Work

Femicide and Necrodata: Ways of Counting the Killing of Women

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Different disciplinary and socio-geographical approaches to counting, reporting, and categorizing death can yield divergent and often contradictory values of risk, harm, and mortality. This article examines historical and contemporary ways of recording and narrating the incidence of female homicide in South Africa (one of the countries with the highest femicide rates in the world), from state and police statistics to medical studies and media reports, and explores how each of these uses both common and discrete necrodata to construct specific narratives that reveal the [dead] body as a site of conflicting assertions of power.

Source: Violence Against Women

DOI: 10.1177/10778012261440279

Author: Nechama R. Brodie

Institution: University of the Witwatersrand

Language: English

Topic: Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650