Gender, violence, and power: Understanding and addressing gender-based violence

This course explores historical, current, and emerging theories, research, and practices regarding the intersections of gender, violence, and power. This course includes the following: (1) definitions and theories of gender-based violence across contexts (e.g., sexual violence, intimate partner violence, community violence, victimization by state and legal actors); (2) forms of power and violence related to race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, ability, and additional identities and their corresponding systems of power; (3) dynamics of institutionalized racism and state-sanctioned violence occurring within help-seeking and other processes (e.g., child welfare investigation processes; sexual assault examinations); (4) impacts of gender-based violence, including types of physical and mental distress and injury, embodied trauma responses, and community harms; (5) multi-level strategies and research for promoting healing, prevention, and socially just, anti-oppressive responses to gender-based violence. This course incorporates work from a variety of sources, including abolitionist feminists, healing justice and transformative justice practices, and survivors' stories and knowledges.