Geographies of Peace & Violence: Plural Resistance to Gender Violence and Structural Inequalities in Hyderabad and Seattle
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In this dissertation, I investigate "community-based response" to domestic violence facilitated by NGOs working with Muslim women and families in Hyderabad and South Asian Muslims in Seattle.My transnational comparison of women's anti-violence organizations reveals the complex webs of intimate and structural violence navigated by Muslim women.My findings suggest that at each site, anti-violence workers identify the intersectionality of violence in Muslim women's lives and create practices of plural resistance to simultaneously address multiple forms of violence.Their peace-building work in families and communities contests intimate gender violence and structural violence, and disrupts "culture blaming" discourses of Muslim women's oppression and victimization.Rather than accepting the inadequate (and often I am endlessly grateful for the time, energy, and collaborative spirit of my colleagues at API Chaya in Seattle and at two NGOs in Hyderabad.I am inspired by their work and dedication, and learned immensely from the insights of their anti-violence organizing.Foremost, I thank Farah Abdul and Sarah Rizvi, who traveled this road with me in many ways.Our conversations over the years shaped the core of this dissertation, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to coauthor much of Chapter 5 with them.Thank you for sharing your insights, experiences, and friendship.I also want to thank Aaliyah Gupta and Amber Vora for many years of support and mentoring during my time volunteering and partnering with API Chaya.There are numerous amazing women who taught me much in Hyderabad, and who I regretfully cannot thank by name due to confidentiality concerns.Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with me.I thank my advisory committee for guiding this dissertation and for supporting an ambitious project of collaborative research across two continents.Without my chair, Vicky Lawson, I would not have survived the process with my sanity intact.Thank you, Vicky, for creating space for your students to be full human beings as we negotiate graduate school and life.I am grateful always for your care and guidance, and for the innumerable ways you've shaped my intellectual and political self.I am grateful to Priti Ramamurthy for over a decade of learning and mentorshipfrom my undergraduate studies through this dissertationwhich has played a huge role in shaping my intellectual trajectory.Many thanks to Kim England for many years of guidance from my MA thesis to helping to lay the foundation for this project.And thank you to Matt Sparke for sharing your ideas and always asking thought-provoking questions.My friends and family also deserve much recognition for their steadfast support and belief in me.I'm grateful to have been part of a wonderful community of graduate students in UW Geography, many of whom have become dear friends.Thank you to
Author: Amy Piedalue
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2574823355