Blame it on alcohol: ‘passing the buck’ on domestic violence and addiction

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https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.2015.1325

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Abstract

Domestic violence against women is a serious health and safety problem facing women around the world. Scholars of domestic violence have identified demographic factors such as age, number of children, family structure, unemployment, substance abuse, stress factors within the family, male partner’s educational attainment and poverty, as closely associated with domestic violence. While these factors have gained scholarly recognition, there is a dominant narrative among victims of domestic violence that “alcohol is responsible” for abusive relationships in Mamelodi, a black township near Pretoria, South Africa. Using the empirical data from Mamelodi, this article probes the narratives of female victims of domestic violence. The paper uses qualitative data in its analysis.

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Author Biographies

Nokuthula Mazibuko, UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE, EAST LONDON CAMPUS, SOUTH AFRICA.

Dr Ikechukwu Umejesi (corresponding author) is a lecturer in the department of sociology, University of Fort Hare, East London Campus, South Africa. His research interest focuses on natural resource exploitation, state-community conflict, environmental risk, vulnerability and policy, and gender studies. He is a 2009 YSP Fellow of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg Austria.

Ikechukwu Umejesi, lecturer in the department of sociology, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa.

Mrs Nokuthula Mazibuko (1st Author) is a lecturer in the department of sociology, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa. Her research interest include gender and behaviour, domestic violence and relationships.

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Published

2015-06-25

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Mazibuko, N., & Umejesi, I. (2015). Blame it on alcohol: ‘passing the buck’ on domestic violence and addiction. Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 4(2), 718–738. https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.2015.1325

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