Transdisciplinary Project for Social Justice OPEN GUIDE TO A DEEPER, WIDER AND LONGER ANALYSIS OF VIOLENCE *‘Let a thousand ‘wild’ flowers bloom’ This guide is ‘open’, as readers are free to critique, adapt, adopt or discard the conceptual framework, which is an adaptation of Johan Galtung’s ‘cultural-structural-direct’ violence triad. Please cite as Sarah Henkeman et al, (2016). Sarah Henkeman Practitioner/Researcher & Action Research workshop participants: Sylvia Achilles (Educator/student) Adelene Africa (Psychologist/lecturer, UCT) Craig Arendse (Conflict Resolution) Lidia Alkana (Psychologist) Emma Arogundgade (SU) Isabella Banks (Intern, NICRO) Kasturi Behari-Leak (A/Prof, CHED Michelene Benson (Learning & Development) Frederike Bubenzer (IJR) Thiyane Dudu (Legal Research, UCT) Sinegugu Duma (A/Prof, Health,, UCT) Carnita Ernest (Public Health, UWC) Andrew Faull (Snr Researcher, UCT) Marlyn Faure (Student & MRC) Wasima Fisher (Manager, Cape Mental Health) Joanna Flanders (Prison volunteer) Fuad Floris (Manenberg CPF) Tenisee Henkeman (Hospitality Manager) Lorna Houston (Houston Initiatives) Riyaaz Ismail (Ravensmead CPF) Erica Jacobs (Ravensmead CPF & SU) Kader Jacobs (Manenberg CPF) Stanford Jarvis (Quaker Peace Centre) Harsha Kathard (A/Prof, Health, UCT) Hannes Koekemoer (Student UCT ) Guy Lamb (Dir, SAVI, UCT) Zephne Ladbrook (Student) Alison Lazarus (Dir, Zakheni Arts Therapy) Lisa Marquard (IJR & Project Hope) Mandisa Mbaligontsi Fairuz Mullagee (Social Law, UWC) Parusha Naidoo (Student & IJR intern) Venessa Padayachee (Manager, Nicro) Desiree Paulson (OD consultant) Rugchanda Pascoe (Manenberg CPF) Lydia Plaatjies (Active Citizenship) Brenda Rhode (Young Author’s club) Francesja Smith (Health) Matilda Smith (Law Clinic, UCT) Colleen Thiel (Psychologist) Ruth van der Walt Sarah van der Walt (IJR) Valdi van Reenen (Dir, Trauma Centre ) Undine Whande (Peacebuilding Practitioner) Easlyn Young (Sport) *The names of Trauma Centre, NICRO and other participants who attended workshops after the calibration workshops; will be added in future iterations, if they consent. It is logistically impossible at this time to add names of people who attended panels and seminars,and were exposed to the framework, and/or downloaded and used it, unless they have responded in writing. Senior Research Associate Hosted by the Centre of Criminology Social Law Project, UWC 2013 to date University of Cape Town during 2016 Table of Contents A. THREE POSSIBLE WAYS TO USE THIS GUIDE: 3 1. OBJECTIVE 4 1.2 Transdisciplinarity - breaking down artificial boundaries 4 1.3 Longterm Trans-disciplinary action research 5 1.4 Organisation of the guide 6 1.5 Analytical framework 6 2. INVISIBLE VIOLENCE 7 2.1 What is cultural violence? 7 2.1.2 Key examples of cultural violence 8 2.2 What is structural violence? 8 2.2.1 Key examples of structural violence 9 2.3 What is psychological violence? 10 2.3.1 Key examples of psychological violence 11 2.3.2 Key examples of responses to psychological violence 12 3. VISIBLE VIOLENCE 14 3.1 What is physical violence? 15 3.1.1 Examples of self-inflicted physical violence 15 3.1.2 Examples of physical violence inflicted on others 16 3.1.3 What are the effects of physical violence? 16 B. THE CASE FOR A ‘DEEPER, WIDER AND LONGER’, TRANSDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO VIOLENCE 17 C. THE STATUS QUO 18 D. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS TO GET AS FULL A PICTURE AS IS POSSIBLE OF HOW INVISIBLE/VISIBLE ASPECTS OF VIOLENCE INTERLINK 19 E. THE PROCESS 21 F. REFERENCES: 22 A. Three possible ways to use this guide: Straightforward. For those who simply want a holistic way of thinking about and understanding why visible violence occurs: please go straight to the table of questions under Section D and start asking these or similar questions when a manifestation of violence occurs. Read the other sections at your leisure. Engaged. For those who want to make an informed choice about the merits of the adapted framework and the questions under each aspect of violence: please consider using the framework to help us test/calibrate it under different conditions. This is an ongoing process. Research participant and/or co-author of future publications. For those who seek to collaborate by participating in this research: Please take a critical reading of the guide. Decide if it has merit. Test it by analysing manifestations of violence. Provide feedback to sarahhenkeman@gmail.com and decide if you want your name added to future updates of the guide. 1. Objective As part of ongoing action/reflection, the guide is intended to provide the reader with basic tools to obtain a ‘deeper, wider and longer’ understanding of the links between invisible/visible aspects of violence. The process is a theoretical/ methodological experiment (bricolage) which is intended to move as many people as possible to think deeply about violence/injustice, unrestrained by artificial boundaries which limit our gaze to individual manifestations. Bricolage has also been referred to as a ‘quilt’ or ‘montage’, as the ‘nuts and bolts’ of multi-disciplinary research, and in a wider sense as the process of: Pushing to a new conceptual terrain… to maintain theoretical coherence and epistemological innovation. [… A]s one labors to exposethe various structures that covertly shape our own and other ... narratives, the bricolage highlights the relationship between ... [individuals’] ways of seeing and the social location of his or her personal history. Kincheloe, McClaren & Stenberg (2011:168). 