Vold, køn og kultur – en etnografisk tilgang

Abstract

Violence, gender and culture – an ethnographic approach. This article explores how an ethnographic approach to the study of violence against women (VAW) can provide insight into a particular gender culture with particular gender logic(s). The empirical data come from a study the authors have done on VAW in ethnic minority families in Denmark. The analytical framework consists of four analytical perspectives: the perception of violence, the continuum of violence,the triangle of violence and the context of violence. The main findings are: An ethnographic approach contributes with a unique ‘insider’ perspective, which makes it possible to get insight into the gender-cultural logic(s) of violence while putting these into play with general features of VAW and ethnographic context. VAW emphasizes a particular gender order by disciplining women. In that sense violence serves as an arena for the construction of gender.

Silenced Husbands

“…Although Charsley has reported elsewhere a case of a young man returned to Pakistan by his in-laws within months of his arrival in Britain (2005), vulnerabilities stemming from immigration status were not a key theme of the British research. In contrast, several Turkish interviewees reported having been threatened with “not getting the passport”—a threat which has more commonly reported as leveled against migrant wives seeking to leave violent husbands (Danneskiold-Samsøe, Mørck, and Sørensen 2011; Wilson 2007). This extended dependency seems central to understanding the quite radically disempowered situations of some Turkish interviewees.…”

“…Attempts have also been made to draw attention to the plight of isolated immigrant wives vulnerable to domestic abuse but risking deportation if they leave their marriage. In both countries, this has resulted in concessions exempting victims of domestic violence from the need for the marriage to endure a probationary period before settlement is granted—although the difficulties of proving domestic violence mean that the concession is less easily accessed in practice (Danneskiold-Samsøe, Mørck, and Sørensen 2011; Wilson 2007).…”