The Ecology of Violence and Silence : The position and role of women in and around gangs in Honduras

This PhD study researches the position and role of women in and around gangs in Honduras through an ecological framework of violence. By implementing a feminist perspective to the largely male-dominated study of women, I show that the study of women in and around gangs in Honduras is innovative. Studies on women both in and around gangs are new, and so is applying an ecological framework when studying the phenomenon. I argue that women's experiences of violence are actively silenced by the dominant patriarchal narrative which largely ascribes all violence on the gangs, hence silencing other types of violence, such as domestic violence. This PhD thesis is based on in-depth field research in Honduras - which included a total of 10 months of fieldwork between 2018 and 2020. Over 65 interviews and focus groups were conducted, on top of the observations taken place over the same period in both urban communities and prisons that are dominated by gangs. I analyzed the data relying on the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL). I suggest that the position and role of women, in and around gangs, can best be studied and understood via an ecological framework, which I refer to as 'the ecology of violence and silence." Within the ecological framework, I look at the different positions and roles of women in and around gangs at the level of society, community, family, and the individual.

Jaar van publicatie:2020