Rising Like a Phoenix: Punjabi-Canadian Women Resisting Sharam, Reclaiming Izzat, and Redefining Pehchan through Resilience Approaches in the Aftermath of Intimate Partner Violence

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Issue Date

2024

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Authors

Sohal, Rajinder, Kaur

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Subject

College of interdisciplinary studies

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global pandemic impacting women across diverse cultures, religions, ages, geographies and diasporas. A great deal of literature exists on the causes, impacts, and resilience strategies for diverse women across diasporas, however the research is silent on the lived experiences of resilience cultivation in Punjabi-Canadian women post-IPV in the Canadian diaspora. Through a feminist lens and a phenomenological research approach, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating the resilience approaches used by Punjabi-Canadian women in the Canadian diaspora in the aftermath of IPV. This research study aims to answer “what supports resilience in the aftermath of IPV for Punjabi-Canadian women in Canada? Sub-research questions include: How do Punjabi-Canadian women define IPV? How do they define resilience? How do they define a “good life,” in the aftermath of IPV? These questions allow participants to describe the qualities and characteristics that make up the kind of life they wished to lead, and the resilience approaches they relied upon from both cultural contexts – their Euro-dominant Canadian context and their minority Punjabi context, to achieve that good life. Twelve participants ranging in age from 25-62 from across Canada participated in semi-structured interviews and two-rating scales to describe their definitions of resilience, the good life they envisioned for themselves post-IPV, and the resilience approaches they used to move towards this self-identified good life. A summary of the research findings includes: (1) Regardless of how participants defined resilience, bicultural resilience approaches in the aftermath of IPV are critical. Having one foot strongly planted in their Euro-dominant Canadian culture and one foot in their Punjabi cultural context demands bicultural resilience approaches that allowed them to find stability in the Canadian diaspora. (2) Key Euro-dominant Canadian resilience approaches used by the participants include attending to exercise, sleep and nutrition, taking medication, therapy, journalling, gratitude, and relocation. (3) Euro-dominant Canadian resilience approaches are not enough for these Punjabi-Canadian women to move towards their good life. Ingrained in each participant’s pehchan (identity) is the imprint of her cultural Punjabi legacy, its values, traditions, practices, and ways of being. The majority of the participants relied upon culturally contextual resilience approaches that allowed them to resist sharam (shame), reclaim izzat (honour), and re-define pehchan so they could move towards their envisioned good life. (4) Culturally, contextual resilience approaches including expanding the boundaries of izzat, engaging in Sikhi practices from visits to a Gurdwara to engaging in seva, shifting internal beliefs and values related to collectivism, filial piety, patriarchy, and traditional gender roles, and creating culturally inclusive spaces with family members and/or friends who supported access to the Punjabi culture. (5) Not all of the participants experienced sharam or izzat loss. This was not the experience of those participants who had a supportive immediate family that rejected sharam creation and izzat loss. This highlights not only the changing Punjabi community, but also the benefits to women post-IPV who do not face the burdens of sharam and izzat loss. Through the lived experiences of Punjabi-Canadian women, this research study reveals critical insights into resistance and reclamation in the face of adversity through the use of bicultural resilience approaches, with an emphasis on the unique cultural and contextual factors that shape the journeys of Punjabi-Canadian women toward their envisioned good life post-IPV.

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2024

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