Bridging religious studies, gender & development and public health to address domestic violence: A novel approach for Ethiopia, Eritrea and the UK

该项目针对中低收入国家对家庭暴力问题的理解和缓解方法。近几十年来，这些倾向于优先考虑英美的认识论和经验，往往忽视或简单地描绘了宗教信仰和精神在家庭暴力经历中的影响。通过这个项目，我渴望巩固一种非殖民化的方法，优先考虑当地的世界观，将宗教文化参数更实质性地整合到暴力的生态模型中，并根据每种情况充分利用神学和宗教行为者。这个项目是基于我在国际发展实践中长达十年的经验以及在性别，宗教和神学研究方面的独特专业知识。它回应了以前与撒哈拉以南非洲宗教社区进行的对性别问题有敏感认识的研究，以及最近对埃塞俄比亚北方埃塞俄比亚东正教中亲密伴侣暴力行为的调查。这些都一贯表明宗教习语在公共和私人生活中的重要性，以及与性别规范的交叉点，但特别是神学和民间传说之间的紧张关系的理解，与“宗教”被并列为“文化”在复杂的方式，以保持或停止有害的行为。在理论层面，拟议项目旨在围绕宗教信仰、人类心理和亲密伴侣行为的交叉点建立证据基础，这是一个由工业化社会经验主导的高度理论化的领域。我特别感兴趣的是，探索如何利用宗教习语为实施或面临虐待的宗教社区成员提供心理支持。这一认识的提高对于在传统宗教社会（如埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚）以及移民人口多样化的社会（如英国）发展更综合、对宗教文化敏感的家庭暴力服务非常重要。作为试点，该项目将吸引北方埃塞俄比亚阿克苏姆、厄立特里亚阿斯马拉和周围农村地区普遍讲阿姆哈拉语和提格里纳语的东正教人口，以及英国的三个城市（伦敦、曼彻斯特、伯明翰）。在埃塞俄比亚北方，该项目旨在使东正教神职人员做好应对家庭暴力的准备，并通过提高东正教神学知识来提高信徒社区的认识，以扭转民间传说中对性别和婚姻的理解，这种理解助长了家庭暴力。在厄立特里亚，该项目力求将家庭暴力纳入宗教文化世界观的背景，同时在宗教和世俗利益攸关方中建设更好应对的能力。一个总体目标是培养不同的利益攸关方之间的更微妙的理解，以扭转目前阻碍综合，协作和多部门的approaches.The研究试图利用知识和经验，从埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚社区产生的通知辩论和方法，在英国家庭暴力部门，这是越来越多地呼吁，以满足不同的社区。该项目将联合收割机结合对埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚东正教人口的人种学研究，并与其他移民社区一起对英国家庭暴力部门进行全国范围的调查。其目的是确定家庭暴力提供者、移民社区组织和来自不同宗教社区的宗教利益相关者目前在多大程度上认识到宗教文化参数的重要性并参与其中，以应对受害者和肇事者。知识交流和公众参与活动是该项目在世俗和宗教利益攸关方之间建立桥梁的基本工具，这些利益攸关方仍然缺乏相互理解和实质性合作的共同平台。

This project responds to problematic understandings and alleviation approaches to domestic violence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In recent decades, these have tended to prioritise Anglo-American epistemology and experience, and have oftentimes neglected or simplistically portrayed the influence of religious belief and spirituality in domestic violence experience. With this project, I aspire to consolidate a decolonial approach that prioritises local worldviews, integrates religio-cultural parameters more substantively in the ecological model of violence and leverages on theology and religious actors resourcefully as appropriate to each context.The project is informed by my decade-long experience in international development practice and unique specialisation in gender, religious & theology studies. It responds to previous gender-sensitive research with religious communities in sub-Saharan Africa and more recent investigations of intimate partner violence (IPV) among the Ethiopian Orthodox in Northern Ethiopia. These have consistently shown the importance of religious idiom in public and private life and the intersection with gendered norms, but especially tensions between theology and folklore understandings, with 'religion' being juxtaposed to 'culture' in intricate ways to preserve or discontinue pernicious behaviour. At the theoretical level, the proposed project aims to build the evidence base around the intersection of religious beliefs, human psychology and intimate partner behaviour, which is a highly under-theorised field dominated by industrialised societies' experience. I am especially interested in exploring how religious idiom may be used to provide psychosocial support to members of religious communities perpetrating or facing abuse. This increased understanding is important for the development of more integrated, religio-culturally sensitive domestic violence services in traditional religious societies, such as Ethiopia and Eritrea, but also in societies with diverse migrant populations, such as the UK.As a pilot, the project will engage the prevalent Amharic- and Tigrigna-speaking Orthodox populations in Aksum, Northern Ethiopia, in Asmara, Eritrea and the surrounding countryside, and three cities in the UK (London, Manchester, Birmingham). In Northern Ethiopia, the project aims to build the preparedness of Orthodox clergy to respond to domestic violence and to sensitise the community of believers by improving literacy in Orthodox theology to reverse folklore understandings of gender and marriage that contribute to IPV. In Eritrea, the project seeks to contextualise domestic violence in religio-cultural worldviews, while building capacity among religious and secular stakeholders to respond better. An overarching objective is to cultivate more nuanced understanding among the various stakeholders in order to reverse simplistic representations that currently hinder integrated, collaborative and multi-sectoral approaches.The study seeks to employ knowledge and experience emanating from the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities to inform debates and approaches in the UK domestic violence sector, which is increasingly called to cater to diverse communities. The project will combine an ethnographic look into the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox population and research with other migrant communities with a country-wide investigation into the UK domestic violence sector. The aim is to establish the degree to which domestic violence providers, migrant community organisations and religious stakeholders from diverse religious communities currently recognise the importance of and engage with religio-cultural parameters to respond to victims and perpetrators. Knowledge exchange and public engagement activities comprise the project's fundamental tool for building bridges among secular and religious stakeholders, who still lack a common platform for mutual understanding and substantive collaboration.