“Practicing” Social Services And “Practicing” Anthropology: a Dual Perspective On Trauma-Informed Domestic Violence Care

Abstract

As the field of domestic violence social services evolves in the United States, anthropology has much to contribute in directing these services towards equitable models of care. While the current trend towards “trauma-informed care” may at times be in tension with feminist concerns around the professionalization of this work, this field is at a crucial moment of transition. Using the author's perspective as a former practitioner alongside her ethnographic training, this research provides insight into how front-line workers can successfully negotiate between these professionalized realities and their necessary ground-level work. Moreover, the author's dual perspective highlights the potential for shared goals between “practitioners” of social services and “practitioners” of ethnography.

Capacitating care: Activist anthropology in ethnographies of gender‐based violence

“…I want to dwell on this attention to care, particularly care as a practice in feminist ethnography. Caring about the vulnerable, and conditions of vulnerability, has meant that feminist anthropologists working in contexts of GBV often adopt dual roles as researchers and hotline advocates, rape crisis activists, and shelter managers (Beske 2016; Bloom 2018; Cox 2015; Davis 2006; Mulla 2014). This positioning as anthropologist qua advocate often occurs on the “front lines” with caregivers and service providers (Chakraborty 2018; Wies and Haldane 2011), taking up the trainings and tools that practitioners use when working with survivors.…”