The Department of Gender Studies will be hosting a seminar for practitioners entitled 'Absent-presence: the on-going impact of men's violence on the mother-child relationship'
The seminar will be held on Friday 30 June 2017 from 10:00 till 12:00 in LC118 Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre (LC), University of Malta Msida Campus.
Speaker: Dr Ravi Thiara – University of Warwick, UK
The presentation explores the ways in which men’s violence and abuse against their partners and children impacts on the relationship between mothers and children in the aftermath of domestic violence, in the post-separation period when the abusive father is no longer living with the family. By drawing on interviews with women and children, the ways in which the damaging presence of the abuser remains even in his absence is highlighted. This ‘absent presence’ of the abusive partner is posited as a concept to assist workers with a framework through which to understand problems in the mother-child relationship that emerge when living with and separating from violence.
Practitioners, academics, students and members of the public are cordially invited to attend this seminar.
For enquiries, please feel free to contact Ms Samantha Grima by phone on +356 2340 3808 or by sending an email to samantha.grima@um.edu.mt
Dr Ravi Thiara is a Principal Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-being (SWELL) at the University of Warwick, UK. She has been involved in research, policy and practice development on violence against women and children for the last 28 years and has carried out this work at a national and international level. Ravi has published widely, including ‘Violence against Women in South Asian Communities: Issues for Policy and Practice’ (2010); ‘Disabled Women and Domestic Violence: Responding to the Experiences of Survivors’ (2012); ‘Violence Against Women and Ethnicity: Commonalities and Differences Across Europe’ (2011); and ‘Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls: Educational work with children and young people’ (2014).