About this Research Topic
The notion of violence being represented as a continuum has a long history in the social sciences, and a particular relevance for feminist and intersectional analyses. The continuum of sexual/gender-based violence (SGBV) refers to the range and extent of violence experienced from the most to least common forms. As discussed by Kelly (2012), the concept of the continuum of SGBV highlights that there is a basic common character to the sexual/gender-based violence and that there are no distinct categories of such violence because they are all intricately connected with some being more frequent, less likely to be criminalized and even defined as acceptable behavior (e.g. sexual harassment), while others are less common and more punishable by law (e.g. incest). Kelly’s continuum did not refer to any particular population or group of women, but this Research Topic raises the question of its significance for migrant populations, especially women.
The notion of the “continuum” as continuity of violence has been used by researchers with reference to the distinct forms of gender-based violence (GBV) that affect women during the migration, and especially forced migration journeys, with the latter being conceptualized as non-linear processes with various spatial, temporal and legal-status associated stages (Freedman, Sahraoui and Tastsoglou, 2022). For example, the continuum has been applied to understand distinct forms of GBV taking place in conflicts, flight, displacement and upon arriving to “safety” with women being victimized in interpersonal and systemic ways (Sullivan et al., 2021; Phillimore et al. 2022, Sahraoui and Freedman, 2022).
Furthermore, other researchers discuss a continuum of SGBV at multiple levels, from the systemic and institutional level to the interpersonal to the individual level. The social-ecological model for understanding violence (World Health Organization, 2002; Heise, 1998) uses four levels to understand the range of factors that put people at risk of violence or protect them from experiencing or perpetrating violence. These levels are: societal (“macrosystem”), community (“exosystem”), relationship (“microsystem”), and individual levels. This social-ecological model allows us to link structural and interpersonal forms of violence.
The notion of the “continuum” can also apply, however, to the ongoing, mutually reinforcing “circle” of precarity and GBV, with precarity preparing the grounds (or aggravating GBV) and GBV increasing the vulnerability of survivors (Tastsoglou, Petrinioti and Karagiannopoulou, 2021). Following Butler (2004, 2009/2016) we understand precarity in a migration context as politically induced vulnerability.
Finally, “cycle of violence” theories, especially in the area of domestic violence, address the idea of the continuum differently by identifying distinct phases in the life-cycle of violence, such as “acute explosion,” “honeymoon phase” and “tension-building phase” (Walker, 1979). This is a cyclical continuum of domestic and intimate-partner violence.
In this Research Topic, focusing on the gender dimensions of violence in migrant and refugee contexts, we draw upon some of the most prominent theoretical understandings of the continuum with the intent to highlight its diverse forms and distinctiveness among various migrant and refugee populations. The gender-specific dimension of violence refers to the originating factors, motivations, forms and/or consequences of violence, and often incorporates all these dimensions. Additionally, it refers to more generic and systemic forms of violence that do not necessarily target genders but result in gender specific consequences. Gender-based violence is primarily understood as intersectional, meaning that it can affect individuals and groups differently and is impacted by multiple, interacting social memberships and identities beyond gender. We are interested in all the forms, experiences and consequences of gender-based violence in the migration process, ranging from pre-departure migration-propelling violence to the transit, crossing diverse borders, arriving and/or settling.
This call welcomes empirical research and theoretical analyses that explore one or more of these meanings of the continuum of violence in the lives of, broadly defined, migrant and refugee self-identifying women and children.
Themes may include (but are not limited to):
1. Gender and the continuum of violence: similarities and differences between migration and non-migration contexts
2. The (dis/)continuity of gender-based violence through the various spatial, temporal and legal-status associated stages of the migration or displacement journey:
a. Gender-based violence as a motive to migrate or flee
b. Gender-based violence in countries of transit
c. Gender-based violence in crossing borders
d. Gender-based violence in reception
e. Gender-based violence in settlement
3. Gender and violence / vulnerability to GBV: From systemic to individual levels
4. Forms and experiences of gender-based violence in migrant and refugee populations: the precarity to GBV “loop” (cycle)
5. Assessing the “cycle of violence” for migrant and refugee women
a. similarities and differences between migration and non-migration contexts
6. Gender, migrants/ refugees and protection from violence from international law to state laws and practices
a. International Human Rights Law
b. International Humanitarian Law
c. International Criminal Law
d. State Law and Practice
7. The continuum of gender-based violence and resistance in a migration/displacement context, from individual to collective levels
a. Networks of Support for GBV Survivors
b. Access to Medical, Legal and Social Services for Victims
c. The Role of Ethnic and Local Communities
d. Civil Society and Solidarity Movements
e. Individual strategies of resistance
This Research Topic accepts a variety of article types, full details of which can be found on the Frontiers in Sociology website. The journal is peer reviewed. Submissions of abstracts and papers are expected online only (through the journal platform).