1.2 Transdisciplinarity: breaking down artificial boundaries Violence crosses artificial boundaries, but is ‘bounded’ and limited by academic disciplines. This leads, for example, to continued criminalisation of othered people worldwide, while ignoring the crimes of the powerful. 1.3 Longterm Trans-disciplinary action research The guide is part of a third phase with multiple stages of trans- disciplinary action research (bricolage) in the South African context. The third phase collapses artificial boundaries to knowledge production about aspects of violence that are invisibilised, particularly as viewed from below. Phase one: Reflective practice Phase two: Producing knowledge from below - practical action research Phase three: Exploratory participatory action research The research originated in practice in 2005, more than a decade into South Africa’s democratic era. As a conflict resolution practitioner I was assigned to analyse and facilitate resolution of conflicts in two rural organisations. The conflicts were simply defined as problems between workers and management. During the conflict analysis phase, I discovered that the presenting problem was rooted in South Africa’s history of nested inequality and hierarchy of oppression. The model of mediation I was expected and trained to apply did not allow for resolution of the interaction of trans-historical cultural, structural psychological and physical violence that produced the surface conflicts I was expected to ‘resolve’. I recused myself and embarked on an informal course of research to try and understand why there was a ‘gap’ in our practice and what the gap was. This phase consisted of formal PhD research during 2008-2012 which required a ‘deeper and longer’ analysis of peacebuilding practice in an unequal (structurally violent), transitional context. The thesis consisted of a conceptual framework and argument; as well as empirical research to examine what happens in the black box of peacebuilding practice. The conceptual finding was that as a society, we are in denial about the link between South Africa’s uninterrupted unequal context and the socially patterned surface conflicts that it gives rise to over time. A comparison of the conceptual (top down) and empirical (bottom up) findings revealed four interlinked gaps in peacebuilding practice. These interlinked gaps were contextual, conceptual, training, and practice related. The gaps gave rise to procedural blindness, substantive deafness and a complicit silence about the links between invisible/ visible violence. This was argued to be a replication at the micro level, of denial at a macro level. During the first stage of phase three, research findings were abstracted further and an accessible conceptual framework, to close the gaps found in phase two was developed. This guide presents the adapted analytical framework as cultural-structural-psychological-physical violence. It is a conceptual shortcut to accommodate the South African and similar unequal contexts. This resonates with Johan Galtung’s triad of cultural-structural-direct violence During 2016 the adapted framework was ground-truthed by a transdisciplinary spectrum of people who were asked to critique, adapt, adopt or discard it. No one discarded the framework. Instead, they provided additional data. The framework in this guide is thus calibrated to fit SA’s structurally violent context. (The purpose of ‘ground truthing is calibration, testing, or validation of a model or a theory with additional data’ Bitsch, 2005:77). 1.4 Organisation of the guide The guide provides: An analytical framework depicted in a diagram of the invisible/visible structure of violence. This reflects the links between cultural, structural, psychological and physical aspects of violence. Descriptions and examples of the four interlinked aspects of violence. Key question to analyse manifestations of visible violence to understand how invisible/visible aspects of violence interlink, and to consider why it is important to reduce all aspects of violence over time. An optional interactive process to confirm/disconfirm any aspect of the framework with relevant examples and/or to suggest other relevant questions and insights. The option to have contributors’ names added to the growing list of co-knowledge producers. 1.5 Analytical framework As depicted in figure 1, the conceptual framework consists of four interlinked aspects which depict the relationship between invisible and visible aspects of violence. Galtung (1996:2) argues that the direction of violence is cultural-structural-direct. In this guide, the concept direct violence is split into psychological and physical aspects of violence to accommodate the initial research findings in South Africa’s unequal, transitional context where historical- lifespan trauma is under researched. On the left of figure 1, invisible violence consists of cultural, structural and psychological aspects of violence. Figure 1. Invisible/visible violence On the right visible violence depicts the physical aspect of violence. Horizontal/vertical arrows at each end depict the interlinked nature of the four aspects of violence. Further distinctions and examples of each aspect of violence are provided in section one, with considerable overlap between sections as they merge into each other. 2. Invisible violence The three aspects of invisible violence - cultural, structural and psychological violence - each have further distinct aspects. Key examples that map invisible violence in the South African context are discussed under each concept. 