of violence for the women on the domestic and familiar situation. Throughout the clarification of this central point, the present aims to contribute for the disclosure of the legal and jurisdictional procedures, to improve the assistance to the woman victim of domestic violence at the east region of Sao Paulo city and to create public politics regarding this field. The option was to accomplish the qualitative way of search, ethnography method and the concepts of interpretive anthropology. The was developed with eight woman who passed through situations of domestic and/or familiar violence and had gone to the assistance of the Centro de Cidadania da Mulher de Itaquera, located in São Paulo/SP. For this purpose, the method of participant observation has been applied to the data collection and guiding questions for the semi-structured interview. The data had been introduced as a form of narrative. The results of the present study resulted in six categories, subsequently grouped in three major themes. The discussion had its guide in the symbolic violence described by Bourdieu. The symbolic violence whose background was obtained from the social beliefs, characterized by invisibility, not by sight, by submission enchanted bound to accept a subordinate role and passive front of a force of domination. The result of this study is the live expression of live suffering to the recovery, of low self-esteem to the reconstruction of the self, histories of women and their experience in the violence experienced.

Investigar a questão da violência, particularizando para a chamada de violência doméstica contra a mulher, implica, inicialmente, em identificar como ela é definida e o que se observa, a começar pelo que traz o dicionário, que salienta três aspectos, falando da qualidade do que é violento, do ato violento em si, e do ato de violentar, que são muitos os ângulos pelos quais ela pode ser visualizada. É possível adotar como siginificado mais geral do termo que se trata de uma ação que evidencia brutalidade, abuso, agressão, constrangimento e desrespeito para com uma outra pessoa. De outro lado, por se ter um objetivo de pesquisa empírica, torna-se necessário que se contextualize e delimite a abordagem do estudo. A literatura tem mostrado que são muitas as transformações ocorridas na estrutura das relações familiares, no vínculo conjugal, nos padrões de comportamentos e relacionamento entre os sexos; contudo, essas mudanças parecem ter alterado pouco o problema da violência doméstica contra a mulher, que dispõe, na atualidade, de maior visibilidade, mas que ainda está longe de uma compreensão mais clara e aprofundada da questão, o que justifica sejam feitas novas investigações. Essa pesquisa tem, assim, como objetivo geral, analisar desde a frequência de ocorrência de denúncia de violência contra a mulher, em Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM), em dois anos seguidos, em cidade de grande porte, até as variáveis relacionadas ao perfil da vítima, do agressor, do relacionamento mantido pelos casais, razões do não seguimento do processo; esta é, portanto, quantitativa e de cunho descritivo, tem por base documentos em que está registrada a visão das mulheres que vivenciaram violência doméstica por parte de seu marido/companheiro e a registraram na DDM de Goiânia, noa anos de 1999 e 2000. Os dados mostram que é alta a frequência tanto da Lesão Corporal quanto da Ameaça (1999 = 885; 2000 = 1833), bem como que há um aumento siginificativo de um ano para outro, o que corrobora com o encontrado na literatura. Os resultados mostram que as vítimas têm idade que varia de 15 a 55 anos, estão em união consensual (57,6%) ou legal (42,4%), cerca de 60% exerce atividade remunerada e na maioria das vezes é ela própria quem faz a denúncia; por outro lado, há um número elevado de mulheres que relatam que a violência ocorre há bastante tempo, bem como de que já denunciaram em outros momentos, voltanto atrás por razões avariadas, que incluem até promessas de mudança de comportamento do marido/companheiro A discussão dos dados centra-se no levantamento de possíveis interpretações quer para o aumento da violência doméstica, salientando as questões ligadas à ampla distribuição etária das vítimas, indicando um fenômeno que perdura, às diferenças na educação do homem e da mulher e o poder que é, em geral, atribuído a ele, à escolaridade e à oportunidade de obtenção de trabalho para cada um dos sexos e finalmente, quais fatores poderiam ser os responsáveis pelo fato de que a grande maioria das mulheres vítimas de violência doméstica, que fazem a denúncia, logo a seguir desistem dela, retirando sua queixa, voltando para a casa e vendo, depois de algum tempo, a situação de violência ser reiniciada, o que levanta a pergunta sobre qual seria, em verdade, a sua expectativa em relação à atuação da DDM. / This research has as objectives investigate the issue of violence, specifically the domestic violence against women. This investigation implies in identifying how violence is defined and what is observed, beginning with what is mentioned in the dictionary, which emphasizes three aspects: the quality of what is violent, the violent act itself and the act of violating - many are the point of views it is possible to glance from. It is possible to adopt the more general meaning of this concept, which is about an action that makes