Researching Violence, Researching Ourselves: Unsettling Knowledge Production on Gendered and Sexual Violence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2957-3645/12038Keywords:
colonial, sexual violence, gender-based violence, academia, unsettling knowledge, social justiceAbstract
The colonial nature in which academia has taken shape has meant that its practices of acquiring and producing knowledge are often violent towards those affected by sexual and gender-based violence. Shifting the praxis of how knowledge is understood and engaged in, means critiquing these traditionally colonial methods, as well as identifying new ways of engaging with academia and the framework of conducting research. Contributors of the Unsettling Knowledge Production on Gendered and Sexual Violence Project have undertaken this idea in their individual and collaborative work as a way to challenge, disrupt and change the sometimes violent nature of research on sexual and gender-based violence. These contributors believe that there is a responsibility for producing knowledge that is respectful and which contributes towards the goals of care, ethical engagement and social justice, from the inception of the research work through to its dissemination. In this article, we look at their reflections on what unsettling knowledge means for them as they simultaneously navigate and resist colonial structures within which their work still takes place. They describe their journeys within this unsettling and decolonial framing and how they try to enact it in their work on sexual and gender-based violence.
References
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Kessi, S., Kaminer, D., Boonzaier, F., & Learmonth, D. (2019). Photovoice methodologies for social justice. In S. Laher, A. Flynn & S. Kramer (Eds.), Transforming research methods in the social sciences: Case studies from South Africa (pp. 354–374). Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/22019032750.27
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Matutu, H. (2019). “On the way to Calvary, I lost my way”: Navigating ethical quagmires in community psychology at the margins. In F. Boonzaier & T. van Niekerk (Eds.), Decolonial feminist community psychology (pp. 111–128). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20001-5_8
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Morrissey, M. E. (2013). Rape as a weapon of hate: Discursive constructions and material consequences of black lesbianism in South Africa. Women’s Studies in Communication, 36(1), 72–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2013.755450
Ndlovu, S. (2008). An analysis of coverage of gender-based violence, sourcing patterns and representation of victims in Sowetan, January–March 2008 [Master’s degree, University of the Witwatersrand]. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15793
Pickin, L., Brunsden, V., & Hill, R. (2011). Exploring the emotional experiences of foster carers using the photovoice technique. Adoption & Fostering, 35(2), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/030857591103500207
Silva, T. D. D., Oliveira, P. M. D., Dionizio, J. B., Santana, A. P. D., Bahadori, S., Dias, E. D., Ribeiro, C. M., Gomes, R. D. A., Ferreira, M., Ferreira, C., Moraes, B. A. P. D., Silva, D. M. M., Barnabé, V., Araújo, L. V. D., Santana, H. B. R., & Monteiro, C. B. D. M. (2021). Comparison between conventional intervention and non-immersive virtual reality in the rehabilitation of individuals in an inpatient unit for the treatment of COVID-19: A study protocol for a randomized controlled crossover trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622618
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Taylor, S. (2019). The long shadows cast by the field: Violence, trauma, and the ethnographic researcher. Fennia, 197(2), 184–199. https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.84792
Thusi, K. (2016). Sexual violence in the media: An analysis of media coverage on sexual violence at South African universities [University of Cape Town].
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). R-words: Refusing research. In D. Paris & M. T. Winn (Eds.), Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities (pp. 223–248). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544329611.n12
Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24(3), 369–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819702400309
Williamson, E., Gregory, A., Abrahams, H., Aghtaie, N., Walker, S. J., & Hester, M. (2020). Secondary trauma: Emotional safety in sensitive research. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(1), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-019-09348-y
Bonnes, S. (2013). Gender and racial stereotyping in rape coverage. Feminist Media Studies, 13(2), 208–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2011.623170
Boonzaier, F. (2017). The life and death of Anene Booysen: Colonial discourse, gender-based violence and media representations. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 470–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246317737916
Boonzaier, F. (2018). The stories we tell: Gender-based violence in South Africa. SA Labour Bulletin, 42(2), 56–59.
Boonzaier, F., & Van Niekerk, T. (2019). Introducing decolonial feminist community psychology. In F. Boonzaier & T. van Niekerk (Eds.), Decolonial feminist community psychology (pp. 1–10). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20001-5_1
Boshoff, P., & Prinsloo, J. (2014). Expurgating the monstrous. Feminist Media Studies, 15(2), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2014.903286
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806
Buiten, D. (2013). Feminist approaches and the South African news media. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 34(2), 54–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560054.2013.772882
Capous-Desyllas, M. (2013). Using photovoice with sex workers: The power of art, agency and resistance. Qualitative Social Work, 13(4), 469–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325013496596
Chen, J. I., Mastarone, G. L., & Denneson, L. M. (2019). It’s not easy—Impacts of suicide prevention research on study staff. Crisis, 40(3), 151–156. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000595
Chirape, S. R. T. (2021). Centering healing: Reflexivity, activism and the decolonial act of researching communities existing on the margin. Psychology in Society, 61(1), 1–26. https://www.journals.ac.za/pins/article/view/5590
Christensen, M. C. (2019). Using photovoice to address gender-based violence: A qualitative systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 20(4), 484–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017717746
Coetzee, A., & Du Toit, L. (2017). Facing the sexual demon of colonial power: Decolonising sexual violence in South Africa. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 25(2), 214–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506817732589
Coles, S. M., & Pasek, J. (2020). Intersectional invisibility revisited: How group prototypes lead to the erasure and exclusion of black women. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 6(4), 314–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000256
Collin, S., Collin, Y., & Koskey, M. (2018). Protecting the right to exist as a people: Intellectual property as a means to protect traditional knowledge and indigenous culture [Conference presentation]. Wellness & Healing: Indigenous Innovations & Alaska Native Research. Alaska Native Studies Conference, Anchorage, Alaska.
