Insult to Injury: Gendered, Racial and Epistemic Violence Against Migrant Women of Colour - Dr Selda Dagistanli

Local community groups of the African Great Lakes diaspora including GLADP worked closely with Dr Dagistanli to help understand and foster action against domestic abuse. In Australia, domestic violence is the leading contributor to illness, disability and death in women aged 18-44, but migrant women of colour appear to be particularly vulnerable to abuse. Dr Dagistanli and the team at Western Sydney University launched a study to determine how members of the African Great Lakes diaspora, as well as welfare professionals, viewed and responded to domestic violence. “One key question was how can we break down taboos around reporting and build trust within these communities, so that the women feel comfortable talking about domestic violence?” she says. Researchers from Western trained their GLAPD collaborators, and volunteers from Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Uganda. Dr Dagistanli’s team interviewed other stakeholders such as healthcare professionals, frontline workers, and community pastors.

One solution is to “build bridges and trust between mainstream and diaspora communities,” says Dagistanli. To do so, frontline workers, police, and external support service providers need to be educated so that they can provide “culturally sensitive, non-paternalistic, and meaningful support.” Members of the Great Lakes community also need information about the systems and support available to them.

Please join us for this Thought Leadership event where Dr Dagistanli will discuss her community-based research into gendered, racial and epistemic violence against migrant women of colour.