Silent Struggles, Resilient Voices: Examining the Continuum of Men's Violence in Assam

Against the backdrop of rising men's violence against women (VAW) in India, this study will explore the full range and diversity of violence experienced by Assamese women through the lens of Liz Kelly's concept of the continuum of violence (Kelly, 1988). This framework allows for a nuanced understanding of the pervasiveness of violence in women's lives, capturing both the cumulative harm of multiple forms of violence and how they are interconnected.
Assam offers a compelling socio-cultural context for this research. Often viewed as a progressive state where women enjoy greater degrees of freedom and empowerment, it nonetheless ranks high in reported crimes against women (NCRB, 2022). Positive narratives of women's emancipation circulate through everyday discourse within Assamese families and communities, are perceived as such by others in the form of tacit knowledge, and are affirmed by political discourse. The idea of gender equality is taken for granted, even as VAW persists.
By centring the lived experiences of Assamese women against this context, this study seeks to highlight how Assamese socio-political history and culture have shaped discourses on gender equality and the prevalence of men's violence. This project asks: What are Assamese women's experiences of different forms of men's violence? More importantly, I seek to understand how women make sense of these experiences and practice resilience in a society that denies their reality.
My methodology is informed by feminist epistemology, particularly that of feminist standpoint theory, which emphasises experience as a valid and essential source of knowledge and intersectionality. I will conduct in-depth interviews with victim-survivors of violence as well as formal and informal support providers. Additionally, I will undertake thematic analysis of government and non-governmental discursive materials on women, violence and the community to inform the context of my study.