Transplanting the Soul-Tree: An Analytical Perspective on how the Sesame Approach and Movement with Touch and Sound Became the Fertile Soil for the Psychological Support and Therapy for Refugee Women

Dramatherapy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-112
Author(s):  
Thaleia Portokaloglou

This case study explores how the Sesame approach and specifically Marian Lindkvist's ‘Movement with Touch and Sound’ (MTS) became the fertile soil for the psychological support and healing of refugee women in an innovative community centre in Athens. Expression through movement, ritual, imagination and play created the fine line of working obliquely yet deeply with severely traumatised women, most of whom were survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The archetypal image of the tree, which develops new roots after the so called ‘transplant shock’, is a guiding metaphor that emerged through the therapeutic process and held an enormous significance as a representative unconscious image of the women's inner and outer journey of transformation.

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Rugoho ◽  
France Maphosa

This article is based on a study of gender-based violence against women with disabilities. The study sought to examine the factors that make such women vulnerable, to investigate the community’s responses to gender-based violence against women with disabilities, and to determine the impact of gender-based violence on the wellbeing and health of women with disabilities. The study adopted a qualitative research design so as to arrive at an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under study. The study sample consisted of 48 disabled women living in marital or common law unions, selected using purposive sampling. Of the 48 women in the sample, 16 were visually impaired while the remaining 32 had other physical disabilities. Focus group discussions were used for data collection. The data were analysed using the thematic approach. The finding was that women with disabilities also experience gender-based violence. The study makes recommendations whose thrust is to change community perceptions on disability as the only guarantee towards eradicating gender-based violence against women with disabilities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110039
Author(s):  
Hadijah Mwenyango

This article analyses the interplay between women’s social identity, migration and manifestation of sexual and gender-based violence. The research used mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings show experiences of domestic, sexual, community and survival violence. Their predicaments are exacerbated by socio-cultural and structural influences, and despite commitments for protecting refugees, more has to be done to meet the needs of victims. The article reveals the urgency for the adoption of gender-responsive and rights-based approaches in refugee interventions. The capacity of frontline workers must be enhanced to detect violence, appreciate the needs and rights of victims and provide appropriate support.


Author(s):  
Mahanam Bhattacharjee Mithun

Abstract Bangladesh is currently hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and more than half of the refugee population comprises women. In Myanmar, due to the government-imposed securitization and relatively conservative culture, Rohingya women were not able to enjoy their rights and freedom and were mainly confined to their homes. Upon arriving in Bangladesh, they are facing additional challenges. This article aims to find the underlying causes that alienated women from enjoying their rights and whether the life of the Rohingya women has improved or not in Bangladesh. This article shows that, due to the lack of a women-friendly environment inside camps, gender norms and malpractices, breakdown of family ties, and increased number of gender-based violence against women, they are more vulnerable than ever. This paper argued that humanitarian organization and the government should promote gender mainstreaming towards bringing refugee women into the community decision-making process along with raising awareness among the Rohingya community.


Author(s):  
Sabine Lee

The Bosnian case study is the first of the chosen cases where children born of war were almost exclusively conceived in violent relationships in a conflict which forced the world to realign its understanding of rape as a weapon of war. This chapter explores the specific impact of this gender-based violence perpetrated, among others, during systematic rape campaigns as part of the hostilities, on post-war Bosnian society and on the life courses of children born of rape. As the first case of a conflict that occurred after the passing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the chapter also explores how rights as codified in the CRC are applied in the case of children born of war and how such rights can contrast starkly in comparison to those of their mothers and families.


Author(s):  
Gabriela Mesquita Borges ◽  
Rita Faria

The current chapter will allow a better understanding of refugee women's situation in global-forced migration. It also offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which refugee women's experiences of violence are shaped by gendered relations and structures. Furthermore, the chapter will analyze the interactions between the gender identity formation of men and women, the context of escape, displacement and asylum seeking, and the experience or manifestation of gender-based violence against refugee women. Finally, it also intends to illustrate how structural and symbolic violence and power relations cooperate to shape experiences of violence for refugee women and how it can influence and perpetuate interpersonal violence. In this sense, several studies are presented that demonstrate, on one hand, how gender relations are affected by escape, displacement, and asylum, and how they can create different practices of structural and symbolic violence; and, on the other hand, draw attention to the current lack of gender-specific analysis of the problem of asylum and refugees.


Author(s):  
Rochelle Keyhan

The experience of gender-based violence, and the internalised shame and self-blame that so often accompanies it, hinders the full emancipation of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) members of society. This chapter examines CSOs currently working toward ending street harassment. Technological advances have created innovative options for today’s CSOs to unite in unprecedented ways. Modern activism will be highlighted through a case study of Hollaback!, an international network of unified activists who simultaneously work locally and globally to fight street harassment. Research and academic discussion about street harassment and the culture that sustains it have lagged far behind global anti-street harassment activism. Street harassment activists emphasize shifting cultural perspective to a perpetrator-focused, survivor-centred approach that supports survivors. The chapter concludes with an analysis of how the internet has provided organizations and activists the capacity to embrace intersectional and cross-cultural ideals.


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