Anthropology at the Front Lines of Gender-based Violence

257 Pages·2011·0.73 MB·English

by  Jennifer R. Wies

Anthropology
at the
Front Lines of
Gender-Based
Violence
Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary J. Haldane, Editors
Anthropology
at the Front Lines
of Gender-Based Violence

Anthropology
at the Front Lines
of Gender-Based Violence
Edited by Jennifer R. Wies
and Hillary J. Haldane
Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville
© 2011 by Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee 37235
All rights reserved
First printing 2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper made
from 30% post-consumer recycled content.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anthropology at the front lines of gender-based violence/
Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary J. Haldane, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8265-1780-7 (cloth edition : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8265-1781-4 (pbk. edition : alk. paper)
1. Violence—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Women—Violence
against—Cross-cultural studies. 3. Abused women—Cross-
cultural studies. 4. Domestic violence—Cross-cultural
studies. I. Wies, Jennifer R. II. Haldane, Hillary J.
GN495.2.A567 2011
303.6'2—dc22
2010040505
This book is dedicated to all frontline workers
who respond to and prevent gender-based violence:
Your tireless efforts transform thousands of lives.

Contents

Acknowledgments ix
1 Ethnographic Notes from the Front Lines
of Gender-Based Violence 1
Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary J. Haldane
2 Disparity in Disasters: A Frontline View of Gender-
Based Inequities in Emergency Aid and Health Care 19
Roxane Richter
3 Participant and Observer: Reflections on Fieldwork
in a Women’s Shelter in Tokyo, Japan 29
Sharman L. Babior
4 Crafting Community through
Narratives, Images, and Shared Experience 51
Stephanie J. Brommer
5 “We Couldn’t Just Throw Her in the Street”:
Gendered Violence and Women’s Shelters in Turkey 71
Kim Shively
6 Institutional Resources (Un)Available:
The Effects of Police Attitudes and Actions
on Battered Women in Peru 91
M. Cristina Alcalde
7 Child Welfare and Domestic Violence Workers’
Cultural Models of Domestic Violence:
An Ethnographic Examination 107
Cyleste C. Collins
8 Gender-Based Violence: Perspectives
from the Male European Front Line 129
Uwe Jacobs
9 Cultural Politics of a Global/Local Health Program
for Battered Women in Vietnam 139
Lynn Kwiatkowski
10 Global Civil Society and the Local Costs of
Belonging: Defining Violence against Women
in Russia 165
Julie Hemment
11 Memorializing Murder, Speaking Back to the State 191
Belinda Leach
12 Laliti, Compassionate Savior:
The Hidden Archaeology of Founding a Shelter 211
Jamila Bargach
Contributors 223
Index 227
viii
Acknowledgments
This volume grew from a conversation in a hotel coffee shop in Vancouver,
British Columbia, in 2006 during the Society for Applied Anthropology
meetings. We were both finishing our dissertations and felt fortunate to
connect with another anthropologist committed to the issue of gender-
based violence. While the field has grown rapidly in the past few years, our
own literature reviews were constructed largely of accounts by sociologists,
psychologists, and social workers. We believe that anthropology has much
to contribute to this important field of study, and this book is a result
of our shared passion to ultimately eliminate gender-based violence. We
came to this topic from our own experiences on the front lines, work-
ing in emergency shelters as victim advocates and hotline volunteers. We
have personally felt the adrenaline rush and nausea that can overwhelm
one when driving to a hospital emergency room or police station in the
middle of the night to assist a survivor of violence. In that coffee shop
we commiserated over our common frustrations with a safety net of care
that sometimes appeared to have more holes than thread, and how our
prevention efforts seemed to fall short. But we were energized by the spirit
of humanity and compassion that cuts across the various sectors of the
front line, across communities, and even nation-states. We convinced each
other that Anthropology at the Front Lines of Gender-Based Violence was the
much-needed next step to the contributions in anthropology focusing on
gender-based violence.
The workers whose stories are presented in this book deserve attention,
support, and appreciation. We cannot thank all the workers by name, but
we hope that you find the stories told here to be a faithful rendition of
your thoughts and work. On behalf of our colleagues, and the survivors to
whom you devote your energies, thank you for your labor, devotion, and
care.
Many colleagues have supported our efforts through the years. Three
ix