01-09-2009
31-12-2011
The project ‘Love, Fear and Power: life paths to non-violence’ is about gender violence, specifically within intimate relationships, in three ways: the evaluation of support services for women who are victims/survivors of domestic violence; the development of life stories and awareness-raising work; and the co-construction of social networks that can provide support, awareness and collective action for social change. Furthermore, as this project involves the experiences of women from different age groups, both Portuguese and immigrants, and from different regions of Portugal (Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon/Setúbal and Viana do Castelo), this study builds on existing research by focussing on particularly scarce areas of investigation. Given the persistent and pervasive occurrence of domestic violence in Portugal, this study can make a critical contribution to understanding the processes that sustain this phenomenon, while also making it possible to recognise the needs and possible interventions for the irradiation of this social problem. What's more, this study can offer a space where women's voices can be expressed and heard. The study's methodological approach will be fundamentally qualitative. However, a database will be drawn up during the first phase of the project, especially with regard to institutions that directly or indirectly deal with victims/survivors of domestic violence (in addition to specific institutions such as care centres and shelters, there are also social security, courts, security forces, hospitals and health centres). In addition to quantitative data, an evaluation of the services (shelters and care centres) will be carried out using mainly semi-structured individual interviews with both the technical team and the users of these institutions and organisations. The second part of the project will involve the use of life story methodology. Here, the women will be the main participants/ protagonists, with whom and in their own terms, the aim is to find out how they experienced the processes of victimisation and personal construction of their autonomy and escape from violence, as well as what problems they faced and what suggestions they can provide for changing the technical methods of support services.The third part of the project will focus on raising awareness, mobilising resources and building social support networks, based on focused discussion groups and the results of the first two lines of the project. Starting from the concept of gender as a central analytical concept - how it is articulated in women's daily lives, how it emerges in the processes of victimisation and autonomy; and how it interacts with other social structures of difference and identity (age, social class, ethnicity, religion) - this research will offer a critical contribution to domestic violence within the broader social, political, cultural and historical context, making social action and, ultimately, social transformation possible. By including the life stories of victims/survivors, it is also hoped that this research will pave the way for learning about the subjective experiences of women and what they say about love, fear and power.
Project Members:
Ana Isabel da Silva Castro Forte
Rosa de Jesus Soares de Bastos Nunes
PIV – Inclusion Policies and Voices: Diversity, Gender and Intersectionality
https://www.fpce.up.pt/love_fear_power/index.html
Universidade do Porto
Abordagem feminista
Avaliação de serviços sociais
Histórias de vida
Violência de género
CIIE /Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto