Combatting Gender-Based Violence in North America and Beyond
One victim’s story can yield profound insights. But encountering multiple stories from various kinds of survivors can offer a more comprehensive grasp of violence as a societal problem. Since violent acts seldom occur in isolation, the ability to uncover similarities amid differences (and vice versa) is key to imagining new ways to combat gender-based violence.
Dr. Nancy Kang, Canada Research Chair in Transnational Feminisms and Gender-Based Violence, proposes innovative ways of understanding the complex forms of harm that women of color in North America have historically endured. These women have responded to their respective situations and reclaimed their full humanity by asserting themselves linguistically, spiritually, socially, politically, legally and imaginatively.
Violence against women cuts across the usual categories we use to define ourselves, such as race, class, sexuality and generation. Kang and her research team envision feminist anti-violence work as a combination of historical awareness, cultural analysis, grass-roots activism, traditional and non-traditional ways of knowing, and artistic resistance.
Through literary analysis and ethnic studies, they are exploring the many startling ways in which our hemisphere’s black, Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian-descended women have responded to oppressive situations.
By connecting Canada and the United States, Kang’s cross-border research will highlight how gender-based violence has long been integral to our understanding of national identities. It will promote dialogues that better engage diverse voices in the tasks of truth-telling, compassion-building and policy-making for a safer future.