Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cross-cultural Models of Domestic Violence, Care, and the Family in Urban Settings

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

Domestic violence is a pervasive problem across the globe, producing physical, emotional, and psychological harm. The majority of the time this violence is perpetrated by men upon the women who are their spouses, domestic partners, or girlfriends, although we know from growing research that domestic violence also occurs within same-sex couples and other non-traditional family arrangements. When domestic violence first came to prominence in the United States, the focus was on helping and encouraging women to leave abusive relationships. However, we now recognize that leaving or staying are not the only two options for dealing with abuse. Family dynamics and social networks are more complex and flexible than this dichotomy suggests. Yet healthcare systems and other systems of social support persist in not finding the best ways to identify abuse and to assist women who do not wish to leave abusive relationships. In the United States, the problem is particularly acute for minority, immigrant, and refugee women whose ideas of family may not fit those of the mainstream. Therefore, research is needed on how cultural and social factors, such as the role of the extended family and expectations of spousal relationships, shape experiences of domestic violence so that the micro-processes involved can be understood theoretically and social support services and healthcare systems can respond effectively. Stanford University doctoral student Amrapali Maitra, under the supervision of Dr. Tanya Luhrmann, will undertake such research in the Indian city of Kolkata. She has chosen this as a research site because India has both high rates of domestic violence and clear cultural and social differentiations between those who are the receivers of assistance and those who seek to give assistance. In 2004-2005, the National Health and Family Survey found that about 40 percent of women across India experienced some form domestic violence. Domestic violence has been repeatedly shown to cut across lines of caste and class, but the stereotypical picture is that it is a problem of the poor. So the researcher will investigate what domestic violence means to the urban poor and to the middle class employees and social service providers who control the resources to assist them. The project will focus on two slum neighborhoods in Kolkata and the institutions of social support that exist in the surrounding areas. The investigator will assess three key areas: how men and women in Kolkata define domestic violence; how those definitions differ from how it is defined in the West, including the United States; how the medicalization of domestic violence in urban healthcare clinics and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) affects definitions and perceptions of violence; and how interactions between "victims" and institutional employees shape understandings of family, gender, and violence on both sides. She will conduct surveys in both neighborhoods to understand typical domestic arrangements, interactions and expectations between spouses, and the role of extended kin. She will also collect data through participant observation in clinics and other sites where women seek services for domestic violence, to understand where women draw the line between routine forms of violence and instances that require institutional help. Findings from this research will illuminate experiences of domestic violence in a place of both intense poverty and great resilience, and more broadly will illuminate how cultural ideas of family, kinship, and physical intimacy shape how different people think about domestic violence and how they aspire to resolve these moments of conflict and care for one another. These findings will be of use to those charged with creating effective policies and programs for dealing with domestic violence wherever it occurs, and to social scientists seeking to understand the changing but varied nature of the contemporary family in the world today.