2.1 What is cultural violence? As suggested by Galtung, cultural violence is symbolic. He argues that aspects of cultural violence are exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical science and formal science. Cultural violence ‘legitimises or delegitimizes and justifies structural and direct violence’ (1969:170). Bourdieu & Wacquant take the concept of symbolic violence further by arguing that it results in unequal power relations that are ‘naturalised’. This suggests that the ‘powerless’ are not always aware that unequal relationships need not be the ‘order of things’, but are ‘trapped’ in a one way relationship that renders them ‘inferior’ and therefore not worthy of being taken into account (1992:271). According to Iadicola & Shupe (2012:52): No one starts out life developing his or her own language without reference to other people, and likewise, no one adopts aggression and violence as social tactics without the influence of others in the context of performing roles or outside institutional role performance. Thus, culture and its learning are important areas to investigate for an analysis of violence, particularly for conceptualizing the forms that violence takes. Thus, for the specific purpose of this guide, cultural violence refers to the symbolic meaning – specifically ideas about superiority/inferiority – that continues to inform patterns of interaction in South African society and other unequal contexts. 2.1.2 Key examples of cultural violence Examples of trans-historical cultural violence in the South African and similar contexts are: Oppression of indigenous people during the colonial and apartheid eras which found expression in a hierarchy of racial, economic, social and other forms of oppression based on the dispossession of land, its natural resources and loss of identity. Growing ‘between’ and ‘within’ group economic inequality which further entrenches ‘othering’ of people mainly along racial or ethnic lines. Entrenched notions of superiority/inferiority which informs every aspect of life. Inter-ethnic racism amongst colonised, enslaved and oppressed groups, which mimics the divide and rule strategy reproduced by the hierarchy of oppression. Gender oppression rooted in patriarchy. Homophobia and discrimination against LGBTQ people. Discrimination against people with disabilities. Epistemic violence in universities and other educational settings - i.e. the dominance of Eurocentric knowledge and methods of knowledge production; and the destruction and/or marginalisation and/or invisibilisation of the knowledge claims of indigenous and other oppressed groups. 2.2 What is structural violence? Based on work done in Baltimore, Haiti, Rwanda and other unequal contexts, anthropologist Paul Farmer, et al (2006) suggest that: S tructural violence is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way… The arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people … historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency. Structural violence is visited upon all those whose social status denies them access to the fruits of scientific and social progress. Structural violence in the South African and similar contexts, is rooted in the intersection of trans-historical and trans-national inequality. These result in poverty, unemployment and other nested inequalities. Trans-historical inequality has its roots in trans-national inequality. For example, the colonial project had economic objectives (Miller, 2008:280). Nested inequality was legalised during the 48 years of apartheid; and has grown during the democratic era, which functions within a global neoliberal economic system. According to Iadicola & Shupe (2012:45), trans-national structural violence occurs ‘internationally in the positioning of nation-states and people within them and how these structures manifest themselves in differences in life chances’. They suggest that if we focus only on interpersonal physical violence, we ‘fail to understand and see how the violence that is committed at the highest levels by those with the greatest power manifest itself in the violence of those with the least power in the society and the world’ (p.49). 2.2.1 Key examples of structural violence Examples of structural violence and summaries were drawn from South Africa’s National Planning Commission’s Development indicators (2010): Structural Violence Unemployment rate Unemployment (strict sense) increased from 2 million in 1995 to 4,4 million in 2003, has decreased to 3,9 million in 2007 and increased to 4,1 million in second quarter of 2009. Per capita income The mean income for an African at R775.46, the median at R406.95 whilst for white the mean is R7,645.58 and median at R5,331.61, with coloureds and Asian a distant in-between. Living standards measure Monthly real income of the poorest 10% of population increased from R742 in 1995 to R1386 in 2008/09. Whilst for the richest 10 % it almost doubled increasing from R13 416 to R26 602. Poverty and Inequality Using the gini-coefficient, inequality worsened from 0.64 to 0.66 in 2008.The driver of the increase in inequality has been between-group inequality. Life expectancy Life expectancy which is heavily influenced by infant mortality seems to have declined mainly because of HIV/AIDS. Infant and child mortality rates South Africa is unlikely to reduce infant mortality to the MDG target of 18 deaths per 1000 live births. There are three major killers of children under five years of age in South Africa: HIV & AIDS, neonatal causes and childhood infections such as pneumonia and diarrhoea Murder rate 37.3%/ /100000. Research links the high levels of crime to the high levels of inequality. The detail of how these examples and consequences of structural violence are linked to cultural, psychological and physical violence, and how these bear down on individuals, is not widely known, nor is it fully understood. That is, unless wider attempts are made to go beyond artificial boundaries to capture violence in its structure, so that it can be better understood, and reduced in its structure. 