Discourses on Honour-Related Violence in Finnish Policy Documents

Abstract

In Finland, issues linked to honour-related violence (HRV) have gained attention relatively late compared to other Nordic countries. The aim of this paper is to study how the issue has been presented in Finnish policy documents published between 2004 and 2012. The analysis is based on a discourse-analytical approach, which enables critical consideration of prevailing understandings of HRV, of the causes assumed to lie behind it, and the different subject positions the dominant discourses offer for victims and perpetrators. A further question concerns the measures proposed in the analysed policy documents: Do these measures reflect the understanding(s) of HRV promoted in the discourses? It is argued that the presentations of HRV are involved in creating boundaries between “us”, the Finnish-majority population, and the Other, immigrant population. Furthermore, the reasons behind HRV are understood as coinciding with the prevailing schemes of “patriarchal immigrant communities”. This has led to measures combining the combat against violence with integration policies, which in issues of gender equality aspire towards immigrants' assimilation. Consequently, violence against immigrant women—especially HRV—is located outside the sphere of criminal policy.

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