Cornell, S. J., Suprunenko, Y. F., Finkelshtein, D., Somervuo, P., & Ovaskainen, O. (2019). A unified framework for analysis of individual-based models in ecology and beyond. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12172-y
Dickson-Swift, V., James, E. L., Kippen, S., & Liamputtong, P. (2009). Researching sensitive topics: Qualitative research as emotion work. Qualitative Research, 9(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794108098031
Gqola, P. D. (2015). Rape: A South African nightmare. MF Books.
Grant, C. (2014). The shudder of a cinephiliac idea? Videographic film studies practice as material thinking. Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento, 1(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v1n1.59
Isaacs, D. H. (2016). Social representations of intimate partner violence in the South African media. South African Journal of Psychology, 46(4), 491–503. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246316628815
Jamel, J. (2014). Do the print media provide a gender-biased representation of male rape victims? Internet Journal of Criminology, 2, 1–13.
Jewkes, R., Sikweyiya, Y., Morrell, R., & Dunkle, K. (2009). Understanding men’s health and use of violence: Interface of rape and HIV in South Africa. Cell, 82(442), 3655.
Kessi, S., & Boonzaier, F. (2018). Centre/ing decolonial feminist psychology in Africa. South African Journal of Psychology, 48(3), 299–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246318784507
Kessi, S., Kaminer, D., Boonzaier, F., & Learmonth, D. (2019). Photovoice methodologies for social justice. In S. Laher, A. Flynn & S. Kramer (Eds.), Transforming research methods in the social sciences: Case studies from South Africa (pp. 354–374). Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/22019032750.27
Kessi, S., Marks, Z., & Ramugondo, E. (2021). Decolonizing knowledge within and beyond the classroom. Critical African Studies, 13(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2021.1920749
Lavik, E. (2012). The video essay: The future of academic film and television criticism? Frames Cinema Journal, 1(1), 1–19. https://framescinemajournal.com/article/the-video-essay-the-future/
Matutu, H. (2019). “On the way to Calvary, I lost my way”: Navigating ethical quagmires in community psychology at the margins. In F. Boonzaier & T. van Niekerk (Eds.), Decolonial feminist community psychology (pp. 111–128). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20001-5_8
Moffet, H. (2006). “These women, they force us to rape them”: Rape as narrative of social control in post-apartheid South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 32(1), 129–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070500493845
Morrissey, M. E. (2013). Rape as a weapon of hate: Discursive constructions and material consequences of black lesbianism in South Africa. Women’s Studies in Communication, 36(1), 72–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2013.755450
Ndlovu, S. (2008). An analysis of coverage of gender-based violence, sourcing patterns and representation of victims in Sowetan, January–March 2008 [Master’s degree, University of the Witwatersrand]. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15793
Pickin, L., Brunsden, V., & Hill, R. (2011). Exploring the emotional experiences of foster carers using the photovoice technique. Adoption & Fostering, 35(2), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/030857591103500207
Silva, T. D. D., Oliveira, P. M. D., Dionizio, J. B., Santana, A. P. D., Bahadori, S., Dias, E. D., Ribeiro, C. M., Gomes, R. D. A., Ferreira, M., Ferreira, C., Moraes, B. A. P. D., Silva, D. M. M., Barnabé, V., Araújo, L. V. D., Santana, H. B. R., & Monteiro, C. B. D. M. (2021). Comparison between conventional intervention and non-immersive virtual reality in the rehabilitation of individuals in an inpatient unit for the treatment of COVID-19: A study protocol for a randomized controlled crossover trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622618
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books.
Solano, X. L. (2019). Undoing colonial patriarchies: Life and struggle pathways. In S. de Jong, R. Icaza & O. U. Rutazibwa (Eds), Decolonization and feminisms in global teaching and learning (pp. 43–59). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351128988-4
Spates, K. (2012). “The missing link”: The exclusion of black women in psychological research and the implications for black women’s mental health. Sage Open, 2(3), 215824401245517. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244012455179
Taylor, S. (2019). The long shadows cast by the field: Violence, trauma, and the ethnographic researcher. Fennia, 197(2), 184–199. https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.84792
Thusi, K. (2016). Sexual violence in the media: An analysis of media coverage on sexual violence at South African universities [University of Cape Town].
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). R-words: Refusing research. In D. Paris & M. T. Winn (Eds.), Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities (pp. 223–248). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544329611.n12
Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24(3), 369–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819702400309
Williamson, E., Gregory, A., Abrahams, H., Aghtaie, N., Walker, S. J., & Hester, M. (2020). Secondary trauma: Emotional safety in sensitive research. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(1), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-019-09348-y
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2024-07-16
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Mhlangulana, A., Zimri, C., Thusi, K., Mpofu, T., Mosime, L., Daya, J., … Behari-Leak, Y. (2024). Researching Violence, Researching Ourselves: Unsettling Knowledge Production on Gendered and Sexual Violence. Social and Health Sciences, 22(1), 15 pages . https://doi.org/10.25159/2957-3645/12038
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