Surviving Domestic Violence in an Indian-Australian Household: An Autoethnography of Resilience

Authors

Amar Freya, Monash University, AustraliaFollow

Abstract

This study explores how my personal experiences with domestic violence in my family have shaped my identity and my current self as an Indian-Australian woman, teacher, and researcher. Domestic violence touches many children and their families and affects their sense of identity and belonging as individuals and in their social spaces. An autoethnographical method is used to investigate my experiences within a domestically violent family and how it has shaped my identity as an Indian-Australian woman. The study reveals various themes including three themes that were noted to be the most significant: patriarchy in Indian culture, resilience, identity and belonging. The study reveals my ongoing struggle in a domestically violent household, feeling torn between protecting my mother and protecting myself. It offers insights into how cultural backgrounds, social frameworks and social values and beliefs may influence others and their development as a person.

Keywords

Domestic Violence, Autoethnography, Family, Identity and Belonging, Resilience

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Amar Freya recently completed their PhD in which they examined how the experiences of family violence in the Indian-Australian community are understood and how victim survivors seek formal and informal help from More Knowledgeable Others. Amar is passionate about ending gender-based violence and their interests involve research and policy surrounding gender-based violence, intersectionality, gender performativity and promoting a lived experience framework with a particular focus on honouring victim survivors' stories. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Dr. Amar Freya, amar.freya@monash.edu.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor Associate Professor Jane Southcott for her support and guidance throughout the emotional journey of writing this paper.

Publication Date

11-10-2018

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3388

Recommended APA Citation

Freya, A. (2018). Surviving Domestic Violence in an Indian-Australian Household: An Autoethnography of Resilience. The Qualitative Report, 23(11), 2686-2699. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3388