visible brutality, abuse, aggression, constraint and disrespect to another person. On the other hand, by having an objective of empirical research, it becomes necessary to bring into context and delimit the approach of this study. Literature has shown that many are the transformations that took place in the structure of the relations inside the family, in the conjugal bound, in the patterns of behavior and relationship between the genders. Although, all this changes seem to have altered very little the problem of domestic violence against women - which has more visibility nowadays, but still far from a clearer and deeper comprehension of this issue - what justifies that more investigations to be done. This research has as general objective analyze since the frequency of denounces of violence against women registered in police station specialized in defense of women (DDM) in the period of two years in a city of big size, until the variables connected to the features of the victims, the aggressor, the relation kept between the couples, the reasons of not following the lawsuit. The present research has a qualitative and descriptive approach, is based documents in which is registered the point of view of women who have gone through domestic violence perpetrated by husband/mate and pressed charges in the DDM of Goiânia in the years of 1999 and 2000. Data show that the frequency is high both for Corporal Damage and Threaten (1999 - 885; 2000 - 1833) and that there is an expressive increase from the first year to the following - which corroborates what, was found in the literature. Results show that the victims has age from 15 to 55 years, being in non-legalized unions (57,6%) ou civil marriage (42,4%), nearly 60% work in paid activities, and in most of times it is the woman herself who makes the denounce. On the other hand, there are a high number of women who mention that the violence has been occurring for a long time, and the they had already denounced in the past, changing their minds for various reasons, including until promises of change of behavior made by the husband/mate. The discussion of the data collected focuses in the survey of possible interpretations for the increase of domestic violence, emphasizing the issues connected to the wide age distribution of the victims, pointing to a phenomena that remains, despite the differences in the education of man and woman and the power which is imputed to him, the scholarship and opportunity of getting a job for each gender and finally, which factors may be the reasons of the fact that most part of women, who are victim of domestic violence, that press charges, in little time give up and quit it, going back home and seeing, in little time, the situation of violence begin once again, what makes the question of what would be the true expectation towards the actuation of the DDM.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Ewing (1997) states that battered women who kill intimate male partners have not been the subject of much systematic research. In fact, Wilbanks (in Adinkrah, 2000) laments the lack of a systematic description of the patterns and trends of homicide by women. Furthermore, as with most studies of crime, the majority of the emerging research on women and lethal crime has focused on the United States and Great Britain (Adinkrah, 2000). There has been relatively little research directed towards the study of female homicide in small, third world countries. Research on women and intimate partner homicide in developing countries is sorely needed if criminal justice professionals are to realise the quest to understand homicide more fully and to formulate a conceptually broad and cross culturally valid theory of female homicide (Adinkrah, 2000). Furthermore, violence against women is a devastating social problem which commonly occurs in developing societies where gender roles are strictly defined and enforced (Ogbuji, 2004). Domestic violence becomes even more of a social concern when it leads to intimate partner violence. Prior research conducted on homicide committed by women suggests that when a woman kills a male partner it is often in response to a pattern of physical abuse at the hands of their mates (Adinkrah, 2000). The purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the small but hopefully growing body of research on battered women incarcerated for killing a male intimate partner. The Department of Correctional Services indicates that there are currently 163 women imprisoned for killing a male intimate partner. Yet the psychological issues surrounding female murderers go largely unexplored (Dept. of Correctional Services, personal communication, September 6, 2002). The aims of the study were as follows: • To form a biographical profile of a typical woman who kills her male intimate partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To form a personality profile of a typical literate woman who kills her male intimate partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To form a literacy profile of the typical literate abused woman who kills an intimate male partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To compare women who employ a third party to commit the murder with women who commit the murder themselves in order to identify any significant differences between the two groups on either a contextual or personality level. • To formulate possible guidelines for a rehabilitation program suited to this group of women. • Finally, to describe two participants’ unique narratives to informally highlight possible themes as well as add context and depth to the quantitative findings of the study.