Culture, Religion and Domestic Violence: Reflections on Working with Fiji and Tuvalu Communities
-
The University of the South Pacific
Fiji -
Fiji
-
Tuvalu Ministry of Justice Fiji
Abstract
While domestic violence (DV) has been understood as a form of gendered violence linked to patriarchal power, postcolonial and indigenous feminist criminologies have underscored that DV needs to be understood also in relation to the interactions and entanglements between colonialism, class, race, nation, gender and religion. Moreover, such interventions require questioning Western and secular assumptions and reductions of culture, tradition and non-modern (read ‘non-Western’) epistemologies and faith as reserves of mainly patriarchal power. This paper reflects within three practitioner spaces on efforts against DV in Fiji and Tuvalu and how these critiques and interventions are mobilised in practice and with community interactions. We draw on the varied experiences of the three of us (educator, counsellor and police officer) to explore how we are embedded in various forms of translation and border-crossing work, especially in relation to assumptions, practices and knowledge linked to culture, religion and rights in relation to DV.
Except where otherwise noted, content in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Author Biographies
Sara N. Amin is currently Senior Lecturer of Sociology at the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji). Her research focuses on the areas of identity politics, gender relations, religion, policing, migration dynamics and education. She is also engaged in the scholarship of transformative pedagogy.
FijiSelina Momoyalewa is a graduate of psychology and sociology student at the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji). She is a certified counsellor on domestic violence, sexual offences and child abuse, having worked for the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and the Medical Services Pacific. She is also a trainer on gender relations, human rights and violence against women. Born and bred in Rakiraki at the Western side of Viti Levu Fiji, Selina had officially worked in the area of reducing the many forms of violence against women and children at the community, national and regional level for 10 years, from 2011 until 2021.
Sepola Taata Peniamina was born in Banaba Island as her father was working at the British Phosphate Company. She was in part brought up by her aunty Siatu Simona, and her uncle Tataa Simona and his wife, Suialofa Lusama in Nukulaelae Island. She has been part of the Tuvalu Police Service since 2000. She has served as a Coordinator of Domestic Violence and Staff Officers.