Latinas narratives of domestic abuse : discrepant versions of violence / Shonna L. Trinch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trinch, Shonna L.

Series:

Impact, studies in language and society ; 17.

Impact, studies in language and society, 1385-7908 ; 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociolinguistics--United States.

Sociolinguistics.

Hispanic American women--Languages.

Hispanic American women.

Family violence--United States--Case studies.

Family violence.

Hispanic American women--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (325 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub., 2003.

Summary:

In the American legal system valid witness-testimony is supposed to be invariable and unchanging, so defense attorneys highlight seeming inconsistencies in victims' accounts to impeach their credibility. This book offers an examination of how and why victims of domestic violence might seem to be 'changing their stories,' in the criminal justice system, which may leave them vulnerable to attack and criticism. Latinas' Narratives of Domestic Abuse: Discrepant versions of violence investigates the discourse of protective order interviews, where women apply for court injunctions to keep abusers away. In these encounters, two different versions of violence, each influenced by a range of ethnolinguistic, intertextual and cultural factors, are always produced. This ethnography of Latina women narrating violence suggests that before victims even get to trial, their testimony involves much more than merely telling the truth. This book provides a unique look at pre-trial testimony as a collaborative and dynamic social and cultural act.

Contents:

Latinas' Narratives of Domestic Abuse: Discrepant versions of violence

Editorial page

Title page

LCC page

Table of contents

List of figures and tables

Acknowledgments

1 Narrating violence in institutional settings

The protective order

Narrative, representation and power

The data for this study

Social characteristics of protective order applicants

Overview of the book

Notes

2 Telling the truth about violence

Ideologies of narrative

The Labovian Model: ``Normal narrative structure''

Abstract

Orientation

Complicating action

Evaluation

Resolution and coda

Other narrative functions

Beyond telling the truth about violence

3 Representation, ownership and genre

Narrative and interaction

The interview as context

The language of the interview

The participants in the interview

The participants' norms and ways of speaking

The ideology of narrator authorship and ownership

Speech genres and social hierarchies

4 Telling and re-telling

Interactive institutions

Services for victims of domestic violence

Anytown: Protective order applications in a district attorney's office

Someville: Protective order applications in a pro bono law clinic

The Women's Shelter

The Center for Victims' Concerns

Critical Intervention Teams (CITs)

Legal Services

Immigrant Survivor Project

Someville's Mediation Court

The Protective Order Hearing

Interviewer influence and the chain of narrations

Advocates doing inter-institutional gatekeeping

Getting access in the interactive institution

Recruiting research participants: Getting consent

A typical day in the field

5 The protective order interview

Initiating the process of applying for a protective order

Eliciting a report

The affidavits.

Latina women storytelling

Participants' goals: Telling stories vs. eliciting reports

6 Disappearing acts

Textual production

Disappearing discourse

Disappearing acts in interview endings

Disappearing acts from the middle section of interviews

The consequences of disappeared discourse

7 Disfigurement and discrepancy

Partial omissions

Comparing the story and the report

The function of clients' evaluative devices

Anomalous cases

8 Transforming domestic violence into narrative syntax

Alterations in time

Thematic alterations

Alterations in the global organization of narrative

Negotiating and managing the gap

9 Beyond the storytelling taboo

Background to the topics of rape and sexual assault

Ways of disclosing

Ways of recording sexual assault

Alteration and negotiation of sexual assault story and euphemism

10 Discrepant versions and the margins

References

Appendix: Glossary of legal terms

Note

Author index

Subject index

The series IMPACT: STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-16078-8

9786612160783

90-272-9600-6

OCLC:

54761037