Resistance, rupture and repetition: Civil society strategies against intimate partner violence in Cambodia

Abstract

This paper offers a new interpretation of the ‘resistance’ carried out by local civil society organisations in Cambodia against intimate partner violence (IPV). In this, the paper explores the nexus between ‘rupture’, ‘resistance’ and ‘repetition’ and concludes that different ‘repetitions’ can contribute to acts of violence while simultaneously creating possibilities for resisting IPV. In regard to the latter, the concept of ‘rupture’ is investigated as a performative politics through which organisations try to disrupt the ‘repetitions’ of violent masculinities. Furthermore, it is argued that the importance of ‘repetitions’ and the concept of time should be acknowledged. The French criminal defence lawyer Jacques Vergès’ understanding of ‘rupture’ and the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze's notions of ‘repetition’ inform the analysis. To exemplify our discussion and findings, the paper embraces stories of a number of civil society workers who facilitate various men's groups in Cambodia in order to negotiate the practice of IPV.

Keywords:

• Cambodia
• intimate partner violence
• repetition
• resistance
• rupture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. When we speak about GBV in this paper we have in mind

[v]iolence that is directed against a person or a group of persons on the basis of their gender or sex. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty whether occurring in public or private life. (UNHCR, 2008, p. 383)

In this paper, we delimit the discussion to GBV within the family – more specifically, to men's violence against women who they live with in an intimate partner relation; i.e., IPV (cf. WHO, 2010, p. 11).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council [project no. 2010- 2298], which has awarded us to undertake research on a programme entitled Globalization of Resistance: Influences on Democracy Advocators in Civil Society in the South from 2010 to 2014. This paper is part of this wider research programme.