Bibliography
Butler, Judith. 2004. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London: Verso.
Butler, Judith. 2009/2016. Frames of War. When Is Life Grievable? London: Verso.
Freedman, Jane, Sahraoui, Sahraoui, Nina, Tastsoglou, Evangelia. 2022. “Thinking about Gender and Violence in Migration. An Introduction”, in Gender-Based Violence in Migration. Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches, edited by J. Freedman, N. Sahraoui and E. Tastsoglou. Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan, pp. 3-28.
Heise, Lori L. 1998. “Violence Against Women: An Integrated, Ecological Framework.” Violence Against Women 4.3: 262–290.
Kelly, L. 2012. Standing the test of time? Reflections on the concept of the continuum of sexual violence. In J. M. Brown and S. L. Walklate (Eds.), Handbook on Sexual Violence (pp. xvii-xxvi). Routledge.
Kelly, L. 1987. The continuum of sexual violence. In K. Plummer (Eds.), Sexualities: Critical Concepts in Sociology (pp. 127–139). Routledge.
Phillimore, J., Pertek, S., Akyuz, S., Darkall, H., Hourani, J. McKnight, P., Ozcurumez, S.
and Taal, S. 2022. “‘We are forgotten’: Forced Migration, sexual and gender-based violence, and Coronavirus disease-2019." Violence Against Women, 28(9), 2204- 2230.
Sahraoui, Nina and Freedman, Jane. 2022. “Gender-Based Violence as a Continuum in the Lives of Women Seeking Asylum: From Resistance to Patriarchy to Patterns of Institutional Violence in France” in Gender-Based Violence in Migration. Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches, edited by Freedman, Jane, Sahraoui, Nina and Tastsoglou, Evangelia. Switzerland: Palgrave/Macmillan, pp. 211-234.
Sullivan, C., Block, K., & Vaughan, C. 2021. The continuum of gender-based violence across the refugee experience. Understanding Gender-Based Violence: An Essential Textbook for Nurses, Healthcare Professionals and Social Workers, 33-47.
Tastsoglou, Evangelia, Petrinioti Xanthi, and Karagiannopoulou, Chara. 2021. "The Gender-Based Violence and Precarity Nexus: Asylum-Seeking Women in the Eastern Mediterranean," Frontiers in Human Dynamics- Refugees and Conflict, Special Issue on“Gender, Violence and Forced Migration.” Doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2021.660682
World Health Organization (WHO). 2002. World Report on Violence and Health: Summary. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42512
The notion of the “continuum” as continuity of violence has been used by researchers with reference to the distinct forms of gender-based violence (GBV) that affect women during the migration, and especially forced migration journeys, with the latter being conceptualized as non-linear processes with various spatial, temporal and legal-status associated stages (Freedman, Sahraoui and Tastsoglou, 2022). For example, the continuum has been applied to understand distinct forms of GBV taking place in conflicts, flight, displacement and upon arriving to “safety” with women being victimized in interpersonal and systemic ways (Sullivan et al., 2021; Phillimore et al. 2022, Sahraoui and Freedman, 2022).
Furthermore, other researchers discuss a continuum of SGBV at multiple levels, from the systemic and institutional level to the interpersonal to the individual level. The social-ecological model for understanding violence (World Health Organization, 2002; Heise, 1998) uses four levels to understand the range of factors that put people at risk of violence or protect them from experiencing or perpetrating violence. These levels are: societal (“macrosystem”), community (“exosystem”), relationship (“microsystem”), and individual levels. This social-ecological model allows us to link structural and interpersonal forms of violence.
The notion of the “continuum” can also apply, however, to the ongoing, mutually reinforcing “circle” of precarity and GBV, with precarity preparing the grounds (or aggravating GBV) and GBV increasing the vulnerability of survivors (Tastsoglou, Petrinioti and Karagiannopoulou, 2021). Following Butler (2004, 2009/2016) we understand precarity in a migration context as politically induced vulnerability.
Finally, “cycle of violence” theories, especially in the area of domestic violence, address the idea of the continuum differently by identifying distinct phases in the life-cycle of violence, such as “acute explosion,” “honeymoon phase” and “tension-building phase” (Walker, 1979). This is a cyclical continuum of domestic and intimate-partner violence.