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The right for every woman to live free of violence is one of the basic human rights. Nevertheless, this right is still subject to violation on a massive and systematic scale around the world. At least one of three women around the world has reported been physical, sexual and emotional abuse by an intimate partner in her lifetime. Although, gender inequalities and discrimination are considered as the underlying factors of domestic violence, little is known about the contributions of the presence of sons and daughters at home, age, gender, education, marital status, working status, place of residence. Despite the fact that recommendations have been made both at the international and national levels to reduce intimate female abuse, the issue is still rampant in developing countries. The aim of this study was to identify and compare the impact of women’s socio-economic and demographic characteristics on domestic violence across seven countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Haiti, Liberia, Moldova, Nepal and Philippines). Frequencies and bivariate analyses were performed using the latest Demographic Health Surveys from 2005 to 2011. The findings established that on average 33.37 percent of women across the seven countries are abused. Domestic violence is a high concern in Cameroon. The educational level still remains a predicting factor of domestic violence across the countries under investigation except in Liberia. The number of living children was also identified as a predicting factor across the studied countries. Finally, a woman having a son or a daughter at home is more likely to expose the woman to intimate violence in Cameroon, Haiti, Moldova, Nepal and Philippines. All the countries are entrenched in a culture of male domination whereby women lack the freedom to decide on marital issues. As a recommendation, the government of each of the studied countries should be more proactive in reinforcing judicial system, policies and education that will help to curb the scourge of domestic violence. Furthermore, improving the level of literacy for women and educating men as the perpetrators of domestic violence will go a long way in abating this social ill.

Magister Public Health - MPH / The aim of this research was to describe the role of Community Health Workers, in the Mitanin Programme, in addressing social determinants of health in Chhattisgarh State of India, with the view to identify the pathways for strengthening and making recommendations on this aspect of the CHW’s work for existing or future CHW programmes. A comparative case study design using qualitative research methods was adopted for the study, with the sample comprising of two case studies of action on social determinants by CHWs. The definition of a case was ‘successful action by a CHW (Mitanin) or team of CHWs (Mitanins) on nutrition or violence against women in the village or cluster of villages for which the CHW/s are responsible’. The sampling of the cases followed the ‘replication logic’, that is, examination of similar cases to draw general lessons. Data collection was undertaken through In-depth Individual Interviews and Group Interviews with CHWs, community members and programme staff that participated with the CHWs in, and also benefitted from, their action on social determinants. Respondents were identified through a process of snowball sampling. Seventeen in-depth interviews and ten group interviews (total 27) were conducted as part of the study. A broad conceptual framework of the factors facilitating and constraining the action on social determinants by the CHWs, along with the pathways for action on social determinants by the CHWs, along with the pathways for action on social determinants by CHWs and their role, was developed at the start of the research. The analysis was done using this conceptual framework, which was refined during analysis, resulting in an explanatory framework. The analysis was two-fold. Firstly, both cases were analysed and written up separately and then they were analysed together in order to draw cross case conclusions. Thematic analysis was undertaken. Ethical Clearance was obtained from the UWC Senate Research Committee and permission was obtained from the State Health Resource Center, the body coordinating the Mitanin Programme in Chhattisgarh. A Participant Information Sheet and Informed consent forms for both the individual and the group interviews were prepared and administered. The form for the group interview included a confidentiality-binding clause. The study showed that the Mitanins in Durgkondal and Manendragarh (the Blocks under study) had effectively and successfully addressed the issues of nutrition and xvii violence against women as social determinants, in a manner visualized in the initial programme documents. Despite threats to the autonomy of the programme, pressures to formalise the Mitanin’s role, and backlash from vested interests, such action remained sustained, nearly ten years since the start of the programme.