Manifold instances of proximity violence and proximity vulnerability of the migrant women

Abstract

Over the past few decades and up until 2017, Sicily has hosted increasing numbers of African fugitives into the European Union. Within this markedly multicultural context, the authors carried out a two-part qualitative research project, the first part consisting in participative observation of a number of sub-Saharan women hosted by some of the island’s refugee reception centres, victims of abuse, followed by a set of semi-structured interviews administered to them. The aim of the paper was to analyse some of the role positions found in gender dynamics among migrants, throwing light on possible processes by which mechanisms of submission to and normalisation of gender violence seem to have been internalised by these victims of proximity violence, emphasising the viscous links existing between vulnerability (Fineman 2008, 2016 ) and resilience (Bracke, 2016 ). The project sought, furthermore, to highlight equivocations surrounding affective action declined in feminine terms and instrumental action in masculine terms, suggesting that proximity may be considered a more “intimate and deceptive” declension of gender violence.