“HONOUR”- BASED VIOLENCE AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURE IN CANADA: ADVANCING A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF MULTI-SCALAR VIOLENCE

  • Salina Abji
  • Anna C. Korteweg University of Toronto Mississauga

Abstract

Since 2015, in Canada, political discourse on “honour”-based violence has shifted away from highly problematic understandings of “culture” as the cause of violence among racialized, Muslim, and immigrant communities. Instead, talk of culture has dropped out of the equation altogether in favour of more structural definitions of gender-based violence (GBV). In this article, we ask what gets lost when culture is not taken into account when talking about or trying to understand forms of GBV. Drawing from theoretical conceptualizations of culture — defined as “situated practices of meaning-making” that shape all experiences of violence, and societal responses to violence — we argue for a multiscalar approach to culture. To illustrate this framework, we first offer a critical analysis of Aruna Papp’s 2012 memoir Unworthy Creature as an exemplar of stigmatizing uses of culture and a key text promoted by the Conservative federal government at the time. We then turn to interviews we conducted with service providers serving South Asian survivors of GBV in Toronto from 2011 to 2013. Our analysis illustrates how to talk about culture as a key ingredient shaping multiscalar violence, regardless of whether that violence occurs in majority or minority communities. We conclude with three policy implications for addressing HBV moving forward.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biographies

Salina Abji

Sociologist and Research Consultant

Anna C. Korteweg, University of Toronto Mississauga

Professor, Sociology

References

Abji, S. (2016). “Because deportation is violence against women”: On the politics of state responsibility and women’s human rights. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 23(4), 483–507. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxw004

Abji, S. (2018). Postnational acts of citizenship: How an anti-border politics is shaping feminist spaces of service provision in Toronto, Canada. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(4), 501–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1480901

Abji, S., Korteweg, A. C., & Williams, L. H. (2019). Culture talk and the politics of the new right: Navigating gendered racism in attempts to address violence against women in immigrant communities. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 44(3), 797–822. https://doi.org/10.1086/701161

Abu-Lughod, L. (2011). Seductions of the “honor crime”. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 22(1), 17–63. https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-1218238

Barnoff, L. (2001). Moving beyond words: Integrating anti-oppression practice into feminist social service organizations. Canadian Social Work Review, 18(1), 67–85.

Berman, H., Alvernaz Mulcahy, G., Forchuk, C., Edmunds, K. A., Haldenby, A. & Lopez, R. (2009). Uprooted and displaced: A critical narrative study of homeless, Aboriginal, and newcomer girls in Canada. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30(7), 418–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840802624475

Bhuyan, R., Osborne, B., Zahraei, S., & Tarshis, S. (2014). Unprotected, unrecognized: Immigration policy and violence against women [Report]. Migrant Mothers Project, University of Toronto. https://www.migrantmothersproject.com/report-2/

Bhuyan, R., Korteweg, A. C., & Baqi, K. (2018). Regulating spousal migration through Canada's multiple border strategy: The gendered and racialized effects of structurally embedded borders. Law & Policy, 40(4), 346–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12111

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice (Vol. 16). Cambridge University Press.

Brown, W. (2009). Regulating aversion: Tolerance in the age of identity and empire. Princeton University Press.

Bruckert, C., & Law, T. (2018). Women and gendered violence in Canada: An intersectional approach. University of Toronto Press.

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039

Fischer, C., & Dahinden, J. (2017). Gender representations in politics of belonging: An analysis of Swiss immigration regulation from the 19th century until today. Ethnicities, 17(4), 445–468. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796816676844

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.

Guimont Marceau, S., Romero, D. F., Estrada, V. J., & Rice, R. (2020) Approaching violence against Indigenous women in the Americas from relational, intersectional and multiscalar perspectives, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue canadienne des études latino-américaines et caraïbes, 45(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2020.1690769

Hall, S. (1997). The spectacle of the “other”. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 230–290). Sage & Open University.

Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066

Jiwani, Y. (2005). Walking a tightrope: The many faces of violence in the lives of racialized immigrant girls and young women. Violence Against Women, 11(7), 846–875. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801205276273

Korteweg, A. C. (2014). ‘Honour killing’ in the immigration context: Multiculturalism and the racialization of violence against women. Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 41(2), 183–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2013.866186

Korteweg, A. C., Abji, S., Barnoff, L., & Mattoo, D. (2013). Citizenship, culture, and violence against women: Social service provision in the South Asian communities of the GTA [CERIS research report]. http://www.torontolip.ca/Portals/0/Resources/General/Citizenship, Culture, and Violence Against Women _CERIS report.pdf

Korteweg, A. C., & Yurdakul, G. (2009). Islam, gender, and immigrant integration: Boundary drawing in discourses on honour killing in the Netherlands and Germany. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32(2), 218–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870802065218

Korteweg, A. C., & Yurdakul, G. (2010). Religion, culture and the politicization of honour-related violence: A critical analysis of media and policy debates in Western Europe and North America [PP-GD-12]. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Laine, J. P. (2016). The multiscalar production of borders. Geopolitics, 21(3), 465–482, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2016.1195132

Lépinard, É. (2014). Doing intersectionality: Repertoires of feminist practices in France and Canada. Gender & Society, 28(6), 877–903. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214542430

Mamdani, M. (2007, March 8). The politics of culture talk in the contemporary war on terror. Hobhouse Memorial Public Lecture, London School of Economics.

Papp, A. (2010). Culturally-driven violence against women: A growing problem in Canada’s immigrant communities. Frontier Centre for Public Policy: FCPP Policy Series No. 92. https://www.fcpp.org/files/1/Culturally-Driven%20Violence%20Against%20Women.pdf

Papp, A., & Kay, B. (2012). Unworthy creature: A Punjabi daughter’s memoir of honour, shame and love. Freedom Press Canada.

Raj, A., & Silverman, J. (2002). Violence against immigrant women: The roles of culture, context and legal immigrant status on intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 8, 367–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778010222183107

Razack, S. (1994). What is to be gained by looking White people in the eye? Culture, race, and gender in cases of sexual violence. Signs, 19(4), 894–923. https://doi.org/10.1086/494944

Razack, S. (2003). A violent culture or culturalized violence? Feminist narratives of sexual violence against South Asian women. Studies in Practical Philosophy, 3(1), 80–104. https://doi.org/10.5840/STUDPRACPHIL2003317

Razack, S. (2008). Casting out: The eviction of Muslims from Western law and politics. University of Toronto Press.

Sev’er, A, & Yurdakul, G. (2001). Culture of honor, culture of change: A feminist analysis of honor killings in rural Turkey. Violence Against Women, 7(9), 964–998. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778010122182866

Shirwadkar, S. (2004). Canadian domestic violence policy and Indian immigrant women. Violence Against Women, 10(8), 860–879. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801204266310

Siddiqui, H. (2000). Domestic violence and Black/minority women: Enough is enough! Criminal Justice Matters, 42(1), 14–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09627250008552878

South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO). (2013). https://salc.on.ca/forced-marriage/

Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095521

Status of Women Canada. (2012, May 15). Breaking the silence on acts of violence committed in the name of honour [News release]. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2012/05/breaking-silence-acts-violence-committed-name-honour.html

Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 4(2), 249–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006

Volpp, L. (2000). Blaming culture for bad behavior. Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, 12, 89–117.

Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. Oxford University Press.

Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2015). Methods of critical discourse studies. Sage.

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act: An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code and to Make Consequential Amendments to Other Acts 2015 Bill S-7 (Canada). https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-2/bill/S-7/royal-assent/page-24

Zine, J. (2009). Unsettling the nation: Gender, race, and Muslim cultural politics in Canada. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 9(1), 146–163.

Published
2021-03-12
How to Cite
Abji, S., & Korteweg, A. C. (2021). “HONOUR”- BASED VIOLENCE AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURE IN CANADA: ADVANCING A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF MULTI-SCALAR VIOLENCE. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 12(1), 73-92. https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs121202120084