When Wife-Beating Is Not Necessarily Abuse: A Feminist and Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Concept of Abuse as Expressed by Tibetan Survivors of Domestic Violence. (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rajan, Hamsa
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 24:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 27
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: domestic violence -- intimate partner violence -- family -- in-law -- abuse -- feminism -- postcolonial -- transnational -- international -- global South -- attitude -- perception -- developing country -- Tibet -- China; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801216675742
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

This article describes the views of Tibetan women who have experienced physical violence from male intimate partners. How they conceptualise abuse, their views on acceptable versus unacceptable hitting, and the acts besides hitting which they felt to be unacceptable or abusive, are explored. Views of survivors' relatives/friends and men who have hit their wives are also included. Western-based domestic violence theory is shown to be incommensurate with abuse in particular socio-cultural settings. As feminist scholars emphasize listening deeply to voices of women in the global South, this article demonstrates how such listening might be undertaken when the views expressed by women diverge from feminism.