VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN ASSAM - The Case of the Assam State Commission for Women

阿萨姆邦针对妇女的暴力行为 - 以阿萨姆邦妇女委员会为例

• 批准号: 2872984
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2872984
• 关键词: VIOLENCE; AGAINST; WOMEN; ASSAM; Case

A popular narrative passed down orally from older generations in my ancestral state of Assam in Northeast India has been that the lived experiences of Assamese women are better than women from the rest of the country. This narrative that gender discrimination happens least in Northeast India, with the Assamese society as the hallmark of women's improved status, has taken root across the country. The consensus has been that the Assamese community is egalitarian and its men, non-violent. Theorisations of violence against women (VAW) in India also overlook the unique gender relations and social hierarchies in Northeast Indian societies. Assam's political agitation in the 1970s, alongside Indian feminist movements and economic modernisation, transformed traditional gender hierarchies in the Assamese community. Women's access to education increased and they participated in paid employment. The community is patrilocal but instances of matrilocality are present. Caste is also not a rigid and impermeable social grid and inter-caste marriages are commonplace. The ethnocultural, linguistic, and religious diversity in Assam requires a scholarly lens that takes into account these differences and how they inform the articulation of patriarchy in this context. Existing literature on violence in Assam has also mostly been from the point of view of a politically conflicted zone, with a focus on the negotiation of civilians with State-sponsored violence, leading to a scholarly lacuna around everyday manifestations of VAW.My research hypothesis is that intra-community violence against women is a reality in Assam but historically shrouded in silence through positive narratives of women's emancipation. My research will therefore aim to uncover women's accounts of violence in the archives of the Assam State Commission for Women (ASCW) - a state-level statutory body that aims to protect and promote the interests of women in Assam - and through interviews with survivors and key informants, and undertake a feminist analysis of the ASCW to explore the role of the state in either tackling or perpetuating this violence.The research will be guided by the following questions:1. How do narratives of Assamese women's emancipation relate to material gender relations in the Assamese community and the history of violence in Assam?2. How and why do Assamese women experience violence? 3. What interventions are made by ASCW and what are their implications? The research will have a qualitative approach with a three-phase data collection, each exploring the three objectives of my research: 1. Key-informant interviews will explore the silence surrounding VAW, the perception of violence in Assam and the relationship between narratives of women's emancipation and male violence against women. 2. An analysis of archived case files at ASCW and survivor interviews will uncover the experiences of VAW and explore the influence of patriarchy and social hierarchies in Assam. 3. A feminist analysis of ASCW's interventions and ideology will be undertaken through participant observation of hearing sessions where the Legal Advisory Committee (LAC) meets complainants and defendants to discuss their cases.I will undertake a feminist narrative analysis of this data, looking for emergent themes and exploring my research questions. My analysis will privilege the voices of the research participants while acknowledging my role in the creation of the narratives. The stigma associated with VAW complicates research, sharpening ethical concerns. It is pertinent that any ethical dilemmas emerging from my research are handled sensitively, following appropriate ethical processes. The goal of my research is to create new knowledge by extending existing feminist research on the militarized context of Assam to a focus on the family and community.

在我的祖先印度东北部阿萨姆邦，老一辈人口头流传的一个流行说法是，阿萨姆妇女的生活经历比该国其他地区的妇女更好。印度东北部的性别歧视最少，阿萨姆社会是妇女地位提高的标志，这种说法已经在全国扎根。人们的共识是，阿萨姆社区是平等的，它的男人是非暴力的。印度对妇女暴力的理论也忽视了印度东北部社会独特的性别关系和社会等级制度。阿萨姆邦在1970年代的政治骚动，以及印度女权运动和经济现代化，改变了阿萨姆社区的传统性别等级制度。妇女受教育的机会增加，她们参加了有报酬的就业。该社区是父系居住的，但也存在母系居住的情况。种姓也不是一个僵化和不可渗透的社会网格，种姓间的婚姻是司空见惯的。阿萨姆邦的民族文化，语言和宗教多样性需要一个学术透镜，考虑到这些差异，以及它们如何告知在这种情况下的父权制的衔接。现有的文献在阿萨姆邦的暴力也大多是从一个政治冲突区的角度来看，重点是与国家赞助的暴力平民的谈判，导致围绕暴力侵害妇女的日常表现学术空白。我的研究假设是，社区内对妇女的暴力行为是一个现实，在阿萨姆邦，但历史上笼罩在沉默通过妇女解放的积极叙述。因此，我的研究将旨在揭示阿萨姆邦妇女委员会（ASCW）档案中妇女对暴力的描述-这是一个旨在保护和促进阿萨姆邦妇女利益的国家级法定机构-并通过采访幸存者和关键线人，并对ASCW进行女权主义分析，探讨国家在解决或延续这种暴力方面的作用。通过以下问题：1.阿萨姆妇女解放的叙述如何与阿萨姆社区的物质性别关系和阿萨姆的暴力历史联系起来？2.阿萨姆妇女如何以及为何遭受暴力？3. ASCW采取了哪些干预措施及其影响？本研究将采用定性研究方法，分三个阶段收集数据，每个阶段探索我研究的三个目标：1。关键线人访谈将探讨对暴力侵害妇女问题的沉默、对阿萨姆邦暴力的看法以及妇女解放的叙述与男性对妇女的暴力行为之间的关系。2.对ASCW存档案件档案和幸存者访谈的分析将揭示暴力侵害妇女的经历，并探讨阿萨姆邦父权制和社会等级制度的影响。3. ASCW的干预措施和意识形态的女权主义分析将通过听证会的参与者观察进行，其中法律的咨询委员会（LAC）满足原告和被告讨论他们的cases.I将进行这些数据的女权主义叙事分析，寻找新兴的主题和探索我的研究问题。我的分析将优先考虑研究参与者的声音，同时承认我在叙事创作中的作用。与暴力侵害妇女相关的耻辱使研究复杂化，加剧了伦理问题。在我的研究中出现的任何伦理困境都要按照适当的伦理程序敏感地处理，这是相关的。我的研究的目标是通过扩展现有的女权主义研究阿萨姆邦的军事化背景下，以家庭和社区为重点，创造新的知识。