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- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
Recent studies have investigated reproductive coercion, a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) defined as when one partner attempts to control another through pregnancy; however, research has focused only on female victim-survivors. Accordingly, the purpose of this three-paper dissertation was to explore the context of male- and female-perpetrated reproductive coercion via interview data from perpetrators of this abuse. The objective of the first paper was to gain a more complicated understanding of male-perpetrated reproductive coercion, with attention to why the phenomenon only sometimes co-occurs with other forms of IPV. A multiple case study analysis framework was used to interpret interview data from men who self-identified as having perpetrating reproductive coercion (n=5). Several men attempted to impregnate non-consenting partners because they perceived value in fatherhood, or the label of "family man." Many justified their behavior by positioning themselves as the rightful "head of household" and minimized their actions by noting their partners' love for their children. The purpose of the second paper, a close narrative analysis of one male participant's interview (n=1), was to gain deeper understanding of how enactment of a certain type of masculinity influences articulations of power within an intimate relationship. Four interview excerpts were organized into stanzas, which were analyzed for narrative disjuncture as well as minimizations and justifications of coercive behavior, with the finding that desire for biological offspring and enactment of power and control may both be tied to a need to perform masculine identity. Finally, the aim of the third paper was to develop an understanding of the contexts in which women perpetrate reproductive coercion. A modified grounded theory approach was used to interpret interview data from women who self-identified as having perpetrated reproductive coercion (n=8), and an initial explanatory model was developed to illustrate a pathway leading to this behavior. Pregnancy appeared to be a means to end (meeting a critical unmet need) more than an end in itself. Preliminary findings suggest that differences exist between female- and male-perpetrated reproductive coercion. Generalizable research that investigates the function of gender in the perpetration of reproductive coercion can inform the development of targeted, gender-appropriate interventions.
ContributorsThaller, Jonel (Author) / Messing, Jill T (Thesis advisor) / Jackson, Kelly F (Committee member) / Durfee, Alesha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In spite of numerous legal interventions and a fairly strong legal capacity compared to other neighboring countries, Zimbabwean law enforcement and judiciary have failed to overcome Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). This research examines the role of customary law in the continued prevalence of IPV among Zimbabwean women, particularly, the subtle ways in which customary law legitimates the ideals of patriarchal domination in the communal and legal handling of IPV cases. The study utilized qualitative methodology in the form of structured interviews as well as pre-interview questionnaires. Eighteen women who identified as IPV survivors or victims were recruited using snowball sampling method whereby each person interviewed was asked to suggest additional people who were either present victims or survivors of IPV. Five lawyers from Chinhoyi, ten lawyers from Harare, ten police officers from Chinhoyi and ten police officers from Harare were identified using judgement or purposive sampling where subjects are chosen due to availability. The research established that IPV is a way in which abusers exercise their assumed patriarchal rights over women. Likewise, police officers are also influenced by attitudes and mentalities acquired from customary law in the way they handle IPV cases which resultantly leads to secondary victimization of IPV victims. The research concluded that much work still needs to be done by the judiciary, law enforcement and the community to combat the prevalence of IPV in Zimbabwe.
ContributorsMarekera, Shantel (Author) / Durfee, Alesha (Thesis advisor) / Adelman, Madelaine (Committee member) / Kittilson, Miki (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Sexual assault at colleges and universities in the United States is a significant health and human rights issue that impacts somewhere between one-in-four and one-in-five students. Despite the alarmingly high burden, overall rates of disclosing to crisis, health, and victim services, and reporting to schools and law enforcement remain low. In order to buffer students from associated short- and long-term harm, and help them reestablish safety and pursue justice, empirically-supported, innovative, and trauma-informed secondary prevention strategies are needed. To address this pressing issue, the current study used a trauma-informed, feminist community research approach to develop and design a prototype of an internet-based decision aid specifically tailored to assist students at Arizona State University who experience sexual assault with making informed choices about reporting and seeking care, advocacy, and support on and off campus. Results from preliminary alpha testing of the tool showed that: 1. It is feasible to adapt decision aids for use with the target population, and 2. While aspects of the tool can be improved during the next phases of redrafting and redesign, members of the target population find it to be acceptable, comprehensible, and usable.
