| Summary: |
The aim of this research project is the investigation of gender violence, specifically as it occurs in intimate relationships, in terms of three key facets: firstly, the assessment of social and institutional support for female victims/ survivors of domestic violence; secondly, the exploration of the life stories of victims/ survivors of domestic violence; and thirdly, the co-construction of social networks that could facilitate support, awareness and collective action for social change. As this will involve research on the experiences of both Portuguese and migrant women across different generations living in three different regions of Portugal (Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon/Setúbal, Viana do Castelo), this study furthermore intends to build on existing knowledge, by addressing areas in which investigation is particularly scant. Given the persistent and pervasive occurence of domestic violence in Portugal, this study could make a critical contribution to understanding the processes that sustain this phenomenon as well as possible interventions required to eradicate it. Moreover, it could offer a space where the voices of women can be expressed and heard. The methodological aproach of the study will primarily be qualitative. However, quantitative data will also be collected during the first phase of the project, namely with regards to the assessment of support services and shelters for victims/ survivors, but also with nonspecific institutions as health centers, social security centers, hospitals, courts, etc. Mainly this assessment will entail semi-structured individual interviews with both staff members and clients of these institutions and organisations. The second part of the project will involve using a life story approach to gain extensive material on the lived experiences of participants and concommitant processes of meaning-making, specifically (but not exlusively) on the dynamics of victimization and autonomy. These life narratives will be constructed in collab  |
Summary
The aim of this research project is the investigation of gender violence, specifically as it occurs in intimate relationships, in terms of three key facets: firstly, the assessment of social and institutional support for female victims/ survivors of domestic violence; secondly, the exploration of the life stories of victims/ survivors of domestic violence; and thirdly, the co-construction of social networks that could facilitate support, awareness and collective action for social change. As this will involve research on the experiences of both Portuguese and migrant women across different generations living in three different regions of Portugal (Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon/Setúbal, Viana do Castelo), this study furthermore intends to build on existing knowledge, by addressing areas in which investigation is particularly scant. Given the persistent and pervasive occurence of domestic violence in Portugal, this study could make a critical contribution to understanding the processes that sustain this phenomenon as well as possible interventions required to eradicate it. Moreover, it could offer a space where the voices of women can be expressed and heard. The methodological aproach of the study will primarily be qualitative. However, quantitative data will also be collected during the first phase of the project, namely with regards to the assessment of support services and shelters for victims/ survivors, but also with nonspecific institutions as health centers, social security centers, hospitals, courts, etc. Mainly this assessment will entail semi-structured individual interviews with both staff members and clients of these institutions and organisations. The second part of the project will involve using a life story approach to gain extensive material on the lived experiences of participants and concommitant processes of meaning-making, specifically (but not exlusively) on the dynamics of victimization and autonomy. These life narratives will be constructed in collaboration with partcipants through in-depth individual interviews in a dialogical context. The third part of this research will center on conscientization, the mobilization of resources and the building of support networks, based on focus group discussions and the results of the first two lines of the project. Through the use of gender as central analytical concept - how gender operates in the everyday lives of women; how it emerges in processes of victimization and autonomization; and how it interacts with other social markers of identity (age, class, ethnicity, religion) - this investigation will offer a critical consideration of domestic violence within its broader social, political, cultural and historical situatedness, thus making way for social action and ultimately social transformation. By including the personal life stories of victims/ survivors in this endeavour, this research also hopes to give way to an impassioned knowing of women's subjective experiences and tellings of love, fear and power. |