Othering Honor-Based Violence

The Perspective of Antiviolence Operators in Northern Italy

Bibliographic Data

ID18948492
AuthorsMarina Della Rocca (corresponding author), Dorothy Louise Zinn (0000-0002-1403-985X)
Year2019
Volume78
Issue4
Pages325-334
Publication date2019-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7259 • E-ISSN: 1938-3517
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.17730/0018-7259.78.4.325
OpenAlexW2991448865
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited17

In recent years, so-called honor-based violence has become a major issue for the operators of the women's shelters in South Tyrol (Northern Italy) that support women who have suffered from domestic violence. The antiviolence operators who work in the women's shelters generally relate this form of violence to the experiences of young migrant-origin women. In this article, we discuss the operators' definitions of honor-based violence, which present a variety of dichotomous categories that reveal a process of othering and evoke the lexicon of the international conventions on gender discrimination and gender-based violence. Indeed, some traces of an essentialist understanding of culture are still recognizable in this lexicon, most of all in the relationship of culture with the concept of honor. We conclude by identifying possible ways to overcome the risk of essentialization in the antiviolence operators' practices, suggesting how to redefine them by incorporating the migrant-origin women's perspectives and stressing the significance of this study for a wider understanding of the women's empowerment in the advocacy work of the women's shelters

Criminology · Empowerment · Essentialism · Honor · Lexicon · Linguistics · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics) · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law

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