ABSTRACT
This volume critically analyses political strategies, civil society initiatives and modes of representation that challenge the conventional narratives of women in contexts of violence. It deepens into the concepts of victimhood and agency that inform the current debate on women as victims.
The volume opens the scope to explore initiatives that transcend the pair abuser–victim and explore the complex relations between gender and violence, and individual and collective accountability, through politics, activism and cultural productions in order to seek social transformation for gender justice. In innovative and interdisciplinary case studies, it brings attention to initiatives and narratives that make new spaces possible in which to name, self-identify, and resignify the female political subject as a social agent in situations of violence. The volume is global in scope, bringing together contributions ranging from India, Cambodia or Kenya, to Quebec, Bosnia or Spain. Different aspects of gender-based violence are analysed, from intimate relationships, sexual violence, military contexts, society and institutions.
Re-writing Women as Victims: From Theory to Practice will be a key text for students, researchers and professionals in gender studies, political sciences, sociology and media and cultural Studies. Activists and policy makers will also find its practical approach and engagement with social transformation to be essential reading.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|74 pages
Politics
chapter 2|15 pages
Women Survivors of Sexist Abuse in Spain
chapter 3|13 pages
The ‘comfort women’ apologies
chapter 4|14 pages
Gender, agency and the construction of a rape victim
chapter 5|15 pages
Women’s resistance in violent settings
chapter 6|14 pages
Towards transformative gender equality
part II|68 pages
Activism
chapter 7|13 pages
Feminist and grassroots activism rewriting women as victims
chapter 8|14 pages
Collective action and organisation against gender violence in Spain
chapter 9|12 pages
Transnational feminist activism to reframe femicide
chapter 11|15 pages
Mukhtaran Mai’s transformation from gang-rape victim to the feminist face of glamour
part III|72 pages
Cultural narratives