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

在我的祖籍阿萨姆邦（位于印度东北部），老一辈人口头相传的一个流行说法是，阿萨姆邦女性的生活经历比印度其他地区的女性要好。印度东北部的性别歧视最少，阿萨姆邦社会是女性地位提高的标志，这种说法在全国各地都根深蒂固。人们一致认为，阿萨姆人是平等的，而阿萨姆人是非暴力的。印度的暴力侵害妇女理论也忽视了印度东北部社会中独特的性别关系和社会等级。20世纪70年代阿萨姆邦的政治动荡，以及印度的女权运动和经济现代化，改变了阿萨姆邦社区的传统性别等级制度。妇女受教育机会增加，参加有偿就业。这个社区是父系的，但也有母系的例子。种姓也不是一个僵化的、不可渗透的社会网格，跨种姓婚姻很常见。阿萨姆邦的民族文化、语言和宗教多样性需要一个学术视角，考虑到这些差异，以及它们如何在这种背景下传达父权制的表达。关于阿萨姆邦暴力的现有文献也大多是从政治冲突地区的角度出发，重点关注平民与国家支持的暴力之间的谈判，导致对暴力侵害行为的日常表现的学术空白。我的研究假设是，社区内对妇女的暴力行为在阿萨姆邦是一个现实，但在历史上，通过对妇女解放的积极叙述，它被沉默所掩盖。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，这是一个国家级的法定机构，旨在保护和促进阿萨姆邦妇女的利益，并通过对幸存者和主要线人的采访，对ASCW进行女权主义分析，以探讨国家在解决或延续这种暴力方面的作用。本研究将以以下问题为指导：1。阿萨姆邦妇女解放的叙述如何与阿萨姆邦社区的物质性别关系和阿萨姆邦的暴力历史联系起来？阿萨姆邦妇女如何以及为什么遭受暴力？3. ASCW采取了哪些干预措施，其影响是什么？该研究将采用定性方法，采用三个阶段的数据收集，每个阶段都探索我研究的三个目标：1。关键线人访谈将探讨围绕暴力侵害妇女行为的沉默，对阿萨姆邦暴力的看法以及妇女解放与男性对妇女暴力的叙述之间的关系。2. 对ASCW存档的案件档案和幸存者访谈的分析将揭示对妇女暴力的经历，并探讨父权制和社会等级制度在阿萨姆邦的影响。将通过参与观察法律咨询委员会（LAC）与投诉人和被告讨论案件的听证会，对ASCW的干预措施和意识形态进行女权主义分析。我将对这些数据进行女权主义叙事分析，寻找涌现的主题，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。与暴力侵害妇女行为有关的耻辱使研究复杂化，加剧了伦理问题。从我的研究中出现的任何伦理困境都是敏感地处理的，遵循适当的伦理程序。我的研究目标是通过将现有的关于阿萨姆邦军事化背景的女权主义研究扩展到关注家庭和社区来创造新的知识。

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.