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Weitzman A, Caudillo M, Levy EJ. Hybrid Interpersonal Violence in Latin America: Patterns and Causes. ANNUAL REVIEW OF CRIMINOLOGY 2024; 7:163-186. [PMID: 38304058 PMCID: PMC10830161 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-criminol-022422-014603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
In this review, we argue that to understand patterns and causes of violence in contemporary Latin America, we must explicitly consider when violence takes on interpersonal qualities. We begin by reviewing prominent definitions and measurements of interpersonal violence. We then detail the proliferation of interlocking sources of regional insecurity, including gender-based violence, gangs, narcotrafficking, vigilantism, and political corruption. Throughout this description, we highlight when and how each source of insecurity can become interpersonal. Next, we outline mutually reinforcing macro and micro conditions underlying interpersonal violence in its many hybrid forms. To conclude, we call for more multifaceted conceptualizations of interpersonal violence that embrace the complexities of Latin American security situations and discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Eldad J Levy
- Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
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Tsegay SM, Tecleberhan S. Violence Against Women: Experiences of Eritrean Refugee Women in Britain. Violence Against Women 2023:10778012231220372. [PMID: 38099701 DOI: 10.1177/10778012231220372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2023]
Abstract
There is a dearth of research on violence against women and girls among refugees, particularly in their host countries. Therefore, informed by a feminist theoretical framework and semistructured interviews, this study explores violence against women focusing on Eritrean refugee women's experiences in Britain. The findings suggest that Eritrean refugee women experience various types of violence, which have short- and long-term effects on their lives. Moreover, the data indicate that host and origin countries' socioeconomic and cultural situations shape the experiences of refugee women. The research aims to better understand violence against women among refugees and thus improve refugee women's experiences.
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Ramage K, Stirling-Cameron E, Ramos NE, Martinez SanRoman I, Bojorquez I, Spata A, Baltazar Lujano B, Goldenberg SM. "When you leave your country, this is what you're in for": experiences of structural, legal, and gender-based violence among asylum-seeking women at the Mexico-U.S. border. BMC Public Health 2023; 23:1699. [PMID: 37659997 PMCID: PMC10474729 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16538-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent U.S. immigration policy has increasingly focused on asylum deterrence and has been used extensively to rapidly deport and deter asylum-seekers, leaving thousands of would-be asylum-seekers waiting indefinitely in Mexican border cities, a large and growing proportion of whom are pregnant and parenting women. In the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, these women are spending unprecedented durations waiting under unsafe humanitarian conditions to seek safety in the U.S, with rising concerns regarding increases in gender-based violence (GBV) among this population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given existing gaps in evidence, we aimed to describe the lived experiences of GBV in the context of asylum deterrence policies among pregnant and parenting asylum-seeking women at the Mexico-U.S. border. METHODS Within the community-based Maternal and Infant Health for Refugee & Asylum-Seeking Women (MIHRA) study, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 30 asylum-seeking women in Tijuana, Mexico between June and December 2022. Eligible women had been pregnant or postpartum since March 2020, were 18-49 years old, and migrated for the purposes of seeking asylum in the U.S. Drawing on conceptualizations of structural and legal violence, we conducted a thematic analysis of participants' experiences of GBV in the context of asylum deterrence policies and COVID-19. RESULTS Pregnant and parenting asylum-seeking women routinely faced multiple forms of GBV perpetuated by asylum deterrence policies at all stages of migration (pre-migration, in transit, and in Tijuana). Indefinite wait times to cross the border and inadequate/unsafe shelter exacerbated further vulnerability to GBV. Repeated exposure to GBV contributed to poor mental health among women who reported feelings of fear, isolation, despair, shame, and anxiety. The lack of supports and legal recourse related to GBV in Tijuana highlighted the impact of asylum deterrence policies on this ongoing humanitarian crisis. CONCLUSION Asylum deterrence policies undermine the health and safety of pregnant and parenting asylum-seeking women at the Mexico-U.S. border. There is an urgent need to end U.S. asylum deterrence policies and to provide respectful, appropriate, and adequately resourced humanitarian supports to pregnant and parenting asylum-seeking women in border cities, to reduce women's risk of GBV and trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaylee Ramage
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Emma Stirling-Cameron
- Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | | | - Isela Martinez SanRoman
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
- Center for Latin American Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ietza Bojorquez
- Department of Population Studies, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana, Mexico
| | - Arianna Spata
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
- Center for Latin American Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | - Shira M Goldenberg
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA.
- Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA.
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Rojas Perez OF, Silva MA, Galvan T, Moreno O, Venta A, Garcini L, Paris M. Buscando la Calma Dentro de la Tormenta: A Brief Review of the Recent Literature on the Impact of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Policies on Stress Among Latinx Immigrants. CHRONIC STRESS (THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF.) 2023; 7:24705470231182475. [PMID: 37441366 PMCID: PMC10334021 DOI: 10.1177/24705470231182475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
The mental health burden associated with anti-immigrant rhetoric and ever-changing immigration policies is undeniable, though the psychological and emotional sequalae may remain invisible for years to come. Exclusionary immigration policies, as a form of structural racism, have also led to an epidemic of stress-related health within the Latinx community, particularly the Latinx immigrant community, across the United States. Recent examples of anti-Latinx and anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies include the 45th President's implementation of the Zero Tolerance policy, Migrant Protection Protocols, and Title 42. The recognition of previous and existing anti-immigrant policies, and the impact on Latinx immigrants, is critical in understanding the manifestation of psychological stress to prevent it from becoming chronic. For mental health providers, attention to existing policies that can be detrimental to the Latinx immigrant community is essential to understanding their mental health trajectory and applying frameworks that honor an individual's psychological stress to prevent pathologizing the immigrant experience and negative health outcomes. The objective of the present brief review is to shed light on recent research and offer recommendations for practice (eg, educating the Latinx community about the link between the immigrant experience and psychological stress) and policy (eg, drafting of legislation aimed at rescinding harmful immigration policies) regarding the relation between aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric and psychological stress among Latinx immigrants in the United States.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Thania Galvan
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Oswaldo Moreno
- Psychology Department, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Amanda Venta
- Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Luz Garcini
- Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Manuel Paris
- Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
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Wurtz HM. Mobility Imaginaries of Humanitarian Intervention: Gender, Migration, and Violence along Mexico's Southern Border. Med Anthropol Q 2022; 36:479-496. [PMID: 35751851 DOI: 10.1111/maq.12716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Thousands of Central American women have been displaced from their countries of origin by violence. While the violence committed against them is often portrayed as isolated acts of aggression, women's suffering is also produced and perpetuated by humanitarian interventions that immobilize women in dangerous transit zones. Interventions are then justified by institutional logics that juxtapose women's vulnerability against the threat of their own mobility. This article draws on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork along the southern Mexico border among migrant women who sought out humanitarian assistance following violent encounters. Central to my argument is the concept of mobility imaginaries, or widely shared social assumptions about how mobility should and can be accessed, by whom, and under what circumstances. Through this framework, I show how gendered mobility biases that underlie institutional logics compound other forms of institutional inequality, which often serves to reproduce, rather than mitigate, root causes of gender-based vulnerability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather M Wurtz
- Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USA.,Human Rights Institute and Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA
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Cook Heffron L, Wachter K, Rubalcava Hernandez EJ. "Mi Corazón se Partió en Dos": Transnational Motherhood at the Intersection of Migration and Violence. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:13404. [PMID: 36293982 PMCID: PMC9603496 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192013404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In the recent Central American migrations spurred by violence, political instability, and economic insecurity, women grapple with whether and when to bring their children with them in pursuit of safety in another country, and with fulfilling their roles as mothers from afar. Drawing from the transnational motherhood literature and critical feminist theories, this interpretive qualitative study examined transnational motherhood grounded in the lived experiences of Central American women (n = 19) over the course of their migrations to the US. Informed by the principles of grounded theory, the inductive analysis identified five processes in which migration and violence shaped meanings of motherhood: risking everything, embodying separation, braving reunification, mothering others, and experiencing motherhood due to sexual violence. The findings contribute knowledge of how violence shapes and informs women's migrations and decision-making, and the consequences women endure in taking action to mitigate threats of violence in their own and their children's lives. The analysis furthermore highlights the specific and profound effects of family separation on mothers. The voices, perspectives, and experiences of migrating mothers and the ways in which migration and violence shapes notions and lived experiences of motherhood are imperative to research, practice, and advocacy to change oppressive immigration policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurie Cook Heffron
- School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX 78704, USA
| | - Karin Wachter
- School of Social Work, Watts College of Public Services and Community Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
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Kohrt BK, Saltiel MM, Rosen EL, Cholotio M. The use of formative research to culturally adapt a psychosocial support program for perinatal Mayan women in Guatemala. SSM - MENTAL HEALTH 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Oliveira TMFD, Ferreira HLOC, Freitas VCAD, Lima FDSS, Vasconcelos FX, Costa ND, Pinheiro AKB. Vulnerabilidades associadas à violência contra a mulher antes do ingresso no sistema prisional. Rev Esc Enferm USP 2022. [DOI: 10.1590/1980-220x-reeusp-2022-0167pt] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
RESUMO Objetivo: analisar as vulnerabilidades individuais e sociais de mulheres privadas de liberdade para violência sofrida antes da entrada no sistema prisional. Método: estudo transversal analítico, realizado com 272 internas de uma unidade prisional feminina, na Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza, Ceará. Foram aplicados dois instrumentos: formulário para análise de informações sociodemográficas e da violência sofrida previamente à entrada no presídio e o Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), que analisou o histórico do uso de substâncias psicoativas. Resultados: 44,5% das mulheres sofreram violência. A maior parte da amostra total apresentava idade entre 18 e 29 anos, com filhos, baixa escolaridade e renda, início precoce da vida sexual e histórico de uso de drogas ilícitas. A idade entre 18 e 29 anos mostrou ser fator protetor da violência (OR = 0,632). Uso de cocaína e crack (p = 0,002), anfetaminas e êxtase (p = 0,018) aumenta a chance de violência de 2,2 a 3,3 vezes. Conclusão: aspectos das dimensões individuais e sociais da vulnerabilidade estão associadas à ocorrência de violência em mulheres internas do sistema prisional feminino. Estratégias efetivas necessitam ser traçadas com base nas vulnerabilidades, para prevenir violência contra a mulher.