ContributorsVillegas-Gold, Michelle (Author) / Hurtado, Ana Magdalena (Thesis advisor) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis advisor) / Durfee, Alesha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This qualitative study examines how fathers, who stay home with their children and identify as the main care-giver within their family, construct their role as the primary caregiver. I analyze the narratives of stay-at-home fathers focusing on the thematic areas of isolation, resistance and the division of household labor. Unlike previous research, I examine the ways in which fathers construct their position as a stay-at-home father separate from the traditional stay-at-home mother role. Consequently, I focus on the constructions of masculinities by stay-at-home fathers that allows for the construction of the stay-at-home role to be uniquely tied to fatherhood rather than motherhood.
In this research, I explore three questions: 1) how do stay-at-home fathers construct their masculinity, specifically in relation to their social roles as fathers, partners, peers, etc.? 2) Is the negotiation of household labor, including care work and household tasks, in these families a reflection of shifting gender roles in the home where the primary caregiver is the father? 3) In what ways does social location and intersecting identities influence the ways in which fathers construct this stay-at-home identity?
My research emphasizes how these fathers understand their role as a stay-at-home father while challenging some traditionally dominant expectations of fatherhood. Specifically, I use themes of isolation, resistance, and the division of household labor in order to understand the multiple ways fathers experience their roles as stay-at-home parents.
In this research, I explore three questions: 1) how do stay-at-home fathers construct their masculinity, specifically in relation to their social roles as fathers, partners, peers, etc.? 2) Is the negotiation of household labor, including care work and household tasks, in these families a reflection of shifting gender roles in the home where the primary caregiver is the father? 3) In what ways does social location and intersecting identities influence the ways in which fathers construct this stay-at-home identity?
My research emphasizes how these fathers understand their role as a stay-at-home father while challenging some traditionally dominant expectations of fatherhood. Specifically, I use themes of isolation, resistance, and the division of household labor in order to understand the multiple ways fathers experience their roles as stay-at-home parents.
ContributorsSnitker, Aundrea Janae (Author) / Durfee, Alesha (Thesis advisor) / Jurik, Nancy (Committee member) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Committee member) / Leong, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Rates of domestic violence (DV) gun homicide in Arizona consistently exceed the national average (Everytown, 2015). For perpetrators, firearms continue to be their primary weapon of choice in DV homicides (Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, 2015). In Arizona, civil DV protection orders (POs) help reduce the growing rates of gun homicide through firearm removal provisions. Questioning how firearms shape judicial decision-making, this thesis contributes to existing literature on firearms and DV by exploring how judges come to interpret findings of credible threat and which factors are associated with judicial decisions to grant firearm removal pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3601. This thesis reveals how courts navigate competing concerns around victim safety and gun rights.
Secondary qualitative and quantitative data collected as part of Dr. Alesha Durfee’s National Institute of Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Grant “Investigating the Impacts of Institutional and Contextual Factors on Protection Order Decision-Making” (Dr. Alesha Durfee, PI; Mesa Municipal Court and National Center for State Courts, co-PIs) (2015-IJ-CX-0013) are analyzed in this thesis.
Secondary qualitative and quantitative data collected as part of Dr. Alesha Durfee’s National Institute of Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Grant “Investigating the Impacts of Institutional and Contextual Factors on Protection Order Decision-Making” (Dr. Alesha Durfee, PI; Mesa Municipal Court and National Center for State Courts, co-PIs) (2015-IJ-CX-0013) are analyzed in this thesis.