2.3 What is psychological violence? Psychological violence appears difficult to pin down and define. Is it is mainly glossed over as an aspect of violence in peacebuilding literature and/or it is obscured in the catch-all concept of ‘direct violence’. As one of two recommendation made in phase two of this research, historical and lifespan trauma of oppressed groups in South Africa warrant further examination. Patterns of conditions, experience, behaviour and interaction (and the disproportionate over-representation of oppressed people in stigmatised institutions), appear to match those of other descendants of colonised, enslaved and oppressed groups in countries where advanced research has been conducted. This makes historical and lifespan trauma absolutely key to understanding high levels of personal and interpersonal violence and its interaction with invisible aspects of violence. Empirical research projects on historical trauma in South Africa are conducted in isolation of each other. (Attempts have been made to collaborate with other researchers, but bureaucratic and other obstacles need to be overcome). It has been suggested by a variety of scholars, that historical trauma is transmitted trans- and intergenerationally. From observation and research, it appears that each generation or individuals, respond either by internalising, externalising or a combination of the two. Internalisers are argued to generally turn anger inwards which leads to depression, anxiety and/or psychosomatic illnesses. Externalisers are argued to become resilient/resistant and achieve beyond expectations and/or become activists and/or social justice advocates and/or count amongst those who resort to counter violence coded as crime. These extremes obscure the continuum of responses witnessed amongst colonised, enslaved and oppressed people. Similar response patterns reported in research on ‘post-traumatic slave syndrome’ (De Gruy, 2005), ‘race based trauma’ (Harris, 2013) and the close resemblance found between ‘General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and ‘Racial battle fatigue’ (Soto, et al , 2011) warrant further investigation. Empirical research is also needed in this regard in the South African context, to understand the continuity and subtlety of psychological violence, and how it interacts with other visible and invisible aspects of violence. 2.3.1 Key examples of psychological violence According to Imbusch, (2005:23) psychological violence is inflicted on the mind, psyche and/or soul of people. It is argued to involve some forms of ‘psychological cruelty and particular kinds of torture’. He argues that psychological violence is based on ‘words, gestures, pictures, symbols, or deprivation of necessities of life, so as to force others into subjugation through intimidation and fear, or specific rewards’. The key observation he makes is that ‘while it is difficult to detect’, psychological violence is ‘considerably more inhumane than physical violence’. This includes routine bullying amongst younger people and the continuous threat of violence against vulnerable people of all ages. Here I would like to draw attention to the fact that being ‘othered’ on a daily basis - by a variety of actors in society - who may or may not act in concert and for a definable or official ‘political purpose’ - does have a cumulative effect on individuals, particularly those with a history of trans-historical oppression. Denham (2006) sounds a caution when he argues that: Discussions concerning the consequences of colonialism and the challenges facing [colonised people and their decendants] frequently do not illustrate the strengths expressed by individuals and communities, as powerful stories, songs, histories and strategies for resilience are often present behind the realities of inequality, injustice and poverty. The line between people who internalise their experiences and those who externalise becomes blurred. The range of responses cover suicidal behaviour on the extreme end, homicidal behaviour on the other, and a variety of responses in between as alluded to by Denham (2006:392). According to clinical psychologist and gender studies scholar Dr. Adelene Africa, (during conversations about the invisible/visible structure of violence in preparation for an intended co-authored article in which we argue that responses to invisible/visible violence are not clear-cut), she states that: Visible and invisible violences are assimilated and have psychological correlates. Violence is therefore internalised and externalised which often causes a vacillation between wanting to perpetrate violence upon the self (suicide) and/or others (homicide). This suggests that there are a range of responses that external observers are unaware of. Yet the literature dichotomises resilient/resistant or pathological responses with nothing in-between. This is in direct contrast to the famous Milgram and Stanford experiments and the Stanford professor’s argument that ‘good’ people can become ‘evil’ under certain extreme situations (Zimbardo, 2004:25, 2007). Logically, the opposite also holds true. It therefore makes no sense to continue to put good people under duress and to define their behaviour in the abstract. Only empirical research and self-reports by descendants of colonised, enslaved and oppressed people can really debunk this widely held abstraction. 