ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we define violence as physical, psychological, economic, political and all other structural forms that intend to harm, denigrate, exclude and obstruct an individual or a group of people to function freely, fully and without fear in society. Feminist scholars, in particular critical, anti-racist and socialist, have expanded the definition of violence to include a wide range of acts, attitudes, ethics, morality, policies and social historical structures. These include patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism (Bannerji et al., 2001; Burstow, 2003; Enloe, 1988, 1989; Gowen and Bartlett, 1997; Hajdukowski-Ahmed et al., 2008; Mojab, 2000; Mojab and Abdo, 2004; Mojab and Mcdonald, 2008; Mohanty, 2003; Rebick, 2005: UN, 2010). In our analysis, we understand all these forms of violence as a universal form of gender power relations with the propensity to develop particular characteristics based on norms, values, traditions, cultures, modes of social relations and historical epoch. Violence, in its many forms, is pervasive in our lives. Research presented in the recent UN report
The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics argues that physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence against women is a universal phenomenon (UN, 2010: 10). It takes place everywhere – at home, the workplace, school, on the street, in the media, in religious organizations, as well as in institutions set up to serve vulnerable populations (Koczka, 1992-93: 27). Research over the last four decades has established that violence affects the quality of life and leisure, psychological and sexual well-being, the general status of women and racialized people, and physical health. It also affects the sense of belonging and membership in society and community. Discussions about violence are often centred on ‘who’ is committing violence against ‘whom’. In this
chapter we will not engage with a sociological, psychological or behavioural analysis of individual acts of violence or even, for that matter, group violence. We are interested in understanding the impact of violence on learning, either as an individual act, in abusive relationships for example, or as a structural act in the forms of state violence, colonial legacies, militarization, war or occupation. We also consider modern environmental destruction as a form of violence with lasting impact on learning. Scholars and practitioners of the field of adult education have studied and theorized the effects of
violence against women (Battell et al., 2008; Horsman, 1999, 2002, 2005; Tisdell, 1996). Many conclude that violence affects women’s capacity to engage fully in society and that fear is often used to re(produce) male dominance. The act of producing and reproducing the condition for women’s subjugation is identified as systemic violence. Systemic violence is intentional and serves a political function, that is, creating the ideological and social logic for women’s subordination (Hirschmann, 1998: 236). The issue of
state violence is of particular interest to educators and activists because of the effect that it has on the learning capacities and possibilities of both individuals and communities. ‘State violence’ was initially only applied to militarized, authoritarian states, where violence is a mechanism of control and disciplining, creating a perpetual experience of disenfranchisement and (dis)empowerment (Turshen, 1998: 7). However, over the last few decades, state violence has been identified by activists and feminists as being pervasive in so-called democratic states as well. State violence we define as acts of violence perpetrated by the state against its citizens in order to maintain order and control. It is important to note that the exercise of violence by rights-oriented, democratic regimes or autocratic ones often gives rise to resistance movements (Gordon, 2001: 2270). The learning that occurs within these movements is of particular interest to adult educators. Significant learning happens when an individual is forced to find a way to survive and resist state violence. For some learners, the impact of violence is intensified because of their social, economic, cultural or
geographic positions. Immigrant and refugee women, as well as women who have experienced war, often face a different reality of violence and its impacts on their learning. Individual learners bear the impact of systemic acts of violence, for instance, forced migration or forced exile, or the legacies of historical violence, such as slavery, colonialism and genocide. It is important to be aware of the reality of how these acts of violence affect survivors in order to discern how to help mitigate the effects of the trauma on survivors and enable the learning process. Appropriately, this type of learning is called ‘survival’ or ‘resistance’ learning (Mojab and McDonald, 2008: 51). Survival and resistance learning established the possibility of conscious learning in demanding the elim-
ination of violent forms of social order. Although survival and resistance are connected to social movement learning (Hall and Clover, 2005; Kilgour, 1999), learning that happens within a social movement context often happens informally or incidentally because of the stimulation and participation in the movement (Hall, 2006: 3). In the articulation of survival and resistance learning, individuals are agents of change and are actively seeking ways out of the coercive circumstances. The definitional outline provided above facilitates our discussion on the relationship between violence
and learning. In the next sections we will theorize the impact of violence on learning, examine the concept of violence through learning, as well as outline emerging research areas including new sites or spaces where violence is (re)produced, discussing new theoretical perspectives and methodological possibilities. Throughout these sections, we will also identify some of the best practices and pedagogies in delineating the impact of violence on learning.
