CULTURE & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
“Culture” is used by our communities to explain and
justify violence against women. These claims are based on frozen,
male-defined ideas of culture under the guise of upholding tradition.
“Cultural freeze” associated with immigration is common
in women and men, but when used to condone domestic violence it
becomes destructive. “Cultural defenses” comes next:
“people in my culture behave this way and believe women should
be treated this way, so it is alright for me to do so”. Supposedly,
these claims are defending the culture of the home country (be it
Azerbaijan, Vietnam, etc.). What is in fact being defended is the
culture of patriarchy in the home country. These defenses protect
how patriarchy is expressed and reinforced in the home country in
order to justify gender inequity and violence. We aim here to examine
conventional notions of culture and resist its patriarchal traditions
of misogyny.
Gender Violence and Cultures of Patriarchy
Proceedings from the National Summit on Domestic Violence in Asian
and Pacific Islander Communities, June 2002.
Building Human Rights through Popular Culture
By Mallika Dutt
Breakthrough is an international group that seeks
to raise awareness about human rights through popular culture and
education. We believe that it is important to reach out to a general
public and begin a dialogue about violence against women and human
rights. For example, by raising the issues of domestic violence
through a music album and music videos, Breakthrough is able to
reach millions of people across South Asia and other parts of the
world.
Read more...
Culture: What It Is, Who Owns It, Claims It,
Changes It
By Sujata Warrier
Understanding Culture
The term “culture” and culture itself have been studied
for several centuries. Much of what we understand of the term comes
from the formulations of Western colonialists and the participation
of colonized people in accepting these formulations. As a result,
we have come to understand cultures to be very stable patterns of
beliefs, thoughts, traditions, values, and the things that are handed
down from one generation to the next to ensure the continuity of
these systems.
Read more...
Colonization and violence against women
By Val Kalei Kanuha
Introduction
Hawaii is an island nation that was colonized by the United States
in 1893. It was not until the very end of the 20th century that
then President Bill Clinton apologized to the Hawaiian people, but
given the damage that has been done, it was a little late. My comments
are based on my understanding of the institution of colonization
as it has occurred in the Hawaiian nation and in the Hawaiian Islands.
Most of us, especially as Asians and Pacific Islanders, have experienced
or know about the effects of colonization in our countries of origin.
In this discussion of colonization, I would like us to think in
terms of the domination of a particular nation, community, society
or peoples by a foreign or outside nation, society, force or country.
To have been colonized is to have been dominated, to have been taken
over systematically, institutionally, historically, and politically
as a nation of people by another nation of people, usually from
the outside but not always.
Read more...
Cultural Defenses in the Criminal Legal System
By Leti Volpp
Culture and the Legal System
The context in which many of us may have interacted with the legal
system around the question of culture may have to do with questions
of child welfare and with immigration. For example, we may have
filled out affidavits on behalf of battered women concerning cancellation
or removal. We may have helped with visa petitions. Affidavits may
have been written for women who are seeking gender based asylum
or asylum for other reasons. Affidavits may have also been written
on behalf of women fleeing persecution in other countries. We also
are interacting with the legal system around criminal cases and
cases involving inter-personal violence.
Read more...
Mallika Dutt showed her award-winning music video Mann Ke Manjeere
(Rhythms of the Mind) and linked anti-violence struggles to a human
rights framework. Sujata Warrier elaborated on traditional and contemporary
views of culture, questioning who defines ‘culture’
and justifies its practices. Val Kalei Kanuha stripped away the
claims that colonization is to blame for domestic violence and strengthened
her argument by drawing parallels between the strategies of colonizers
and those used by men who batter. Leti Volpp analyzed the use of
‘cultural defenses’ in our communities and in the courts
by raising questions about our role in spreading notions of culture
and negotiating between sexism and racism. The panelists presented
ideas for examination and critique, to be viewed in their complicated
forms, to be contested, and used as points of discussion.
Download the Proceedings from
the National Summit on Domestic Violence in API Communities in PDF
Culture | Fatalities | Children | Trafficking | Interpretation
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