2.3.2 Key examples of responses to psychological violence Some examples of responses (symptoms and behaviours) by colonised, enslaved and oppressed people and their descendants based on relevant literature, observation and accumulated knowledge, are summarised as: Protective factors The largely unresearched middle Wounded responses and behaviours (which are in some instances masked) Emotional & Psychological resilience resistance resourcefulness the will to succeed self-determination self-reliance various survival strategies drawing on strong support networks Physical Exercise Healthy diet (Protective factors are understudied, as well as the physical effects of negative resilience and sustained resistance). From my observation during a lifetime of overt and/or denied oppression, many of the wounded responses in the third column are present in resilient people. They simply manage it better and/or view it as an anomaly when it does occur. This gives rise to the impossible burden and expectations of being regarded as a ‘strong black woman’ under conditions of unrelenting invisible violence, for example. It also leads to people regarding it as ‘personal failure’ when they show inevitable vulnerability and symptoms of ‘unresolved social grief’ due to aspects of the past still being present during the transition from oppression to democracy. ? Emotional & Psychological anger guilt anxiety shame humiliation inability to be assertive unresolved grief inability to mourn substance abuse/self-medication aggression frustration PTSD depression domestic violence interpersonal violence intra-group violence inter-group violence suicidal ideation lack of parenting skills by some low self-esteem internalised oppression denial hyper vigilance dissociation Some physical effects decreased mortality hypertension sleep disorders ulcers muscoskeletal symptoms neurological symptoms (headaches) respiratory symptoms Summarised from Brave Heart, et al (2011); De Gruy, (2005), Denham, (2008); McFarlane et al, (1994) Volkan, (2006); and based on my own accumulated knowledge and the lived experience of family, friends, collegial circles and wider literature on the impact of colonisation, slavery and oppression. This is not an extensive list, and people’s responses vary. Mental and physical health professionals, social epidemiologists, counsellors, religious leaders, social workers, community carers and researchers have tacit or explicit knowledge about socially patterned symptoms and behaviours. We need to connect the dots. More research needs to be done on the continuum of responses if we want to develop fine-grained analyses that assist us to contribute to the reduction of violence in its structure. What is already clear is that there is a chasm in the understanding, definition, and study of violence, its causes, correlates and consequences if we only focus on interpersonal physical violence. The fact that the majority of oppressed people appear not to commit physical acts of violence coded as crime, might suggest that most people are resilient/resistant. However, many people may display some physical or emotional symptoms, which complicates the picture considerably, and shows that invisible and visible aspects of violence are interlinked. Pilisuk, M., & Rountree, J. A. (2015:84 argue that: In social epidemiology, the findings have presented an overwhelming case for three principal factors in the breakdown of both physical and psychological health: poverty, social marginality, and loss of control. For this reason, it is best not to pathologize and stigmatise behaviours or symptoms in the right hand column, as this once again plays into the inferior/superior paradigm. Rather, it is more useful to view these responses as the result of ‘unresolved social grief’ which is overlaid onto ‘unresolved historical grief’, which I prefer; as these symptoms and behaviours are socially induced. Social grief is a humane response to inhumanity, and is not pathological. 3. Visible violence Visible violence is largely delinked from the aspects of invisible violence discussed above. This distinction has been achieved by legal definitions of violence through which individuals are held solely accountable even if the violence is large-scale and regarded as ‘political violence’. Yet, a principle suggested by experts on global violence is that if we want to understand ‘the causes of violence in a society, it is crucial to begin by assessing the society in terms of the patterns of interpersonal violence’ and the links to invisible aspects of violence across boundaries. The corollary to this principle, they argue, is that ’societies with high levels of structural violence also have high levels of institutional and interpersonal violence’ (Iadocola & Shupe, 2012: 45). 3.1 What is physical violence? The question is not as straightforward as it appears. Physical violence is bodily harm that is self-inflicted (personal) or inflicted on others (interpersonal), and is intended to inflict pain and/or to end life in private and/or public settings. Physical violence can be understood to happen on a continuum of slow, attempted and successful suicide to intentional bodily harm or homicide. This ranges from a wide variety of self-injurious behaviour at the personal level to interpersonal, intra - and intergroup, intra and international violence. 