Leveraging Contradictions Toward Possible Futures: An Exploration of Multisystem Responses to Gender-Based Violence at Universities

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Critical and Activist Perspectives on Cultural-Historical Research (Table 11)

Abstract

Sexual violence within the collegiate environment remains a pressing issue within American society. Efforts to reduce harm draw on collaborative responses of multivoiced organizations across college campuses. While different actors coordinate to address incidents of gender-based violence in compliance with the federal amendment of Title IX, they bring forth competing assumptions, epistemologies, and objectives. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, this paper analyzes the relationship between organizations involved in gender-based violence reduction. Our literature review investigates the conceptual and material tools that mediate the shared, object-oriented activity of responding to gender-based violence in higher education. Making sense of these colliding and dilemmatic notions of success, equity and justice is an essential component to dismantling systems of oppression in higher education.

Authors

• Paige A. Sechrest, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Boris Krichevsky, University of Washington
  Presenting Author