In this Research Topic, focusing on the gender dimensions of violence in migrant and refugee contexts, we draw upon some of the most prominent theoretical understandings of the continuum with the intent to highlight its diverse forms and distinctiveness among various migrant and refugee populations. The gender-specific dimension of violence refers to the originating factors, motivations, forms and/or consequences of violence, and often incorporates all these dimensions. Additionally, it refers to more generic and systemic forms of violence that do not necessarily target genders but result in gender specific consequences. Gender-based violence is primarily understood as intersectional, meaning that it can affect individuals and groups differently and is impacted by multiple, interacting social memberships and identities beyond gender. We are interested in all the forms, experiences and consequences of gender-based violence in the migration process, ranging from pre-departure migration-propelling violence to the transit, crossing diverse borders, arriving and/or settling.
This call welcomes empirical research and theoretical analyses that explore one or more of these meanings of the continuum of violence in the lives of, broadly defined, migrant and refugee self-identifying women and children.
Themes may include (but are not limited to):
1. Gender and the continuum of violence: similarities and differences between migration and non-migration contexts
2. The (dis/)continuity of gender-based violence through the various spatial, temporal and legal-status associated stages of the migration or displacement journey:
a. Gender-based violence as a motive to migrate or flee
b. Gender-based violence in countries of transit
c. Gender-based violence in crossing borders
d. Gender-based violence in reception
e. Gender-based violence in settlement
3. Gender and violence / vulnerability to GBV: From systemic to individual levels
4. Forms and experiences of gender-based violence in migrant and refugee populations: the precarity to GBV “loop” (cycle)
5. Assessing the “cycle of violence” for migrant and refugee women
a. similarities and differences between migration and non-migration contexts
6. Gender, migrants/ refugees and protection from violence from international law to state laws and practices
a. International Human Rights Law
b. International Humanitarian Law
c. International Criminal Law
d. State Law and Practice
7. The continuum of gender-based violence and resistance in a migration/displacement context, from individual to collective levels
a. Networks of Support for GBV Survivors
b. Access to Medical, Legal and Social Services for Victims
c. The Role of Ethnic and Local Communities
d. Civil Society and Solidarity Movements
e. Individual strategies of resistance
This Research Topic accepts a variety of article types, full details of which can be found on the Frontiers in Sociology website. The journal is peer reviewed. Submissions of abstracts and papers are expected online only (through the journal platform).
Bibliography
Butler, Judith. 2004. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London: Verso.
Butler, Judith. 2009/2016. Frames of War. When Is Life Grievable? London: Verso.
Freedman, Jane, Sahraoui, Sahraoui, Nina, Tastsoglou, Evangelia. 2022. “Thinking about Gender and Violence in Migration. An Introduction”, in Gender-Based Violence in Migration. Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches, edited by J. Freedman, N. Sahraoui and E. Tastsoglou. Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan, pp. 3-28.
Heise, Lori L. 1998. “Violence Against Women: An Integrated, Ecological Framework.” Violence Against Women 4.3: 262–290.
Kelly, L. 2012. Standing the test of time? Reflections on the concept of the continuum of sexual violence. In J. M. Brown and S. L. Walklate (Eds.), Handbook on Sexual Violence (pp. xvii-xxvi). Routledge.
Kelly, L. 1987. The continuum of sexual violence. In K. Plummer (Eds.), Sexualities: Critical Concepts in Sociology (pp. 127–139). Routledge.
Phillimore, J., Pertek, S., Akyuz, S., Darkall, H., Hourani, J. McKnight, P., Ozcurumez, S.
and Taal, S. 2022. “‘We are forgotten’: Forced Migration, sexual and gender-based violence, and Coronavirus disease-2019." Violence Against Women, 28(9), 2204- 2230.
Sahraoui, Nina and Freedman, Jane. 2022. “Gender-Based Violence as a Continuum in the Lives of Women Seeking Asylum: From Resistance to Patriarchy to Patterns of Institutional Violence in France” in Gender-Based Violence in Migration. Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches, edited by Freedman, Jane, Sahraoui, Nina and Tastsoglou, Evangelia. Switzerland: Palgrave/Macmillan, pp. 211-234.
Sullivan, C., Block, K., & Vaughan, C. 2021. The continuum of gender-based violence across the refugee experience. Understanding Gender-Based Violence: An Essential Textbook for Nurses, Healthcare Professionals and Social Workers, 33-47.
Tastsoglou, Evangelia, Petrinioti Xanthi, and Karagiannopoulou, Chara. 2021. "The Gender-Based Violence and Precarity Nexus: Asylum-Seeking Women in the Eastern Mediterranean," Frontiers in Human Dynamics- Refugees and Conflict, Special Issue on“Gender, Violence and Forced Migration.” Doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2021.660682
World Health Organization (WHO). 2002. World Report on Violence and Health: Summary. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42512
Keywords: Gender-based violence in migration, continuum of violence, migration, forced migration, migrant and refugee contexts, structural gender-based violence, interpersonal gender-based violence, intersectionality, precarity, vulnerability, transit, borders
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