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Cultures of Resistance: The Struggle Against Domestic Violence in Arab Societies

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Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World

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Abstract

Domestic violence is a global phenomenon that affects an estimated 30% of all females worldwide. The health impacts of physical or psychological violence within the home include depression and other mental health issues, reproductive problems, injuries, and even death. While this problem is common to almost all societies, it is not the same everywhere. The focus of this chapter is Arab countries. Understanding domestic violence demands an understanding of the sociocultural context in which it occurs. The most important sociocultural factors in the Arab region are the culture of religion, specifically religious family law, and the politics of the state. We present a comparative framework that emphasizes the interplay among family law, state power, intrafamily violence, and women’s rights. Given cultural and political resistance to combatting domestic violence, the field of healthcare can be the most effective site for obtaining more and better data and for developing national policies to redress this problem.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California – Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lisa Hajjar, Eduardo de Leon Buendia, Patrick Fairbanks, Emma Kuskey, Sasha Misco & Ada Quevedo

  2. Department of Sociology, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Lisa Hajjar

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  1. Lisa Hajjar
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  2. Eduardo de Leon Buendia
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  3. Patrick Fairbanks
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  4. Emma Kuskey
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  5. Sasha Misco
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  6. Ada Quevedo
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Correspondence to Lisa Hajjar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, University of British Colombia Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, VANCOUVER, BC, Canada

    Ismail Laher

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Hajjar, L., Buendia, E.d.L., Fairbanks, P., Kuskey, E., Misco, S., Quevedo, A. (2020). Cultures of Resistance: The Struggle Against Domestic Violence in Arab Societies. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_201-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_201-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

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