3.1.1 Examples of self-inflicted physical violence This form of violence happens in various conscious and unconscious ways, for example: Self inflicted physical violence Slow suicide through substance abuse (e.g. drugs, alcohol, and smoking) Self cutting; Eating disorders e.g. anorexia nervosa and bulimia Risky sexual behaviour Other risky or unhealthy behaviours Attempted suicide by any number of means Successful suicide. This list is not extensive. Health professionals will have more in depth knowledge of the variety of ways in which self inflicted personal violence manifests. This form of violence is usually ‘hidden’ when it is executed, but the results are visible. It can result either from genetic mental illness or socially patterned mental and emotional distress amongst others, unresolved historical grief, race based trauma, and as a result of other cultural and/or structural and/or inflicted physical violence or a combination of these. 3.1.2 Examples of physical violence inflicted on others Physical violence can be inflicted in various ways, by various actors, using various means, for example: Physical violence inflicted on others Close contact - power over Distance - dehumanisation Rape Slapping Fist fights Kicking Caning Whipping Knifing or other means of inflicting an open wound with a sharp object. Poisoning Shooting Intentionally running someone over with a vehicle Different methods of torture Homicide Bombing 3.1.3 What are the effects of physical violence? Besides bodily injury, physical violence also generates psychological and emotional trauma. This does not only affect the primary victim, but also secondary victims of family, friends, neighbours, communities and entire societies. Research has shown that many victims become perpetrators, particularly if their trauma remains unresolved and if they are routinely victimised in a variety of ways. A violent attack increases fear of violence. Constant awareness and fear of violence in turn feeds the prison-like conditions under which most people live in gated and walled communities with electrified fences. In an unequal society like South Africa, this has led to increased surveillance of those who are profiled as criminals (mainly young black men) and the booming private security industry (mainly young black women and men). Judging by the disproportionate and over representation of black people in the criminal justice system, the ‘criminalisation of blackness’, in the absence of a deeper, wider and longer analysis, is already a fact. The invisibilised mechanisms behind this ‘fact’ should be understood by every person so that established processes of criminalisation can be disrupted as part of a large-scale violence reduction strategy. (The supreme irony of the situation is that my sons and I have over the years conducted an informal study of the internalised oppression of black security guards who routinely follow us around in shops. To date I do not have an answer as to whether they are trained to view all black people as potential criminals; or if they have internalised this negative image all by themselves in an unequal society. Either way, it has been and remains a hurtful source of invisible violence to our family and other black families and individuals, as one of many micro-aggressions we are expected to ‘just ignore’ and ‘not be so sensitive’ about on a daily basis. This constant exposure to invisible and invisibilised violence also produce somatic effects in othered people, for which there seems to be no plausible explanation, see section 2.3.2 colum 3). B. The case for a ‘deeper, wider and longer’, transdisciplinary approach According to Basarab Nicolescu (2002:44), the goal of transdisciplinarity ‘is the understanding of the present world, of which one of the imperatives is the unity of knowledge.’ This resonates with Manfred Max-Neef’s view that violence - amongst other ‘problematiques that are defining the new century, such as water, forced migrations, poverty, environmental crises, terrorism, neo-imperialism, destruction of social fabric’ - requires a transdisciplinary approach (2005:1). The reason for this is self-evident. Concealed and unconcealed physical violence are produced via the interaction of several intersecting invisible/visible aspects of violence. No single discipline can ‘adequately tackle’ what is essentially a transdisciplinary challenge. Many scholars argue, and rightfully so, that a transdisciplinary approach is difficult to execute. However, this is precisely the reason why it has been argued elsewhere that South African criminology is in denial about the interconnection of uninterrupted cultural- structural- psychological-physical violence that respects no artificial boundaries (Henkeman, 2013). The choice is starkly between a continuation of wilful blindness, the continued ‘criminalisation of blackness’, and epistemic violence against black scholars by silencing their standpoints; or to start the daunting but honest process of attempting to analyse violence in its structure, regardless of the perceived difficulties. C. The status quo The table hereunder juxtaposes current law and order approaches to violence, with a ‘peace and justice’ approach that shows the limitations of the first approach. Current law and order approach to violence A ‘peace with justice’ approach to violence The single victim, single perpetrator approach In the ‘law and order’ paradigm, individuals are held solely accountable for the violence they manifest, even under conditions of cultural-structural-psychological-physical violence that the perpetrator has no control over. An individual perpetrator is identified and charged. The single case is investigated as a ‘crime incident’ to prove guilt (or innocence) of the individual perpetrator. Evidence is produced to prove guilt mainly with regard to visible violence and at times psychological violence by the