ContributorsWallin, Mikaela (Author) / Durfee, Alesha (Thesis advisor) / Kitch, Sally (Committee member) / Messing, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
ABSTRACT
For almost a decade now, the Greek economic crisis has crippled the Greek nation and its citizenry. High unemployment rates as well as increased levels of homelessness and suicide are only some of the social repercussions of the collapse of the economic system. While we know much about the impact of this crisis on Greek citizens, the literature surrounding the crisis lacks a full range of perspectives and experiences. This project works to fill-in the gaps surrounding the Greek economic crisis and the specific experiences of undocumented, immigrant, domestic workers. Looking at the ways in which these women exist in a constant state of violence, fear, and suffering I identify normalized violence in two main arenas: state/institutional and quotidian/everyday acts. Borrowing from Cecilia Menijvar’s pillars of normalized violence (2011), this work identifies the ways in which state-sponsored bureaucratic violence leads to real suffering and fear exemplified in moments of quotidian violence. Understanding the unique experiences of these women, works to weave together a more nuanced understanding of the impacts of the Greek economic crisis. Along with these moments of violence, this ethnographic inspired project highlights modes of survival, resistance, and resilience employed by these women in response to their violent circumstances.
For almost a decade now, the Greek economic crisis has crippled the Greek nation and its citizenry. High unemployment rates as well as increased levels of homelessness and suicide are only some of the social repercussions of the collapse of the economic system. While we know much about the impact of this crisis on Greek citizens, the literature surrounding the crisis lacks a full range of perspectives and experiences. This project works to fill-in the gaps surrounding the Greek economic crisis and the specific experiences of undocumented, immigrant, domestic workers. Looking at the ways in which these women exist in a constant state of violence, fear, and suffering I identify normalized violence in two main arenas: state/institutional and quotidian/everyday acts. Borrowing from Cecilia Menijvar’s pillars of normalized violence (2011), this work identifies the ways in which state-sponsored bureaucratic violence leads to real suffering and fear exemplified in moments of quotidian violence. Understanding the unique experiences of these women, works to weave together a more nuanced understanding of the impacts of the Greek economic crisis. Along with these moments of violence, this ethnographic inspired project highlights modes of survival, resistance, and resilience employed by these women in response to their violent circumstances.
ContributorsLinos, Viviane (Author) / Durfee, Alesha (Thesis advisor) / Vega, Sujey (Committee member) / Adelman, Madelaine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Legal narratives obtained from forensic interviews of twenty sexually abused children were analyzed concerning gender differences in disclosure patterns and narrative elaboration. Quantitative analysis of the children's disclosure of sexual abuse revealed that boys made prompted disclosures to caretakers, primarily mothers. Girls more often made purposeful disclosures, and revealed the abuse to caretakers as well as other supportive individuals. Quantitative analysis of the children's forensic interviews revealed that girls provided more coherent, elaborate, structured, and contextually detailed narratives than boys did. Children's accounts of their disclosures were qualitatively analyzed. Results indicated that fear was the primary reason children delayed abuse disclosure. Qualitative analysis also found that the children's narratives revealed several common themes including themes of force and resistance. Implications for legal interventions on behalf of children and the effectiveness of abuse prevention programs were discussed.
