RSC Working Paper No. 23 Contesting and Reinforcing Patriarchy: An Analysis of Domestic Violence in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp Sharon Carlson March 2005 This paper was originally submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master Philosophy in Development Studies at the University of Oxford Working Paper Series Queen Elizabeth House Department of International Development University of Oxford University of Oxford. The RSC Working Paper Series is intended to aid the rapid distribution of work in progress, research findings and special lectures by researchers and associates of the RSC. Papers aim to stimulate discussion among the worldwide community of scholars, policymakers and practitioners. They are distributed free of charge in PDF format via the RSC website. Bound hard copies of the working papers may also be purchased from the RSC. The opinions expressed in the papers are solely those of the author/s who retain the copyright. They should not be attributed to the project funders or the Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House or the University of Oxford. Comments on individual Working Papers are welcomed, and should be directed to the author/s. Refugee Studies Centre Queen Elizabeth House University of Oxford 21 St. Giles Oxford OX1 3LA United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)1865 270722 Fax +44 (0)1865 270721 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.rsc.ox.ac.uk Acknowledgements Thank you to the men and women I had the honor to speak with in Dzaleka refugee camp, the camp personnel and UNHCR staff. Also, my gratitude goes to Cathie Lloyd, Dawn Chatty and David Anderson for their thoughtful counsel. Contesting and Reinforcing Patriarchy: An Analysis of Domestic Violence in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp Sharon Carlson TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................2 SECTION 1: BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................4 MALAWI AND THE DZALEKA REFUGEE CAMP ..................................................................................4 RWANDA AND BURUNDI BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................5 THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC) BACKGROUND ................................................7 SOMALIA BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................8 SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................8 SECTION 2: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE .......................9 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................9 WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?.......................................................................................................9 APPROACHES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ..........................................................................................10 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WITHIN DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL DISCOURSES ..................................14 SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................18 SECTION 3: THE ACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE..............................................................20 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................20 DEFINITION REVISITED...................................................................................................................20 FINDINGS .......................................................................................................................................22 SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................26 SECTION 4: THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROCESS WITHIN THE CAMP ...................27 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................27 THE PROCESS .................................................................................................................................27 THE FAMILY...................................................................................................................................27 COUNSELING FROM REFUGEE COMMUNITY LEADERS ....................................................................28 CAMP ADMINISTRATORS, POLICE AND SOCIAL SERVICES...............................................................29 SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................33 SECTION 5: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND GLOBAL INFLUENCES.................................34 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................34 GENDER TRAINING AT DZALEKA....................................................................................................34 WESTERN DISCOURSE, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND UNHCR............................................35 SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................37 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................38 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................................40 APPENDIX I: RESEARCH METHODS......................................................................................46 APPENDIX II: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW TEMPLATE ........................................53 APPENDIX III: INTERVIEWEE CHARACTERISTICS .........................................................54 APPENDIX IV: PHOTOS AND MAPS.......................................................................................55 1 INTRODUCTION Despite the implication of the term, “domestic violence” does not happen in the vacuum of the home. It is a violence that is influenced and caused by many factors—structural, cultural and individual. The phenomenon of domestic violence is reinforced and contested through multiple, competing discourses—within development, within cultures and between cultures. Exploring domestic violence in a refugee camp is particularly valuable, in that it is an arena in which all of these influences and competing discourses are more concentrated and visible. As a site in which populations seek refuge from conflict in their home countries, it is often a situation in which many different cultures must live together in a concentrated area. It is also always administered and monitored by a government, development NGOs and institutions, all with interests of their own. In examining domestic violence in the refugee camp, one must examine the power relations between man and woman and how the refugee experience affects their relationship, but must also acknowledge that the camp is an arena in which multiple power struggles with respect to how to handle domestic violence are taking place. Relations between man and woman, refugee and community leader, camp personnel, and NGOs and UNHCR all must be considered, as each agent has different notions of what domestic violence is and how to handle the problem. Indeed, domestic violence in the refugee home is complex and multi-faceted. Unfortunately, domestic violence in the refugee context is severely underexamined and undertheorized. This has often resulted in one-sided explorations of domestic violence, simplifying the problem into either individual or social terms. Further, much of the literature that focuses on refugee families concentrates on the trauma the family has experienced as a result of conflict and flight. The refugee is viewed as vulnerable and traumatized—an image that ignores the effects of the camp situation in which they live. Domestic violence should be discussed in a manner that takes structural violence, culture and individual influences and causes into account. Structures, cultures and individuals all influence each other, negotiating and reworking understandings of gender and domestic issues. In this sense, an examination of the roles discourse, knowledge and power play with regard to relations within the refugee household is particularly useful, in that it illuminates how patriarchy and the practice of domestic violence is both reinforced and contested. An individual, a home, a community, indeed the global discussion of refugee and gender issues are all arenas within which discourse and power struggles are realized. Because of this, it is important to examine refugee domestic violence in each of these arenas. The following is an examination of domestic violence in the Dzaleka refugee camp. The paper only begins to explore this issue and there will be many questions that remain unanswered at the end. However, this discussion will hopefully show that refugee domestic violence deserves to be examined more thoroughly and with a broad lens. Section 1 will briefly discuss the background of the Dzaleka