Torture and torturous violence : transcending definitional boundaries of torture / Victoria Canning.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Canning, Victoria, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Torture--Law and legislation.

Torture.

Torture--Prevention.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 186 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol, UK : Bristol University Press, 2023.

Summary:

With growing acknowledgement that torture is too narrowly defined in law, this book offers a nuanced reflection on the definition of torturous violence and its implications for survivors. Drawing on a decade of research with psychologists and women seeking asylum, Canning sets out the implications of social silencing of torture.

Contents:

Front Cover

Torture and Torturous Violence: Transcending Definitions of Torture

Copyright information

Dedication

Table of contents

List of Figures and Tables

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Outline of Book

Introduction: Why 'Torture and Torturous Violence'?

Introduction

Outlining key legal definitions of torture

Addressing the complexities of torture and torturous violence

Methods and methodologies

A note on positionality and debates on the legitimacy of torture

Structure of this book

1 Outlining the Definitional Boundaries of 'Torture'

'Torture': definitional developments and limitations

Moving towards three epistemological perspectives

1. Orthodox legalism (strictly following legal conventions)

Role of the state

Systematic physical and psychological violence

Adhering to legal conventions, including changing as they evolve

2. Legalist hybridity (taking a flexible approach between the application of legal conventions and wider definitions of torture and trauma)

The archetypal narrative: multifarious forms of violence can be torture, but torture is separately definable

Motivation matters - so does severity and impact

Survivor narratives do not always encompass the term 'torture', regardless of legal definitions

3. Experiential epistemologies (building knowledge on experiences of survivors)

Defined by experience

Definitions of torture may be organizationally bound to legal norms, but not bound to individual perspectives

Where does 'torture' take place? Gendering torturous spatiality

Torture as a social contract

Group torture, witnessing and surveillance

The employment of medical practitioners and psychologists

Multiple perpetrator rape

The expanding realms and recognitions of torture

Conclusion.

2 'Wandering Throughout Lives': Outlining Forms and Impacts of Torture

Prologue: why outline forms of torture?

Typologies of torture: situating mechanisms of physical and psychological violence

Forms of infliction: what do we mean when we talk about 'torture'?

The glocalization of torture

From repetitive beatings to imaginative inquisition

Psychological torture

The move to 'clean' torture

Deliberate permanency: when histories of torture lack an ending

The impacts and effects of torture

Impacts reported by practitioners working with survivors

Psychological

Physical and somatic

'Wandering throughout lives': social, cultural and relational

Conclusion

3 'I Wouldn't Call it Torture': Conceptualizing Torturous Violence

Introduction: thinking beyond states and state institutions

The legal and epistemological expansion of definitions of violence

What is torturous violence?

Moving from who perpetrates violence and why, to the infliction and impact of violence

'It's non-stop. The violence continues': domestic and interpersonal violence as torturous

Childhood and families: recognizing trajectories of torturous violence

"I wouldn't call it torture, though": conflict within discourses

Expanding the realms of infliction: witnessing, borders and sociospatial shifts

Spatial continuums of torturous violence through bordering

A note on discourse: the outcome of being gender neutral is not neutrality

4 Sexualized Torture and Sexually Torturous Violence

Why set this chapter as a standalone form of torture and torturous violence?

Sexualized violence, sexualized torture and sexually torturous violence

Saying and seeing sexualized violence: linguistic barriers to recognition.

International developments on the recognition of sexualized violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture

Sexualized violence as torture when perpetrated by state actors in state facilities

Sexualized violence as torture when perpetrated by non-state actors, outside of state institutions

Sexualized violence against men and boys

Forms of violence against men

Masculinity, sexuality and violence

Sexualized violence and sexually torturous violence in broader social narratives

Cavity searches as state-sanctioned sexualized torture

Conclusion: moving from intent to effect?

5 Experiential Epistemologies: Embedding the Lived Experience of Women Survivors

Women's words in a chamber of echoes

Intersectional continuums of experiential knowledge: insights from survivors

Antonia

Faiza

Jazmine

Mahira

Asma

Nour

Recognizing torturous violence and its impacts

Making the personal political in practice

6 Unsilencing

Introduction: unpacking the shroud of silence

Architectures of silence

The potential implications of unsilencing

7 Addressing and Responding to Torture and Torturous Violence

Addressing social silence, increasing consciousness: societal gaps in the recognition of trajectories of violence

The significance of intersectional feminism in consciousness, practice and approach

Separating sexual experiences from experiences of sexualized violence and torture in language

Barriers to supporting refugee survivors: the compounding of trauma through border harms

Support is impeded by broader structural architectures of bordering and asylum systems

Recognizing and addressing impacts on practitioners as well as survivors

Practitioner ideas for best supporting survivors: what would work in an ideal world?.

Reflecting on inequalities in wealth and finance distribution

Suggested further reading

Responding to torture and survivors of trauma

Undertaking research in sensitive topics

Model toolkits for understanding asylum processes

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jan 2024).

ISBN:

1-5292-1846-2

1-5292-1845-4

OCLC:

1363828351