Adapting Gender and Development to Local Religious Contexts: A Decolonial Approach to Domestic Violence in Ethiopia

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyight Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction: the metaphysics of gender and development
	A brief genealogy of feminist thought around gender
		Gender theory as a reflection of deeper metaphysics of humanity and gender
	Western Euro centrism in the paradigm of gender and development
		Religion in gender and development discourse
	Domestic violence in gender and development and public health theory
		A closer look at the epistemological premises of gender based violence research
		Social norms and public health approaches
		Accounting better for religious systems and the interface with human behaviour
	Conducting gender sensitive research within local religious societies
		The study in Aksum and its approach
	Concluding thoughts
	Notes
Chapter 2: Linguistic and cosmological translation
	Revisiting feminist epistemologies in cross cultural gender studies
		A closer look at gender and religious studies
	Integrating theology in religious studies
		Theology informed investigations in Ethiopia
	Researching intimate partner violence in a safe and inclusive manner
	Addressing the epistemological issues
		Learning local languages
		Making the ‘I’ visible in the research process
		Integrating dialogical research methods
	Notes
Chapter 3: Intimate partner violence, gender and faith in Ethiopia
	Directions in the scholarship and unaddressed questions
	Women’s status in Ethiopia historically and in post revolution Tigray
		Gender specific socialisation and the influence of the clergy
	The legal framework on domestic violence and reported cultural influences
	Research timeline and study areas
	Notes
Chapter 4: The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo tradition and the conjugal relationship
	A historical overview of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo Church
	Doctrinal and theological foundations of the Church
	The EOTC’s Judeo Christian character
	The EOTC’s variegated Patristic tradition
	The EOTC’s exegetical tradition
	The traditional Church education and exposure of clergy to theology
	Teachings on man woman relations, marriage and the conjugal relationship
		Man woman relations
		Marriage and divorce
		The conjugal relationship
	An eclectic tradition with internal tensions
	Notes
Chapter 5: Conjugal abuse conceptualisations and attitudes
	Researching conjugal abuse without a predefined terminology
	Data on conjugal abuse
	Participants’ discourses of harmful conjugal behaviour and situations
		Situational or interactional abuse
		Gender related asymmetries
		Physical violence
		Serious conjugal crimes
		Sexual coercion: a hardly ever discussed issue
	Local attitudes toward harmful conjugal situations and behaviour
	Notes
Chapter 6: Marriage in the local normative framework
	Terminological considerations
	Local depictions of marriage and gender relations in the past and present
	Marriage and spousal ideals and expectations
	Kinship expectations and the role of the family in marriage
	Irregular unions and changing relationship norms
	Persisting and changing marriage norms and conjugal abuse
	Notes
Chapter 7: Responses to conjugal abuse in the local institutional framework
	Local police and social courts
	Local women’s associations
	The mediation of family, elders and neighbours
	The salience of the clergy in marriage
	The discourses of rural clergy life and linkages with conjugal abuse
		Marriage practices and virginity
		Teachings about the conjugal relationship
	Pastoral mediation of conjugal problems and laity responses
	Notes
Chapter 8: Faith, culture and social norms
	Researching the local religio cultural cosmology
	The haymanot/bahәl dyad vis-à-vis social norms
		Position that pronounced faith as cultural heritage and moral norms
		Position that pronounced faith as conscientious practice
		Positions that emphasised faith as spiritual experience
	Religious idiom and social norms
	Religious gatherings, alcohol consumption and the bahәl/haymanot binary
	Notes
Chapter 9: Faith, marriage and gendered expressions
	Perceptions about the influence of faith on conjugal behaviour
	Gendered invocations of religious tradition and faith in marriage
	Religious beliefs and faith in conjugal life and abusive situations
		Faith in women’s coping with difficult marriages and in their responses to conjugal abuse
		Faith in men’s decision making about conjugal behaviour
	Notes
Chapter 10: The individual, human nature and conjugal abuse
	Ambiguous personality based aetiologies of conjugal abuse
	The natural dimensions of the human personality (
	The relationship between individual parameters and the social dimension
	The relationship between individual parameters and the spiritual dimension
	Gendered personalities and implications for attitudes about conjugal abuse
	Personality and relationship problems through a psychological lens
	Notes
Conclusion: Beyond western ways
	Beyond western Eurocentric lenses: contextualising conjugal abuse
	Appropriate approaches for alleviating conjugal abuse in Aksum
		Leveraging on theology and pastoral mediation
		A more integrated approach
	Wider implications and relevance of the study
	Notes
Appendix
	List of experts consulted
		Domestic violence experts in Addis Ababa (4)
		Theologians and Church scholars in Addis Ababa and Meqele
		Theologians and Church scholars in Aksum
Index