Representing Gender-Based Violence: Literature, Performance and Activism in the Anglophone Caribbean

2013年世界卫生组织的一项研究发现，全球35%的妇女经历过亲密伴侣暴力或性侵犯，全球南方的低收入和中等收入国家受到的影响不成比例。世界卫生组织和联合国将性别暴力作为全球公共卫生危机提出，在加勒比英语国家尤其普遍，这些国家报告的强奸和杀害妇女事件发生率在世界上最高。仇视同性恋和变性者的暴力行为也被视为该区域的一个紧迫人权问题。尽管近年来在加勒比英语国家启动了专门打击基于性别的暴力的政府方案，但这仍然是该区域的一个关键问题。关于基于性别的暴力的研究主要以社会科学为基础，最近已从侧重于个人的战略，如为受害者提供支助服务、加强妇女的安全和与肇事者合作，转向更广泛地侧重于产生基于性别的暴力的社会文化背景和结构性不平等。相应的政策转向了初级预防（一种旨在预防性别暴力发生的方法），2015年，联合国呼吁在全球范围内增加初级预防计划。尽管目前的重点在GBV的研究，行动主义和GBV的文化背景和需要的“文化变革”的政策，有没有持续的学术工作，文学和文化生产如何反映的规范和态度，支持GBV，或其潜力，批评这些规范，改变态度，并产生变化。此外，关于基于性别的暴力的研究主要侧重于全球北方妇女的经历，该项目将通过分析二十一世纪世纪加勒比文学和表演文化塑造、强化或抵制关于基于性别的暴力的主流观点和叙述的复杂方式，来弥补这些差距。牙买加舞厅文化的性别动态，一个曾经与厌女症和同性恋恐惧症有关的流派，正在发生变化。此外，由PI领导的一项试点研究发现，女艺术家创作的一批新的soca歌曲正在挑战性别角色和规范，特立尼达的一场蓬勃发展的口语运动在处理性暴力、亲密伴侣暴力、仇视同性恋的暴力和有毒的男性气质等问题方面开辟了新的天地，加勒比小说的语料库也在不断扩大，戏剧和诗歌，批判性地涉及性别暴力的主题。研究还发现，越来越多的加勒比作家和音乐家在现场活动和通过社交媒体参与关于性别暴力的公开辩论。该项目将调查使用这些美学形式作为反对性别暴力的活动场所，同时也产生新的创造性工作。该项目团队将与作家、口语诗人、舞厅艺术家和表演艺术团体合作，通过以下举措让年轻人参与反性别暴力活动：1.一个面向该地区30岁以下作家的小说和诗歌委员会; 2.）在特立尼达的三所学校举办为期五周的系列讲习班，60名年龄在13至17岁之间的学生将观看、讨论和表演一个口语文字游戏，并编写自己的剧本; 3.）在牙买加的三所学校举办了为期五周的系列讲习班，60名13至17岁的学生将编写、表演和录制舞厅歌曲，这些歌曲将被整理成一个开放式数字档案。产出将包括一本小说和诗歌选集、一本附有导言、说明和综合促进指南的口头文字游戏《共同理由》注释版、一个关于以表演艺术方式进行基于性别的暴力教育的工具包、一本期刊特刊和期刊文章。这项研究将使直接参与的中学生、合作组织和创意从业者以及该地区内外的广大公众受益，他们将能够获得该项目的现场、印刷和数字输出。

A 2013 World Health Organisation study found that globally, 35% of women have experienced intimate partner violence or sexual assault, and low to middle income countries of the global South are disproportionately affected. Presented by the WHO and the UN as a global public health crisis, GBV is particularly pervasive in Anglophone Caribbean countries, which have some of the highest rates of reported rape and feminicide in the world. Homophobic and transphobic violence is also regarded as an urgent human rights issue in the region. Despite the launch, in recent years, of government programmes in the Anglophone Caribbean dedicated to combatting GBV, it remains a critical issue in the region. Research on GBV, which is mainly social science based, has recently shifted from strategies which focus on individuals, such as developing support services for victims, enhancing women's safety and working with perpetrators, to a broader focus on the sociocultural contexts and structural inequalities which generate GBV. There has been a corresponding policy shift towards primary prevention (an approach which aims to prevent GBV before it occurs), and in 2015 the UN called for an increase in primary prevention programmes globally. Despite the current emphasis in GBV research, activism and policy on the cultural contexts of GBV and the need for a 'culture change', there is no sustained scholarly work on how literary and cultural production reflects the norms and attitudes which underpin GBV, or on its potential to critique those norms, transform attitudes, and generate change. Additionally, research on GBV has focused primarily on the experiences of women in the global North.The project will address these gaps by analysing the complex ways in which twenty-first century Caribbean literary and performance cultures shape, reinforce or resist dominant perspectives on and narratives of GBV. The gender dynamics of Jamaican dancehall culture, a genre once associated with misogyny and homophobia, are changing. Moreover, a pilot study led by the PI identified an emerging body of soca songs by female artists which are challenging gender roles and norms, a thriving spoken word movement in Trinidad which is breaking new ground in its treatment of issues such as sexual violence, intimate partner violence, homophobic violence and toxic masculinities, and an expanding corpus of Caribbean fiction, drama and poetry which critically engages with the topic of GBV. The study also found that increasing numbers of Caribbean writers and musicians are participating in public debate on GBV both at live events and via social media. The project will investigate the use of these aesthetic forms as sites of activism against GBV, while also generating new creative work. Working with writers, spoken word poets, dancehall artists and performing arts collectives, the project team will engage young people in anti-GBV activism through the following initiatives: 1.) a fiction and poetry commission targeted at writers under 30 from across the region; 2.) a five-week workshop series in three schools in Trinidad where 60 students aged 13-17 will watch, discuss and perform a spoken word play and produce their own scripts; 3.) a five-week workshop series in three schools in Jamaica where 60 students aged 13-17 will write, perform and record dancehall songs, which will be collated into an open access digital archive. Outputs will include a fiction and poetry anthology, an annotated edition of the spoken word play Common Grounds with an introduction, notes and an integrated facilitation guide, a toolkit on performing arts approaches to GBV education, a journal special issue, and journal articles. The research will benefit the secondary school students who are directly involved, the collaborating organisations and creative practitioners, and the wider public within and beyond the region who will have access to the project's live, print and digital outputs.