Merry, Sally Engle, 2009, gender violence: A cultural perspective.

Merry, Sally Engle, 2009, gender violence: A cultural perspective. Merry, Sally Engle, 2009, gender violence: A cultural perspective,Oxford, Wielly-Blackwell, ISBN 978-0-631-22359-7 cpbk; alk. Paper 0. For many years rape, abuse, and other forms of violence againstwomen were considered to be private matters, best kept silent and in thefamily. And when placed against real world issues, concern withgender-specific violence is often still minimized as relative to other,more pressing concerns. Gender violence involves life and death issues and although itvaries widely in form and prevalence, it is virtually universal.Recently, around the world, gender violence is rapidly becoming one ofthe most visible areas of human rights work. Violence against women isincreasingly being recognized as an obstacle to political and economicdevelopment. This book is one of the series of 'Introduction ToEngaged Anthropology', which is concerned with thematic books byindividual authors that demonstrate how an anthropological perspectivediscourse on important and timely social issues that are publicly andethically and politically relevant in a changing world, and are ofintellectual importance not only within anthropology, but in otherfields such as law, gender, human sexuality, health and social welfare. The introductory chapter defines general violence and exploresviolence in gender as well as structural violence. These two issues areillustrated by a case study from 'Hawai'. Chapter two analyzed how social movements define problems and howthese reshape public awareness. No only this, but also exploreswomen's movements in India, China, and USA. The chapter concludedthat the study of these social movements indicates that the concern withgender violence has developed a long distinctive path in differentcountries, responding to the particular difficulties victims of violenceface, including the texture of race, class, and gender subordination ineach country. Although these have been significantly cross- cuttinginfluences both in conceptions of gender and violence, gender violenceis not an exclusively American or European phenomenon. Furthermore, thissuggests that while the law seems an ideal mode of intervening, it hassignificant limitations, as the activists of these countries discovered.Merry, Sally, 2009, Chapter three; "Punishment, Safety and Reform;Interventions in Domestic violence", explores how the legal systemin the USA works to control gender violence through the criminal justicesystem. The author discusses the American efforts as well as similarprojects in other countries by using three approaches: suggestion topunish the violator, how to protect the victim, and thirdly how toreform the violator and encourage the victim to recognize the violenceas an abuse. The chapter concluded that the mechanisms of punishment,safety and reform are interlocking and none could function on its own. While chapter four describes the emergence of global human rightsmovements focusing on violence against women. Further, this shows howthis happened and its implications for understanding and preventinggender violence. Further more, the chapter discusses one of the mostimportant new issues in gender violence and the human rights field oftrafficking of sex workers. The discussion of these issues is based onthe analysis of human rights as developing and changing systems enforcedby transitional civil society and public opinion which reveals theimportance of ongoing social movements in support of particular humanrights. The effects of racism, poverty, and migration are well presented inchapter five. The main topics discussed in this chapter, about povertyand racism, the difficulty of measuring gender violence, migration andthe laws in the USA, as well as the issue of vulnerability and impunity,which is illustrated by a case study of Ciudad Juarez--who lives in atown close to the south US border. The evidence from this chapter isthat women who live with violence tend to become poorer, they loseautonomy and control over their lives, whether they are home workers,low-paid wage earners, or undocumented migrants. At the same time thelevel of impunity encourages violence of many kinds of poor,marginalized, minority women. The main concern of chapter six is violent cultural practices infamilies. The chapter discusses ten family practices which are generallyviewed by the international activists as violence against women. In Chapter seven; Women and Armed Conflict" Sally providesexamples of gender violence that are part of larger social processes ofconquest and control. The examples make gender violence fundamental tothe way hierarchies of power are formed and maintained. The main topicsdiscussed; War and Armed Conflict, Militarized Societies, Nationalism,Motherhood, Ethnic conflict and Sexualized violence: The carnage inGujarat, Genocide and Rape in Rwanda: A case study, Rape as a form ofgenocide, understanding sexual violence in war time, Refugees andviolence and finally the topic about International Law and Rape as acrime of war. The case studies in this chapter demonstrate that althoughboth men and women suffer during incidents of war, armed conflict, andethnic and racial violence, women are particularly harmed. Chapter eight: concludes that gender violence cannot be changedwithout working to transform the relations of inequality and violence inthe larger society. The book shows interpersonal gendered violence and structuralviolence- the violence of poverty, hunger, social exclusion, andhumiliation are deeply connected. Grounding her work in every dayrealities and diversity of women's lives, Sally adds significantlyof violence against women as a human rights violation. Further, sheillustrates the depth and complexity of women's resistance to suchoppression and offers a useful theatrical analysis of those struggles. Generally what is unique about this book is that at the end of eachchapter there is some questions for further discussion and videosuggestions. As I mentioned earlier 'Introduction to EngagedAnthropology' books (which this book is one of them, are writtenprimarily for students, educators, and intellectuals to provide a deeperanalysis of the social, political, and ethical debates that could helpto redefine public policy. I highly recommend this book to the studentsand staff of Ahfad University for Women because it will stimulatedebates on issues raised in this book. The book seems to be written atexactly the right time. By. Asia Maccawi Ahmed- Associate Professor-School of ManagementStudies-Ahfad University for Women.