perpetrator. Historical cultural, structural, psychological and physical violence which could explain the trajectory of violence perpetrated by an perpetrator; and educate society with regard to prevention and avoidance of physical expressions of violence; are not taken into account. With the support of orthodox scholars, who do not question the individual level approach, the criminal justice system is expected to deal with socially patterned problems by punishing individuals who manifest societal violence. All of society/global approach In the ‘peace with justice’ paradigm, a deeper and longer analysis examines the manifestation of violence in historical context and poses questions that will examine the interplay of cultural, structural, psychological and physical aspects of violence and the forms it takes in society. This approach shows that by the time an individual manifests violence, he/she has already been affected by the intergenerational transmission of trauma and/or subjected to current and continuing cultural, structural, psychological and physical violence. It is important to note that ‘individual inclination’ to commit violence is not excluded from this approach. The stance is taken that unequal contexts are more likely to produce violent perpetrators. This is borne out by more than 50 years’ research conducted by scholars in diverse fields e.g. Peace research, Galtung, (1960s to date); Sociology (Neckerman & Torche,(2007); Economics (Terreblanche, S. J. (2002). Wilkinson & Pickett, (2010); Amartya Sen, (2008); Criminology (various critical criminologists and the restorative justice movement), Psychology and (Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (2008), Vamik Volkan, (2006)), Social Work Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart et al, (2011), Anthropology (Paul Farmer, 2006); Public Health, Sociology, and a range of scholars from a variety of disciplines who promote ‘deeper, wider and longer’ analyses of violence and injustice. D. Suggested questions to get as full a picture as is possible of how invisible/visible aspects of violence interlink Aspect of violence Suggested questions to bring different aspects of violence into the frame of analysis Suggested questions to consider with regard to reduction strategies, techniques and tactics Cultural violence (legitimizes and justifies structural, psychological and physical violence) What is the perpetrator’s social standing and living conditions? How is he/she treated by the broader society? What is the symbolic message and impact of being regarded and treated as inferior on a daily basis in terms of race, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age (and other markers of difference over which he/she has no control)? Taking the full structure of violence into account: What are the possible ways in which cultural violence can be delegitimized? Which specific actions must be taken to deal with racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, economic and other ways in which superiority/inferiority is expressed and maintained? Structural violence (is institutional and puts people in harm’s way) Is the perpetrator employed or the recipient of a living income? Does he/she have a permanent home? What is the state of his/her health? What is his/her educational level? Does he/she have access to regular meals? Does he/she have access to regular and affordable recreation? Is he/she the victim of racism or other forms of discrimination? Can he/she move around freely in society without constant suspicion and surveillance? What is the impact of these nested material inequalities on the perpetrator? Taking the full structure of violence into account: What are the possible ways in which structural violence and its effects can be reduced? Which specific actions must be taken to deal with unemployment, health disparities, educational disparities and other forms of nested forms of inequality? Psychological violence (is directed at the mind, psyche and soul of victimised people). Is it likely that the perpetrator was subjected to emotional, psychological and/or physical abuse; or loving and consistent care during childhood, at home, amongst peers, others in the neighbourhood, at school, in the community, in broader society? In the world? Does the perpetrator appear to abuse substances? What modalities, if any, were applied to help the perpetrator process unresolved transgenerational and his/her own lifespan trauma and grief from being ‘othered’ in a culturally, structurally and psychologically violent society? Taking the full structure of violence into account: What are the possible ways in which psychological violence can be reduced? What other modalities and activities can complement ‘talk therapy’ to deal with and interrupt the transmission of ‘trans- and intergenerational trauma’, ‘unresolved historical grief’, lifespan trauma and ‘unresolved social grief’ linked to ‘still present pasts’. Physical violence (inflicted bodily harm) Was the perpetrator under the influence of a substance during the attack? What does the nature of the attack tell us about the perpetrator? What weapon or means did the perpetrator use? Why did the perpetrator choose a particular victim and what was his/her physical proximity to the chosen victim during the attack? Taking the full structure of violence into account: What are the possible ways in which self-inflicted and inter-personal violence can be reduced? What are the possible ways in which intra- and intergroup violence can be reduced? Full picture Only once as full a picture as is possible is pieced together can viable remedies be suggested for reduction