Conference article

Conversations Across Borders: Men and Honour Violence in U.K. and Sweden

Suruchi Thapar-Björkert
Department of Sociology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Download article

Published in: Inter: A European Cultural Studies : Conference in Sweden 11-13 June 2007

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 25:62, p. 615-631

Show more +

Published: 2007-11-27

ISBN:

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

The media; in particular; in U.K. and Sweden has been implicated in disseminating decontexualised discourses; which define; construct and represent the ethnic minority communities (for example; the Turkish-Kurdish; Iraqi-Kurdish or Pakistani Muslims) as ‘violent’ and locate the issue of honour violence as a ‘cultural’ problem. A corollary to this understanding is that honour related violence (HRV) is conceptualised as irreconcilable differences between cultural values of some ethnic groups and the values of Western society. Sociologists and anthropologists have departed from these approaches and highlighted the prevalence of gendered and sexualised violence in the white Swedish and British populations but which is not approached or analysed in a culturalist and essentialist manner. These debates and rebuttals have placed honour violence at the centre stage of government and non-government attempts at combating gendered violence. However; one of the central arguments of the paper is that analysis on honour violence has inadvertently focused on men as ‘perpetrators’ and women as ‘victims’ of violence. This paper argues and departs from such analyses on two levels- first; in order to analyse the political and social complexity of honour violence; we need to look at the various subject positions that women as well as men occupy in relation to HRV: as perpetrators; as witnesses; victims and as combatants. Second; all measures to combat violence need to engage men. In relation to the latter; the paper will engage with the ongoing work of the Sharaf Heroes in Sweden (Sharaf Hjältar).

Keywords

No keywords available

References

Akpinar, Aylin (2003), ’The Honour/Shame Complex re-visited: Violence Against Women in the Migration Context’ in Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol.26, No.5, 425-442.

Berg, Lise (2004), ’Swedish Government Initiatives to Help Young people at Risk of Honour Related Violence’ in Violence in the Name of Honour: Theoretical and Political Challenges’, ed. By Shahrzad Mojab and Nahla Abdo, Istanbul Bilgi University Press.

Berkowitz, Alan. D. (2004), Working with men to prevent violence against women: An overview, VAWnet (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence), http://www.alanberkowitz.com/articles/VAWNET.pdf.

Connell, R.W (2003, Oct-21-24) The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality’. From the Expert Group Meeting on ’The role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality (no.EGM/MEN-boys-GE/2003/bp.10.Brasilia, Brazil: United Nations Divison for the Advancement of Women.

Crooks Claire (et al), (2007), ‘Engaging Men and Boys in Preventing Violence Against Women: Applying a Cognitive-Behavioral Model, Violence Against Women, Vol.13, No.3, pp.217-239.

De los Reyes, Paulina (2003) Patriarkala enklaver eller ingenmansland: våld, hot och kontroll av unga kvinnor i Sverige, Integrationsverket, Norrköping.

Eduards, Maud (1997) The Women´s shelter movement I: Gustafsson, G (red) Towards a new democratic order? : Women’s organizing in Sweden in the 1990s Stockholm: Publica: Nordstedts.

Eldén, Åsa (2003) Heder på liv och död : våldsamma berättelser om rykten, oskuld och heder Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.

Eldén, Åsa (2004), Life and Death Honour: Young Women’s Violent Stories About Reputation, Virginity and Honour- in a Swedish Context’, In Shahrzad Mojab and Nahla Abdo (eds). Violence in the Name of Honour: Theoretical and Political Challenges, Istanbul University Press.

Galtung, Johan (1969), ‘Violence, Peace, and Peace Research’, Journal of Peace Research, Vo.6, No.3, 167-191.

Galtung Johan., 1996 Peace by peaceful means. Peace and conflict, development and civilization, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Sage Publications. See also Galtung, Violence and its Causes, Paris:UNESCO, 1981.

Gupta, Rahila (2003), ’A veil drawn over brutal crimes’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1054858,00.html.

Hearn Jeff (1998), The Violences of Men: How Men Talk and How Agencies Respond to Men’s Violence to Women, Sage: London.

Hester, Marianne, 2004, Future Trends and Developments: Violence against Women in Europe and East Asia, in Violence Against Women, vol.10, No.12, pp1431-1448.

Kaufman, M (2001), Building a movement of men working to end violence against women’, Development, 44(3), 9-14.

Kaufman, M (1994), Cracking the Armour: Power, Pain and the lives of Men, Toronto, Canada:Penguin.

Keeler, Laura ed. (2001), Recommendations of the E.U. expert meeting on violence against women (Reports of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2000:13), Helsinki, Finland: Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Kamali, Masoud (2004) “Media, experter och rasismen” (red) Larsson, Stig & Englund, Cecilia Debatten om hedersmord – Feminism eller rasism Svartvitts förlag Expo, Stockholm.

Kurkiala Mikael (2003), ‘Interpreting honour Killings: The story of Fadime Sahindal in the Swedish Press.(1975-2002), Anthropology Today, Vol.19, No.1.

Keeler, Laura (ed). (2001), Recommendations of the E.U. expert meeting on violence against women (Reports of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2000:13), Helsinki, Finland: Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Mulinari, Diana (2004) ’Hon dog for hon ville bli svensk’ in Larsson, Steig etal Debatten om Hedersmord: Feminism eller racism? Stockholm: Svartvitt, pp72-92.

Narayan, Uma (2000), ’Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism’ in Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding (eds)’Decentering the Centre: Philosophy for a Multicultural, Post-Colonial and Feminist World, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis.

Odeh Abu-, (1997) ’Comparatively speaking: The ’Honour’ of the East’ and the Passion of the West, Utah Law Review, pp.287-307.

Schlytter, Astrid (2004) Rätten att själv få välja Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Sen, Amartya. (1999) ‘Development as freedom’, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, cited in State of World Population Report 2000.

Sundaram, V and Jackson, S (2006), ’Upholding the myth of masculinity: The Gnedered production of Violence Victims’, in Violence Victimisation as a gender specific process: Phd thesis.

Wikan, Unni (2003) En fråga om heder Ordfront förlag.

Citations in Crossref