Recent and on-going societal changes (including multiculturalization, attitudinal changes and shortage of economic resources) have led to increasing recognition of the impact that collectivity, gender, and ethnicity may have in the experiences of violence. The research project Collective Gendered Violence from preventative and Punitive Perspective aims at focusing the issue by combining criminal law and preventative aspects.

Collective gendered violence, for example in the form of honour-related violence, is a challenge faced also in Finland. Hence, the project will offer a platform to discuss and study how the already existing juridical and societal mechanisms could be utilized in prevention and – when needed – in criminal processing of this type of violence. Due to the concerns regarding the incapacity of judicial system to provide justice in a way that would not violate the equality of the victims of violence, the project proposes a further question concerning the development of new and more effective measures to tackle different kinds of collective violence.

The research project started in 2015 with work shop activities for professionals dealing with collective gendered violence (social, health and education sector, NGO's, police etc.) in Finland. A related article is forthcoming in 2018. A symposium on violence research is organized annually (see events).

Researchers

Satu Lidman, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor (History of Criminal Law) at the University of Turku Faculty of Law. Her doctoral theses (2008) analyzed the system of public shaming in the Duchy of Bavaria in the 16th and 17th centuries. Lidman’s central research interests focus on early modern and modernizing criminal law on the one hand, and changing understanding of gender, violence and punishments on the other. Her multidisciplinary research approach emphasizes a general comparative framework based on longue dureé historical continuity and the human rights’ perspective in the modern multicultural society.

For complete list of publications click here.

See also: Turku Network for Research on Multiculturalism and Societal Interaction.

LISA GRANS (M.Soc.Sc., LL.M.) is a doctoral candidate at Åbo Akademi University. Her research analyses prevention of honour-related violence from the perspective of international human rights law.

ANU ISOTALO (PhD) is a post-doctoral researcher at The Finnish Youth Research Network.

In her doctoral dissertation (2015) "What are Good Girls Made of? Somali Girls and Meanings of Reputation" (written in Finnish: Mistä on hyvät tytöt tehty? Somalitytöt ja maineen merkitykset) she examined what kinds of girls were considered as having a good reputation, and how the girls might lose their reputation.

TAINA COOKE (M.A.) is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oulu in the field of cultural anthropology. The objective of her PhD research is to examine how culture is constructed and used in a Finnish court of law in criminal cases involving immigrants and foreigners.

Tuuli Hong (LL.M.) is doctoral candidate at the University of Turku Faculty of Law. The main question of her doctoral thesis concerns the legal understanding of honour-related violence in Finland. Apart from the legal issues connected to honour-related and other kinds of collective violence, she is interested in equality and human rights issues.

Contact:

satu.lidman(at)utu.fi   tujrant(at)utu.fi.

Photo: Liisa Ketonen, make up & styling: Maikki Karhia

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