Writing about women's journeys to be free from (domestic and gender) violence

Writing on analysis of women's intervention narratives, in a cold but lovely environment:

We explore the ways and senses that the participants attributed to the responses they received from the support systems in four countries (Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and UK), what was helpful for them, and what was not, if and how the professionals meet their expectations and/or needs, or, instead, they defrauded women.

The paper is organized in organized in 4 sections: 1) what helped and what didn’t help, from the point of view of the participants, will show/frame a picture of how  and when did women felt supported or defrauded by the intervention system in each country; in this section the analysis explores the access (or lack of) information about the victims possibilities to find help, the first contact with the support systems and the diverse encounters with the professionals; 2) the fulfillment of the duties of the State will discuss in which measure the actions identified in the first section meet or collide with the duties of the State or if they failed to meet the rights of the victims/ survivors; 3) How minority women framed culture/discriminatory responses due to cultural or migrant backgrounds, a section where it will be explored specific questions, needs and issues reported by women who experienced violence related with migrant or minority statuses; 4) On how the intervention enabled (or not) agency and resistance will be the section focusing the women’s journeys to autonomy and independence stressing the ways the support systems enabled or blocked their action to build their lives free of violence. In this sense it’s crucial for the intervention systems to validate the agencies and resistances of women in order to avoid revictimization and to develop efficient support resources and tools for helping and advocating them to rebuild their lives without violence.

The political consensus around the need for combatting domestic violence have increasingly acknowledge the rights of the victims in legal and policy. Nevertheless, the actualization of women’s rights in the pathways for a non-violent life is a more complex issue because it demands, in the day by day, bridging from the abstract individual — as constructed by the liberal legal and policy systems — and the concrete persons, situated in complex social relations and contexts (Benhabib 1992 and Hagemann-White 2016:  the ‘generalised other’ and the ‘concrete other’).

Moreover, women who experienced domestic violence in their intimate relationships, when they decide to follow a different pathway away from their abusive (ex-)partners, face a matrix of intertwined axis of ideologies and material constraints, such as the ‘familialism’ (Luxton 1987), the ideology of the “Ideal Mother” (Mathews, 1984), and the pervasive but often subtle and implicit race-prejudices and discrimination. In this, the realisation of the women (and children) victims’ rights is an arena of contested and continuous struggles to regain their lives.  

We also focus on the specificities of the experiences of women with cultural and/or migrant backgrounds through their paths in the intervention systems at the four countries. Departing from their accounts it was possible to frame their representations of belonging, violence and discrimination; their own perceptions of culture and how the cultural representations reproduced by professionals and intervention systems could compromise or help them. Also how the immigrant status and language could be barriers in their entrance and during their paths in the intervention systems: to came out of violent relationships, to find help and felt supported. Finally we highlight and reflected upon the positive outcomes of the BME services.  


Osnabruck, 19.Jan.2017

Féelix Nussbaum in the 1930s and 1940s and the refugees in nowadays

Nussbaum was born in Osnabrück, Germany, in 1904, and died in Auschwitz in 9 August 1944, 39 years old. Before, he was taken to the detention camp Saint Cyprien, from where he managed to escape. He painted the reality of the destruction provoked by nazism.

Legend: Prisioners in Saint-Cyprien (1942)

Osnabrück has a Museum with the name of Félix Nussbaum, with much of his works. In 1995, the Osnabrück contest for the realisation of the Felix Nussbaum Haus was won by the American architect Daniel Libeskind. The extension based on plans by American architect Daniel Libeskind links the Cultural History Museum with the Felix Nussbaum Haus retaining the basic concept of the Felix Nussbaum Haus, opened in 1998. Materials of wood, concrete and zinc which determine the early building complexes of the Felix Nussbaum Haus, are complemented by a grey-coloured façade. The arrangement of the windows with their asymmetrically pointed shapes imitate the façade design of the Felix Nussbaum Haus, lending the building a distinctive appearance. While the extension gives visitors direct access to the Cultural History Museum, the exhibition rooms of the Felix Nussbaum Haus are reached via an enclosed glass corridor. In 2011 the Felix Nussbaum Haus and the Cultural History Museum Osnabrück opened their doors again after almost a year of reconstruction.

Legend: Self-portray with tea towel (dish towel) (around 1933)

Legend: Self Portrait with Jewish Identity Card (1943)

In this painting, I particularly like the white blossoms that appear in the top of the painting, as a sign of hope (for me, at least). 

The visit to Nussbaum Museum was a vivid experience about the tragedy of the nazism in Europe, but it also remembers me the situation of refugees in Europe in nowadays.

In Varusschlacht learning from history

I learnt many things about German and Romanian history in Germany.
The gold coins are amazing at the Museum in Varusschlacht

Great company with Carol Hagemann-White and Bianca Graffe.