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de Oliveira TMF, Ferreira HLOC, de Freitas VCA, Lima FDSS, Vasconcelos FX, da Costa N, Pinheiro AKB. Vulnerabilities associated with violence against women before entering the prison system. Rev Esc Enferm USP 2022; 56:e20220167. [PMID: 36197029 PMCID: PMC10085637 DOI: 10.1590/1980-220x-reeusp-2022-0167en] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 04/16/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE to analyze the individual and social vulnerabilities of women deprived of their liberty for violence suffered before entering the prison system. METHOD an analytical crosssectional study, carried out with 272 inmates of a female prison unit, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza, Ceará. We applied two instruments: a form to analyze sociodemographic information and the violence suffered prior to entering the prison and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), which analyzed the history of psychoactive substance use. RESULTS 44.5% of women suffered violence. Most of the total sample was between 18 and 29 years old, with children, low education and income, early onset of sexual life and history of illicit drug use. Age between 18 and 29 years proved to be a protective factor against violence (OR = 0.632). Cocaine and crack use (p =0.002), amphetamines and ecstasy (p =0.018) increase the chance of violence by 2.2 to 3.3 times. CONCLUSION aspects of the individual and social dimensions of vulnerability are associated with the occurrence of violence in women in the female prison system. Effective strategies need to be designed based on vulnerabilities to prevent violence against women.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Vívien Cunha Alves de Freitas
- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Enfermagem, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Fabiane da Silva Severino Lima
- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Enfermagem, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Flávia Ximenes Vasconcelos
- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Enfermagem, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Nicolau da Costa
- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Enfermagem, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Ana Karina Bezerra Pinheiro
- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Enfermagem, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
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Ayittey FK, Dhar BK, Anani G, Chiwero NB. Gendered burdens and impacts of SARS-CoV-2: a review. Health Care Women Int 2021; 41:1210-1225. [PMID: 33616506 DOI: 10.1080/07399332.2020.1809664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Using the SRQR EQUATOR checklist, we review the gendered burdens and impacts of SARS-CoV-2. Although men are primarily detected to be slightly more vulnerable in succumbing to the ongoing COVID-19 contagion, many researchers have recognized that women are facing more of the devastating brunt in secondary terms. Aside gendered health and social impacts, women are more disproportionately disadvantaged than men in economic terms, as they are predominantly found in the part-time and informal occupations, which have been closed down for months now since the emergence of the current global crisis. Also, since women form the vast proportion of the caregivers within the health sector, their role in handling the pandemic as frontline respondents at the hospitals put them in higher risks of contracting the disease. Despite this higher risk of infection, the peculiar attentions to women's health in the planning and rolling out of actions to contain the virus have been overlooked. Additionally, their unpaid domestic care works have also increased due to closure of schools and businesses, which have forced family members to stay at home for as long as movement control orders remain in place. In this confined state, the domestic violence against women have been recorded to be on the increase. To recommend measures that consider gendered dimensions of the current crisis, we have reviewed the various sex-based burdens and impacts of the pandemic, and proceeded to suggest necessary response actions to handle the situation. Particular emphasis is placed on the effects of the outbreak on women, and how the gendered flaws in the current response strategies could be avoided in managing future global crises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Foster Kofi Ayittey
- Curtin Malaysia Research Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
| | - Bablu Kumar Dhar
- Department of International Trade and Economics, Yantai Vocational College, Yantai University, Yantai, Shandong, China
| | - Gideon Anani
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
| | - Nyasha Bennita Chiwero
- Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Marketing, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
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