Browsing by Author "Dekel, Bianca"

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    Abused women's understandings of intimate partner violence and the link to intimate femicide
    (Institute for qualitative research, 2016) Dekel, Bianca; Andipatin, Michelle
    In this article, we explore how women survivors of intimate partner violence understand the abuse they endured and the possible link to intimate femicide. This is a qualitative study based on a feminist poststructuralist perspective. Seven South African women, aged 23 to 50 years, with a history of different manifestations of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) participated in open-ended interviews. The data was analyzed by means of discourse analysis. In their explanations, the women constructed gendered identities, which reflected contradictory and ambiguous subjective experiences. The women's understandings were filtered through the particular social context in which their abusive experiences occurred. The findings highlighted that contemplating femicide was too threatening, and consequently participants drew on discourses of femininity, romantic love, and others to justify their remaining in their violence-ridden relationships. It emphasizes the need for additional engagement in women's understandings of intimate femicide, as women who live in abusive relationships have largely been consigned to the periphery.
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    An exploration of the discourses women survivors of intimate partner violence draw on to understand intimate femicide
    (University of Western Cape, 2013) Dekel, Bianca; Andipatin, Michelle
    This study is about intimate femicide: The murder of a woman by a male intimate partner, namely her husband, boyfriend (dating or cohabiting), ex-husband (divorced or separated), ex-boyfriend or a rejected would-be lover. Intimate femicide has been identified as a dire social problem in South Africa. Although intimate femicide has been researched from a range of perspectives, there is a paucity of research on the discourses that women draw on to understand this crime in the context of South Africa. The primary aim of this study was to explore how women survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) understand intimate femicide. This aim crystallised into the following objectives: 1) to explore how women survivors of IPV construct and understand the term intimate femicide, 2) to ascertain how women survivors of IPV understand the issue of risk of intimate femicide within an abusive relationship and 3) to investigate the discourses that women survivors of IPV draw on to understand intimate femicide. This thesis is couched in a feminist poststructuralist epistemology. Data was gathered through a qualitative approach, using in-depth semi-structured interviews. A Foucauldian discourse analysis was conducted on seven interviews with heterosexual women who had been in violent romantic relationships. In addition, ethical principles of anonymity and confidentiality were strictly adhered to. The findings of this study illuminate the immense difficulties that women experience in attempting to understand their level of risk while in an abusive relationship and the complexities experienced in attempting to understand intimate femicide. The discourse analysis revealed that fairy tale romance narratives present women with the idea that there is always hope for their relationships regardless of abusive circumstances, while dark romance discourses position romantic relationships as naturally abusive and present abuse as an invalid reason to leave a relationship. These justifications, beliefs, and understandings of the abuse hamper women’s ability to understand intimate femicide. This has significant implications for scholarship in general and feminist scholarship in particular. These findings emphasise the need for additional engagement in women’s understandings of intimate femicide - a group that has largely been consigned to the periphery. Moreover, given the excessive rates of intimate femicide in South Africa, it is critical that more research is conducted in order to increase awareness of intimate femicide amongst women in violent relationships.
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    Exploring adverse parent-child relationships from the perspective of convicted child murderers: A South African qualitative study
    (Public Library of Science, 2018) Dekel, Bianca; Abrahams, Naeemah; Andipatin, Michelle
    Child homicide is the most extreme form of violence against children. Within South Africa, children face the highest risk of homicide by parents/caregivers. It is suggested that prolonged exposure to adverse relationships with one's own parents may be linked to committing child homicide as it may lead to psychological damage and disturb neurological functioning. This paper explores the adverse parent-child relationships of 22 men and women incarcerated for the murder of either a biological child, a stepchild or a child in their care and draws on 49 in-depth interviews with these participants. We illustrate that traumatic parent-child experiences in the form of absent parents, neglect and abuse have a profound impact on establishing unhealthy attachment styles and emphasize the importance of early adverse parent-child bonds in setting the tone for future bonds as adults. The pathway to adopting an adverse attachment with one's own child is argued to be influenced by these early traumatic emotional experiences within the home. This study highlights the need to acknowledge the impact that adverse parent-child experiences have on the formation of violent forms of parental behavior. It is imperative to reduce children's emotional vulnerabilities by implementing strategies to strengthen current parenting practices, to promote the development of less violent parent-child relationships and to work towards resolving parents' experiences of trauma in reducing child homicide.
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    Exploring adversities among parents convicted of killing their children
    (PLOS ONE, 2020-07-22) Dekel, Bianca; Andipatin, Michelle; Abrahams, Naeemah Abrahams
    Experiencing adversities has been associated with the use of violence but this has not been explored with filicide offenders in South Africa. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 parents/stepparents/caregivers convicted of child homicide in South Africa, resulting in 49 in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed by means of grounded theory. Using an ecological framework, this study alludes to the widespread and cumulative nature of violence and trauma experiences within multiple domains of the participants’ lives. The study highlighted the absence of support in the aftermath of experiencing trauma, possibly resulting in these parents lacking resources to mitigate the sequelae of adverse experiences. This study calls for trauma related, mental health components to be integrated into violence interventions and for these to address the impact of trauma at the individual, family, and societal levels, to prevent the transition from victim to offender.
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    Exploring the intersection between violence against women and children from the perspective of parents convicted of child homicide
    (Springer Verlag, 2018) Dekel, Bianca; Abrahams, Naeemah; Andipatin, Michelle
    Violence against women and violence against children are distinct research fields. Quantitative studies have demonstrated their intersection, but qualitative data provides an opportunity for a comprehensive understanding of this interface. Interviews with 22 parents/caregivers convicted of child homicide provided an opportunity to explore the context of violent experiences in their lives including their use of violence and their experiences of it in their intimate and parenting relationships. Using a feminist framework, we found that patriarchal family structures, gender and power dynamics contribute to the use of violence. Revenge child homicide was common with distinct gendered differences. This study calls for closer collaboration between the two fields to assist in developing prevention interventions to address and eradicate both forms of violence.
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    A narrative approach to understanding child homicide from the perspective of incarcerated South African parents convicted of killing their children
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Dekel, Bianca; Andipatin, Michelle; Abrahams, Naeemah
    South Africa has among the highest reported rates of neonaticide and infanticide, yet we do not know much about the circumstances surrounding parental child killing. Therefore, this dissertation sought to address this lacuna in the research literature. The dissertation is divided into two phases. Phase one includes a scoping review, which describes research on the homicide of infants (aged 0-1 year), pertaining to victim and perpetrator characteristics. A search of 18 databases, yielded 53 included articles, of which 39 were case studies, two were qualitative, and 12 were quantitative. The review’s main finding is the shortage of good quality data as most included studies were case studies. Therefore, we hope that this review encourages the development of a larger scholarship of robust research focused on the homicide of infants. Phase two presents the findings of a life history study, couched within a biopsychosocial epistemology, undertaken to uncover the life stories of parents who are incarcerated for killing either a biological child, a stepchild, or a child in their care. The qualitative study draws on 49 in-depth interviews with 22 participants. Attachment theory, epigenetics, feminist theory, and the social ecological theory assisted in understanding this crime. Through a grounded theory analysis of the life stories presented, it becomes evident how traumatic parent-child experiences in the form of absent parents, neglect, and abuse, had a profound impact on these participants. Their narratives suggest that, in the absence of reparative environments, their histories of childhood abuse and abandonment were potentially risk factors for negative consequences in the parenting role, as they likely reenacted these cycles of unhealthy behavior with partners and children.