Towards a Feminist, Trauma-informed Approach to Domestic Abuse: Lessons from Rural England

• In Event: Interventions, support and advocacy in VAWG

Abstract

It is axiomatic that domestic abuse causes both physical and psychological injury, or trauma. This paper brings feminist perspectives on trauma, and lessons from the recent ‘spatial turn’ in trauma, together with (predominantly) American and Australian scholarship on men’s violence to women in rural areas. The arguments presented in these bodies of scholarship are used to frame the narratives of front-line police response officers and domestic abuse service providers about domestic abuse and service provision in a rural English county. Their stories were collected during a study of the Geospatial and Contextual Patterns of Rural Domestic Abuse, in collaboration with Cumbria Constabulary, funded by the UK Home Office. Bringing interdisciplinary scholarship to bear on original research findings, the paper demonstrates that considerations of ‘space’, ‘place’ and feminist perspectives on trauma have much to offer to international scholarship on rural domestic abuse.

Authors

• Sam Jane Lewis, University of Leeds, UK

• Daniel Birks, Leeds University

• Sat Kartar Chandan, University of Leeds

• Natacha Chenevoy, University of Leeds