Forced Marriage and 'Honour' Killings in Britain: Private Lives, Community Crimes and Public Policy Perspectives

by Christina Julios

Overview

This book explores the contemporary phenomenon of forced marriage and 'honour' killings in Britain. Set against a background of increasing 'honour'-based violence within the country's South Asian and Muslim Diasporas, the book traces the development of the 'honour' question over the past two decades. It accordingly witnesses unprecedented changes in public awareness and government policy including ground-breaking 'honour'-specific legislation and the criminalisation of forced marriage. All of which makes Britain an important context for the study of this now indigenous and self-perpetuating social problem. In considering the scale of the challenge and its underlying causes, attention is paid to the intersections of gendered power structures that disadvantage female members of 'honour' cultures as well as feminist theories that seek to explain them. The book features five key case-studies of 'honour' killings and draws from a wide range of narratives including those of 'honour' violence survivors, grassroots service providers and legislators. Such myriad of perspectives reveals the complexity of the 'honour' issue and the deep ideological divisions that characterise it. With the UK's multiculturalist discourse unable to reconcile protecting patriarchal minority cultures with safeguarding gender equality and human rights, the book raises fundamental questions about the country's future direction. Following a long trend of state-sponsored integrationist policies, the government's response to the 'honour' question points decisively in the direction of a post-multicultural British nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472432513
Publisher:	Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	08/28/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Christina Julios is Associate Lecturer at The Open University, UK and Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. She was a member of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Domestic Violence External Consultation Group; Census Diversity Advisory Group; the Department for Work and Pensions Ethnic Minority Working Party; HM Revenue and Customs’ Voluntary and Community Sector Steering Group; Women’s Resource Centre Policy Forum; and the Crown Prosecution Service’s Race Equality Board.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements vii

List of Abbreviations ix

Part I Private Lives

1 Introduction: British Multiculturalism, 'Honour' Violence and Gender Inequality 3

2 Till Death Do Us Part? From Arranged to Forced Marriage 23

3 Two Decades of 'Honour' Killings: Five Key Case-Studies 43

Part II Public Policy Perspectives

4 Government, Westminster Parties and the 'Honour' Question 71

5 Community Leadership, Networks and the politics from Back Home' 93

6 Front-line Views: Challenges for Policy and Practice 113

Part III Conclusion

7 Making 'Honour' Violence History? British Multiculturalism Revisited 129

Bibliography 141

Index 167