Cultural Encounters in Interventions against Violence


Project Summary

This project has taken a dual approach to cultural encounters as they play out in ethics, justice and citizenship, through a focus on the fundamental rights of women and children to safety from violence.

The project examined:

  • national, legal and institutional cultures as they affect practices of intervention
  • the growing diversity within European countries, where symbolic boundaries of cultural belonging can define social exclusion and inclusion

Four countries – Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and the United Kingdom – were studied. Differing institutional structures and traditions of law, policing and social welfare intervention were contextualised in the history of colonialism, democracy, migration and diversity.

CEINAV has explored on the one hand why, despite an explicit European consensus on stopping violence against women and protecting children from harm, the practices of intervention and the rationales behind them differ between countries, and on the other hand, how policies and institutional practices, despite the common intention to ensure the ‘best interests of the child’ and the freedom and safety of women from violence, may have quite different effects for disadvantaged minorities within each country.

In consultation with 12 associate partners, who represent networks of practitioners and stakeholders, the project focused on three forms of violence for which state responsibility is well established:

  • intimate partner violence
  • physical child abuse and neglect
  • trafficking for sexual exploitation

The aims of the project were to:

  • contribute to dialogue among the discourses on multiculturalism and diversity in the different European languages and disciplines
  • clarify the implications of European norms, national legislation and practices of protection and prevention for cultural encounters, taking account of multiple and intersecting structures of power and oppression
  • analyse the ethical issues of rights and discrimination arising from interpretations of the state’s duty to protect, as embedded in policies and intervention procedures within four European countries
  • frame an intersectional approach to intervention that recognises the voice and agency of diverse victims
  • build a transnational foundation for ethical guidelines for good practice

The objectives were pursued in five streams of theoretical, empirical and creative work.

Prof. Carol Hagemann-White

Project Leader

University of Osnabrück
Germany


Project Partners

Prof. Carol Hagemann-White

Project Leader

University of Osnabrück
Germany

Email

Assoc Prof. Vlasta Jalušic

Peace Institute
Slovenia

Email

Prof. Liz Kelly

London Metropolitan University
United Kingdom

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Prof. Maria José Magalhães

University of Porto
Portugal

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Dr Thomas Meysen

German Institute for Youth Human Services and Family Law
Germany

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Associate Partners

Ute Zillig

Bundesverband Frauenberatungsstellen und Frauennotrufe
Germany

Email

Katarina Zabukovec Kerin

Association for Non-violent Communication

Email

Sumanta Roy

IMKAAN
United Kingdom

Email

Dr Ilda Afonso

União de Mulheres Alternativa e Resposta
Portugal

Email

Eva Kueblbeck

Koordinierungskreis gegen Frauenhandel und Gewalt an Frauen im Migrationsprozess
Germany

Email

Polona Kovac

Society Kljuc – Centre for Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings

Email

Dr Mwenya Chimba

Black Association of Women Step Out Ltd. (BAWSO)
United Kingdom

Email

Dr Monika Weber

German section of the Fédération lnternationale des Communautés Educatives (FICE)
Germany

Email

Erica Kovac

Association against sexual abuse

Email

Catherine Doran

Childrens’ Services, Harrow Council
United Kingdom

Email

Leonor Valente Monteiro

Associacão Projecto Criar (APC)
Portugal

Email

  • University of Osnabrück

    University of Osnabrück

  • Peace Institute

  • London Metropolitan University

    London Metropolitan University

  • University of Porto

    University of Porto

  • German Institute for Youth Human Services and Family Law

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