The aim of this study was to conduct a discourse analysis of how school and social services professionals talk about/explains honour-related violence and oppression. The analysis was complemented by an intersectional perspective. The study was conducted through semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight people working in schools and social services. The material from the interviews was analyzed through Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework and intersectional theory. We concluded that the discourse about honour-related violence should be understood as multi-faceted. The complexity of the discourse is exemplified by the different positions and the consequences these risk to lead to. We found a difference in how the school and social services staff explain and give content to honour-related violence and oppression. School staff had a tendency to explain honour-related violence and oppression as something which only occurs in certain cultures. Social services staff, on the other hand, wanted to explain honour-related violence as a universal oppression against women. Our study shows that honour-related violence and oppression are primarily understood as men as perpetrators of violence and women as victims. A view that renounces women as perpetrators and men as victims. Through this study it is possible to understand the problem of finding a definition of honour-related violence and oppression, and why it is so debated. We propose future studies concerning young people's experiences of living in a context characterized by honour-related violence and oppression. We also propose research concerning HBTQ issues related to honour-related violence and oppression.

In this study I attempt to shed light on the experiences of the teacher researcher and university students who explored social justice issues in an art education course. The primary purpose of this study is to provide insights in teaching practice and students' learning processes when the course is designed to examine systems of oppression through class discussions and art-based assignments. The study delves into what challenges and rewards the teacher and students experience in an art class focusing on social injustice. I conducted this study in a semester-long art education course, where I taught as an instructor, with twelve university student participants. The questions that guided by study were: 1) How do I understand my experience of teaching social justice issues through art in an undergraduate art education course and what do I continue to learn from it?; 2) In what ways do undergraduate students navigate and learn about social justice issues through class discussions, writing and art-based assignments? I utilized two methodologies, autoethnography and case study, in order to provide in-depth descriptions of the participants' and my perspectives. The theoretical frame I used was critical race feminism, which highlights the intersectional experiences of females of color. For the autoethnographic study, I collected data from the artifacts I created during the study period including researcher’s journals, visual journals, and audio narratives. I also collected data from the participants, such as pre-course questionnaires, reading responses, reflection notes, personal narratives, peer interview responses, audio narratives, and final art projects. The findings of the study reflect different challenges and rewards that the student participants and I experienced in the university course on social justice art. Themes included student resistance, the teacher's self-doubt, the students' vague understanding of social justice, a difficulty to understand the concept of privilege, and the lack of hands-on activities. The participants also addressed significant learning moments including, learning about colorblindness, personal reflections about their own social identities in relation to systems of oppression, and various art-based assignments they created during the course. Both the participants and I found strong connections between the teacher and students, a sense of learning community, and student empowerment as the rewarding experiences. These findings suggest the need for teachers to reconsider the meaning of a safe space, student resistance, and the role of emotions when they teach social justice issues. Furthermore, the findings suggest that female teachers of color need to positively acknowledge our racial, sexual, cultural, and linguistic identities and envision our roles as border-crossers and agents of change.

By focusing on women’s lived experiences of family abuse, this thesis argues that state policy shows a lack of understanding of the nature of family abuse in one of Scotland’s largest minority communities: South Asian Muslims. Through a combination of a critical exploration of mainstream conceptualisations of domestic abuse, empirical research and policy analysis, I argue that by focusing on one-dimensional explanations such as gender and culture, state policy and some research evade the more practical and structural issues that operate against women. By adopting an intersectional approach, I focus on the complex interplay between factors such as socio-economic status and structural inequalities at the micro- and macro-levels bound up with experiences of family abuse. Through in-depth interviews with South Asian Muslim women, this thesis highlights the specificity and complexity of South Asian Muslim women’s experiences of family abuse within the home, framed through the impact of kinship structures and immigration status. Furthermore, my focus on the macro- as well as the micro-level brings to light structural inequalities and harmful policies, such as immigration rules, that act as additional constraints on women in abusive relationships. This thesis then examines women’s strategies and choices within abusive relationships by exploring the relationship between agency and oppression. I identify a crucial point: access to resources, such as economic support, ultimately shapes women’s strategies, including if, when and how to exit. I do not posit an overarching theory to explain family abuse, nor do I offer one key solution to the problem. I do, however, argue for nuanced and sensitive policymaking not only for South Asian women, but for all marginalised women, By underlining the specific experiences of one group of women I emphasis that needs are likely to differ in other groups of women.

Abstract This study aims at investigating how four different Swedish newspapers produce the phenomenon of honor, creating differences between "we and them" (our own quotation), as well as a summary of the differences between the newspapers'. This is to gain a deeper knowledge of the connection between the honour phenomenon and Swedish media. Method: Eight articles were collected based first on predetermined criteria and then by a random selection from all four newspapers. Analysis: The collected material was divided based on the issues as well as an thematization of the content and then analyzed in order to answer these questions. This study is based on an intersectional perspective with the following concepts: Culture, power, ethnicity, biological and social gender. Conclusion: The conclusions drawn in the following study are that the writers build their text content on factors that are represented as the causes of the honour-related violence. The most relevant factors are culture, religion and ethnicity, where the term gender also creates an additional dimension in the explanations of the honour phenomena. These explanations can further create a division between "we and them" (our own quotation). The victims of the articles are often made as weak and helpless as well as being young girls of different origins. The role of the villain becomes complex, as the practitioners themselves becomes the helper, while honour or culture takes the place as the main villain character in the content of the text. Even society is assigned a meaning through two different roles, patrons and the fraudulent rescuer. Based on this conclusion, a model was formed that might serve to clarify when it comes to the media's presentation of the relationship between the majority society and the victim of the honour violence. From this model, it becomes possible to understand the importance of self-awareness regarding attitudes in society and how it can further affect social work.

People of Africa have travelled a long way with discrimination oppression and abuse, more especially women married as second wives in a Polygamous marriage. They have been abused oppressed and discriminated in the church, in the family and in the community. This has happened for a very longtime due to a long time male dominance in the church and in the community. This has left the church crippled in the ministering of women more especially second wives married in a Polygamous marriages. The researcher aims to help our community to confess for the past sins and ask for forgiveness. The aim here is to help the church to see that culture and Christianity works together with the aim of having one culture as Mugambi states “It can be change” ( Mugambi J.N. 1997.14). by doing so it will be pleasing in God’s eyes and we will be blessed as Africans. The researcher focuses on how the Methodist Church of Sothern Africa can play a role in addressing issues faced by the second wives married in a Polygamous marriage so that they have dignity and human rights. How can the church deal with the trauma and pains caused by the church, the in Laws and the community more especially after the death of a husband, this will help the women’s married in a polygamous marriages to share their painful stories so that they can be helped, and accepted by the church and organizations in the church as full members. This research is a way of helping and educating the church to have compassion and love for the women’s married in a Polygamous marriage, and that will make the church to be christlike and that will be pleasing in God’s eyes and we will be blessed as Africans and as the people of God. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The aim of the study was to investigate the social service's approach and handling of cases related to honor-related violence and oppression. Furthermore, we wanted to map the boundary the social service makes between honor-related violence and oppression and violence in close relationships. In order to provide a detailed analysis of the aspects and questions that shall follow, a qualitative thematic analysis method has been used by conducting four semi-structured interviews with social secretaries from a social office in Sweden. The results showed that social secretaries define and manage honor-related violence and oppression in different ways. There is also no clear boundary between the phenomena, however, there are certain factors / motives in the respondents' responses that are of great importance to the social workers when they define honor-related violence and oppression. Some common underlying factors / motives are the collective or the nuclear family, culture or sexuality. It was also found that respondents often associate problems of honor with people of foreign origin. Another interesting observation worth highlighting was that several of the respondents did not really have any direct action plan or special guidelines to follow. In addition, the interviews showed that the most common intervention is family therapy and thus it is the first intervention offered.

