Citation

Boonzaier FA, van Schalkwyk S. Violence Against Women 2011; 17(2): 267-286.

Affiliation

University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa. Floretta.Boonzaier@uct.ac.za.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801210397796

PMID

21307034

Abstract

This article shows how a narrative methodological approach is particularly suited to examining the dynamics of intimate partner violence, especially among poor women of color in South Africa. We show how a narrative approach allowed women to represent their experiences of violence according to their own frames of meaning, examining the complexities of abuse as it is informed by sociocultural factors of gender, poverty, and deprivation. In particular, we show how a narrative approach departs from other qualitative work by enabling women to construct particular forms of identity, thereby giving them agency in authoring their own stories of violence.

Language: en