Non-Violent Survival Strategies in the Face of Intimate Partner Violence and Economic Discrimination

• NCJ Number: 222888
• Journal: Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma Volume: 15 Issue: 2/4 Dated: 2007 Pages: 123-153
• Author(s): Dana-Ain Davis
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 31 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines the intersection of poverty and violence, it draws on anthropological methods, and seeks to broaden the discussion of intimate partner violence (IPV) by examining alternatives to violence used by women within the context of poverty and welfare.

Abstract

Women want to live lives free of violence, and they often take creative steps to achieve that goal. Leaving their batterers is but one step. Four strategies emerged as patterns in this study each serving to help women recreate stable households and families in light of policies and structural constraints. These were: (1) the use of speech acts where women tried to talk their way into securing economic resources, primarily from governmental institutional personnel , such as caseworkers at the Department of Social Services; (2) the creation of fictive kin support networks where women develop familial-like relationships with people in their social networks that they had met while living at the shelter and who were expected to help women out in times of need; (3) initiating instrumental relationships where women provided a “favor” and then drew on the obligation of reciprocity to get what they needed; and (4) engaging in “illegalities,” where women did something either outside the law or outside “normative” standards of feminine behavior. Discussing these strategies independently by no way suggests that women employed only one strategy at a time. This paper is based on a nearly 2 year qualitative study of 22 women living in Angel House, a battered women’s shelter located in Laneville, NY. The overall goal of this study was to analyze the impact of welfare reform on the lives of battered African-American women living in Laneville. It examined the intersection of poverty and violence, suggesting that women often used welfare as a way to deal with intimate partner violence (IPV). In the face of IPV and economic hardship, women strategize their survival to remain free of violence and achieve economic security. Tables, notes, and references