Honour-related violence and oppression is a global problem that affects an enormous number of people. Identity formation is a critical development stage for young people and can be even more problematic when living in an honour-related culture within a modern-day Scandinavia. In this thesis, we focus on the narratives of two young men who highlight the complexity of living across two distinct cultural contexts, a parallel society in other words. We used narrative analysis to examine two autobiographies;one from aDanish setting, the other from a Swedish one. The study set out to examine what an honour culture is and how it affected the lives of the young men who tell their story. Our analysis shows that young men are also exposed to violence and oppression. As a result, they may suffer from various stresses, both physical and psychological, in the form of abuse, forced marriage and compulsory role assignments in the family and broader community. The study provides a clear picture of how life in a parallel society can turn out for young men and how their identity is affected in the process. Furthermore, our study highlights the lived experiences of the young men and examines the resilience required to break away from a culture that undermines one's ability to live an independent life.

It has been found that society sometimes fails to protect its citizens from being exposed to honor-related violence and oppression (HRV). A contributing factor is suggested to be lack of knowledge about HRV among practitioners within various fields of social work. This could inhibit practitioners’ ability to act on any signs of oppression among clients who may be exposed to HRV. The current thesis aims to explore this problem further by studying three projects which provide education on HRV to practitioners. Interviews have been conducted with both project managers and project participants in order to access experiences of incorporating education as a preventive factor of HRV, as well as access information on whether the target group, primarily children, have been affected by the work of the projects. The results show that informants respond differently to the term HRV which could infer limitations of the provided education. However, all informants agree that there is a need of education on HRV, especially in order to properly attend to clients who are perceived as pertain to a honor context. Some results show potential obstacles within preventive work against HRV. Such obstacles may be practitioners’ receptiveness to education, as well as practitioners’ perceived difficulties in attending to children between two cultures. All informants agree that education should be viewed as part of an long-term process of preventive work against HRV which needs continuous attention.

There are many cultures where honour is of central value, with strict ideas about how an individual should be and act. These are based on heteronormative views on gender and sexuality. This often effects lgbtq individuals because of their tendency to deviate from these norms. This results in them becoming victims of honour based violence. The aim of this thesis was to study social work practice with lgbtq individuals who are subject to honour based violence, with a focus on the practitioners’ experiences with this work as well as the types of support provided for this client group. To collect our data we interviewed practitioners who encounter lgbtq individuals living in an honour-centred context. Relevant research for this thesis is limited and often only covers either lgbtq related struggles or honour based violence. To analyse our data we used Erving Goffman’s theory of social stigma combined with research on these areas. The result shows that practitioners can see a certain vulnerability amongst these individuals because of their lgbtq identity and the honour-centred context that surrounds them. Heteronormativity also plays a large role in how the individual is viewed by their community and they often get stigmatized because of this. Practitioners explain how gender neutral language is of great importance when meeting the client group. They also highlight the lack of knowledge when it comes to working with this specific group. The amount of support available for and adapted to these individuals is also lacking, however, there is support provided for individuals affected by honour based violence which can also be accessed by those who identify as lgbtq.

This thesis investigates the everyday oppression of people with experiences of trauma and ‘mental illness’ through hegemonic discourses by psy-professionals within mental health care. The research is built around a case study of a narrative of a professional relationship between a social worker and a person experiencing mental distress. Using intersectionality as a theoretical and methodological framework it attempts to show how Madness is constructed as well as to identify how mechanisms of discrimination and oppression are interconnected simultaneously. Madness as a stand-alone category and at the same time an influence to gender, race and class. By applying narrative analysis and intersectionality systems of inequality can be made visible which need to be understood to bring about change and include any potential of meaning making processes by those affected through trauma or mental distress.