of violence in its invisible/visible structure. This approach also shows why resort to individual level criminal justice remedies alone cannot de-escalate violence. It in fact becomes another source of invisible violence in its effects on families, neighbourhoods, communities, and society. How can legislators, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, educators, parents, youth and other individuals be influenced to apply an understanding of violence in its invisible/visible structure in attempts to reduce injustices and violence? E. The process Suggestions on how this guide can be used: Take one or several examples of physical violence from the media or on your campus. Ask the questions provided (or your adaptation thereof) under each aspect of invisible and visible violence and map answers out under each heading. (It is expected that you will draw on your tacit and explicit knowledge as a result of being embedded in society or on your campus. You are also free to draw on the knowledge of others). Think of ways to summarise and combine the answers from each aspect of violence until a unified picture appears. Obvious overlaps will become clear during the analysis. Look and listen for patterns in various manifestations of violence that either confirm or disconfirm the notion of an invisible/visible structure of violence. If interested, please continue to apply the analytical framework over time. Write an article, essay, report and/or apply your analysis in some way in your work or research until it becomes routine to do a ‘deeper, wider and longer’ analysis and you start ‘seeing patterns’ without too much effort. Please consider discussing your insights with others, and/or pass the guide on to as many people as possible. Thank you for participating. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable. (Arundhati Roy). F. References: Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brave Heart, M. Y. H., Chase, J., Elkins, J., Altschul, D.B. (2011). Historical Trauma Among Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Concepts, Research, and Clinical Considerations. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs; Oct-Dec, Vol. 43 Issue 4, p282-290. Denham, (2008); Rethinking Historical Trauma: Narratives of Resilience, Transcultural Psychiatry Transcultural Psychiatry Vol 45(3): 391–414 DOI: 10.1177/1363461508094673, SagePub, UK. De Gruy, J. ( 2005) Post-traumatic slave syndrome found at http://joydegruy.com/resources-2/post-traumatic-slave-syndrome/ on 5 February 2016. Farmer, P.E, Nizeye, B, Stulac, S, Keshavjee, S. (2006). Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine. PLoS Med 3(10): e449. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030449. Galtung, J. (1996). Peace by peaceful means: peace and conflict, development and civilization. Oslo: International Peace Research Institute. Gobodo-Madikizela. P. (2008). Trauma, forgiveness and the witnessing dance: making public spaces intimate, Cape Town, South Africa: Journal of Analytical Psychology. 53, 169–188. Harris, N. (2013). Changes in DSM-5: Racism can cause PTSD similar to that of soldiers after war. Found at http://www.medicaldaily.com/changes-dsm-5-racism-can-cause-ptsd-similar-soldiers-after-war-246177 on 9 February, 2016. Imbusch, P. (2003). The concept of violence in Heitmeyer, W., & Hagan, J. International handbook of violence research. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Iadicola, P., & Shupe, A. (2003). Violence, inequality, and human freedom (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Kincheloe, J.L., McLaren, P., & Steinberg, S.R. (2011). Critical pedagogy, and qualitative research: moving to the bricolage. In Denzin & Lincoln (Eds.). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Max-Neef, M. A. (2005). Foundations of transdisciplinarity. Ecological Economics, 53(1), 5-16. McFarlane, A.C., Attchison, M., Rafalowwicz, E. & Papay, P. (1994) Physical symptoms in post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic research 38:7 pp 715-726, Elsevier, UK. Miller, Z. (2008) Effects of Invisibility: In Search of the ‘Economic’ in Transitional Justice, Volume 2, Issue 3. Oxford Journals Law & Social Sciences, International Transitional Justice Neckerman, K. M., & Torche, F. (2007). Inequality: Causes and Consequences. Annu. Rev. Sociol. Annual Review of Sociology, 33(1), 335-357. Nicolescu, B. (2002). Manifesto of transdisciplinarity. Albany: State University of New York Press. Soto, J.A., Dawson-Andoh, N.A., & BeLue, R. (2011). The Relationship between Perceived Discrimination and Generalized Anxiety Disorder among African Americans, Afro Caribbeans and non-Hispanic Whites Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 258-265 Pilisuk, M., & Rountree, J. A. (2015). The hidden structure of violence: Who benefits from global violence and war? NYU Press Sen, A. K. (2008). Violence, Identity and Poverty. Journal of Peace Research. 45; 5. Sage Publications. 5–15. Volkan, V. (2006). The next chapter: consequences of societal trauma. http://www.vamikvolkan.com/The-Next-Chapter%3A-Consequences-of-Societal-Trauma.php Wilkinson, R. G., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level: why greater equality makes societies stronger. New York: Bloomsbury Press. Zimbardo P. G. (2004) A situationist perspective on the psychology of evil: understanding how good people are transformed into perpetrators in Miller, A. G.(ed) The social psychology of good and evil. New York: Guilford press. Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). The Lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil. New York: Random House.