ContributorsDutton, Wendy Allison, 1960- (Author) / Adelman, Madelaine (Thesis advisor) / Durfee, Alesha (Committee member) / Krysik, Judy (Committee member) / Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This study investigates the perceptions and experiences of U.S. urban poverty among Mexican immigrant women living in La Villita, a neighborhood in Chicago. La Villita is the largest Mexican and Mexican American neighborhood in the Midwest with a population of 77% Mexican and Mexican Americans, with women making up 43% of the population, and 34% of the population living below the poverty line. Although women are less than 50% of La Villita’s population, immigrant women are more likely to experience poverty and earn lower wages than immigrant men. Using qualitative methods and a demographic survey, this study explores the ways in which immigrant women perceive and experience living in a low-income neighborhood. This study addresses the following three questions: 1) How do citizenship status, migration experience, and gender inform the ways Mexican immigrant women experience and manage poverty in Chicago? 2) How do their pre-migration experiences in Mexico influence the women’s perceptions of U.S. poverty? And 3) How do Mexican immigrant women develop and/or find resources from in their low-income neighborhood in Chicago? This study applies a transnational feminist framework to thirty-five semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. The findings demonstrate that women’s perceptions about poverty are constructed before migrating to the U.S. Once in the U.S., these perceptions begin to change because of their continued referencing to what used to be their living situations in Mexico. However, even though some of the women might not identify as poor after years living in the U.S., their perceptions of escaping poverty in the U.S. are based on attaining basic necessities such as shelter, food, and clothing. Based on the findings of this study, the women’s experiences of poverty informs us that the lack of social opportunities in the women’s lives hinders their full participation in society, an exclusion that perpetuates poverty. Thus, this study shifts the focus from material deprivation to social exclusion as an additional factor that sustains poverty. The last finding demonstrates how women manage living in poverty and how La Villita itself is a resource that offsets some of the material and social challenges they face in the U.S.
ContributorsGutierrez, Julia (Author) / Leong, Karen J (Thesis advisor) / Romero, Mary (Committee member) / Fonow, Mary M (Committee member) / Durfee, Alesha (Committee member) / Estrada, Emir (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The Bharata-Natyam student in the United States (US) is challenged by how to effectively translate their dance into contemporary lived experiences. Research reveals that this dilemma is sometimes addressed by transplanting learnt choreographies into a new theme, sometimes adding verbal text to connect learnt choreography to contemporary issues, or sometimes simply giving up the dance form. Years of training in prevalent Bharata-Natyam education methods make students proficient in re-producing choreography but leave them without the tools to create. This is due to emphasis on guarding traditions and leaving interpretation for later stages that never arrive or get interrupted, because students leave their spaces of Indian-ness for college or a job. This work considers how Bharata-Natyam teachers in the US might support students in finding agency in their dance practice, using it to explore their lived experiences outside dance class, and engaging meaningfully with it beyond the Indian diaspora. The desire for agency is not a discarding of tradition; rather, it is a desire to dance better. This work reinforces the ancient Indian tradition of inquiry to seek knowledge by implementing the principles of Bharata-Nrityam, somatics and engaged pedagogy through the use of creative tools. This took place in three stages: (i) lessons in the Bharata-Nrityam studio, (ii) making Kriti with non-Bharata-Natyam dancers, and (iii) designing a collaborative action dance project between senior Bharata-Natyam students and community partners who are survivors of sexual/domestic violence.
The results, in each case, demonstrated that the use of creative tools based in the principles above enriched the teaching-learning process through deeper investigation and greater investment for both student and teacher. Students in the early stages of learning thrived, while senior students expressed that having these tools earlier would have been valuable to their practice. These results suggest that when Bharata-Natyam education in the US is refocused through the lenses of Bharata-Nrityam, somatics and engaged pedagogy, teachers can access tools to empower their students in their practice of Bharata-Natyam not only within the context of the Indian diaspora but also beyond.
The results, in each case, demonstrated that the use of creative tools based in the principles above enriched the teaching-learning process through deeper investigation and greater investment for both student and teacher. Students in the early stages of learning thrived, while senior students expressed that having these tools earlier would have been valuable to their practice. These results suggest that when Bharata-Natyam education in the US is refocused through the lenses of Bharata-Nrityam, somatics and engaged pedagogy, teachers can access tools to empower their students in their practice of Bharata-Natyam not only within the context of the Indian diaspora but also beyond.
ContributorsMANDALA, SUMANA SEN (Author) / Jackson, Naomi (Thesis advisor) / Dyer, Becky (Committee member) / Durfee, Alesha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020