MENTOR MEETING

On Tuesday, September 11th I met with my faculty mentor, Dr. Susan Shepler, for roughly thirty minutes. Prior to this meeting I sat down with Professor Boesenecker to discuss my project and he advised me to explore my topic area on a broader scale, rather than focusing on one specific country, even one specific region. With that in mind I met with Dr. Shepler to better understand the conversation surrounding femicide and existing literature that scholars have produced. Dr. Shepler suggested that in this stage of my research, I perform what she dubbed “basketting,” or categorizing various theories surrounding femicide to better understand the existing conversation. Within these “baskets,” scholars may understand femicide by looking at psychology, law, culture, or the Human Rights regime. In particular, Dr. Shepler suggested I browse through Annual Reviews which compile wide-ranging information on a single topic. After reading such literature, she suggested I then create an annotated bibliography, for personal use, to better compile the knowledge I gain and see where my particular puzzle may lay.

Later on in the meeting, we discussed my project in greater detail. I expressed my interest in researching a cultural explanation of inter-partner violence in Italy. Dr. Shepler invited me to read Gender Violence, a Cultural Perspective, an anthropological perspective of gender violence including domestic violence and murder. [1] She also sent me a link to a study examining sexual violence in Sierra Leone. [2] I informed Dr. Shepler of my desire to, perhaps somewhere down the line in the 306 course, conduct an ethnography. We discussed ways in which to make this dream feasible, perhaps by looking into the Italian Diaspora in the US, in particular in the Washington DC area. Should that not be satisfactory in conducting a proper ethnography, Dr. Shepler suggested I use various methods including interviews and archival analysis that could be conducted with more facility. Lastly, Dr. Shepler shared her own experience with the conversation revolving gender-based violence. Sheplar was recently in Buenos Aires and Mexico City and saw hundreds of pink crosses displayed across fences and along the city streets. Simply making the issue of femicide visible, without engaging in discourse or violence, shows how powerful and important this issue truly is on an international level.

A challenge I face at this point is ceasing my tendency to get ahead of myself and dive into a puzzle without first examining the scope of femicide at a broad level. Moving forward, I will do just this: read scholarship Dr. Shepler suggested and dive deep into my topic so I can familiarize myself with it many facets.

NOTES

[1] Merry, Sally Engle. Gender Violence: A Cultural Perspective. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

[2] Schneider, Luisa Theresia. “Partners as Possession: A Qualitative Exploration of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence in Freetown, Sierra Leone.” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 0, no. 0 (August 28, 2018): 1–19.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Merry, Sally Engle. Gender Violence: A Cultural Perspective. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Schneider, Luisa Theresia. “Partners as Possession: A Qualitative Exploration of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence in Freetown, Sierra Leone.” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 0, no. 0 (August 28, 2018): 1–19.

One Comment

  1. Reply
    Dr. Boesenecker September 18, 2018

    It sounds like you had a productive and informative meeting, Theodora! The idea of “basketing” is exactly what you should be doing as you survey the literature and start to establish where the scholarly conversations are (as well as where the puzzles are) in your topic area. Keep following the suggestions that Dr. Shepler provided as you continue your research. I look forward to seeing how the project develops!

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