Representation of Religious Trauma in Sefi Attah`s “Hailstones from Zamfara” in News from Home and Other Stories
Keywords:
Religious Trauma, Faith-based Violence, Sefi AttahAbstract
This study examines Sefi Attah’s depiction of the psychological burden on women of the trauma of violence and projects religion as a factor which engenders that violence. This is with a view to identifying the patterns of faith-based domestic violence, and their implications on the psychological and emotional well-being of the victims. The study employed qualitative descriptive content analysis. It draws its theoretical insight from Rational Choice Theory (Tedeschi & Felson, 1994). This is relevant to the study because it attempts at providing a link between domestic abuse and religion. The study revealed that the private and personal lives of women are one of the unrecognised issues which affect their mental health. The findings further showed that there is degradation and the sublime traumatisation of women under the guise of religion in some cases. Moreover, victims of faith-based violence experience layers of complex psychological distress as a result of being constantly abused in marriage. It concludes that religious practices which enforce male dominance are central to the aggressive and violent tendencies exhibited by perpetuators of domestic violence.
References
Adimula, R.A, and Ijere, I.N, (2018). Psycho-social traumatic events among women in Nigeria. Madridge Journal of AIDS, 2(1), 17-28.
Alokan, F.B (2013). Domestic violence against women: A family menace. First annual international interdisciplinary conference. AICC. 24-26, April 2013, Azores, Portugal.
Alsdurf, J.M. and Alsdurf, P. (1988). A pastoral response, A.L. Horton and J.A. Williamson (Eds.). Abuse and religion: When praying isn’t enough. Boston, MA: Lexington Books.
Attah, S. (2010). News from home: Stories. Northampton, MA: Interlink Books.
Bachman, R. and Coker, A.L. (1995). Police involvement in domestic violence: The interactive effects of victim injury, offender’s history of violence, and race. Violence and Victims, 10(2), 91-106.
Bartkowski, J.P. (1997). Debating patriarchy: Discursive disputes over spousal authority among evangelical family commentators. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36(3), 393-410.
Bell, C.C. and Mattis, J. (2000). The importance of cultural competence in ministering to African American victims of domestic violence. Violence against women, 6(5), 515-532.
Bergen, R.K. (1996), Wife rape: Understanding the response of survivors and service providers. Ibadan: Savage Publishers.
Buzawa, C. and Buzawa, E. (2003). Domestic violence: The criminal justice response. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Carlson, S. (2005). Contesting and reinforcing patriarchy: An analysis of domestic violence in the Dzalekan refugee camp`. RSC Working Paper. 23. University of Oxford, available at: https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/files-1/wp23-contesting-reinforcing-patriachy- 2005.
Chitu, W. (2023). The role of education, culture and religion on domestic violence on women in Nigeria. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences. 23(1), 1-16.
Giesbrecht, N. & Sevcik, I. (2000). The process of recovery and rebuilding among abused women in the conservative evangelic subculture. Journal of Family Violence, 15, 229-248.
Ghafournia, N. (2017). Muslim women and domestic violence: Developing a framework for social work practice, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought. 36, 146-163. DOI: 10.1080/15426432.2017.1313150.
Jeffords, C.R. (1984). The impact of sex-role and religious attitudes upon forced marital intercourse norms. Sex Roles, 11, 543-552.
Khalaf- Elledge, N. (2021). Scoping study: Looking back to look forward. The role of religious actors in gender equality since the Beijing Declaration, Washington D.C: Joint Learning Institute on Faith and Local Communities.
King James Bible. (2014). Lagos: Bible Society of Nigeria [1769].
Le Roux, E. and Pertek, S. (2023). On the significance of religion in violence against women and girls. London and New York, NY: Routledge.
McPhillips, K. & Page, S. (2021). Introduction: Religion, gender and violence. Religion and gender, 2, 151-165. DOI: 10.1163/18785417-01102001.
Pertek, S, Block, K., Goodson, L., Hassan, P., Hourani, J. and Phillimore (2023). Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement: Protective and risk factors. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 5.1058822. DOI: 10.3389/fhumd.2023.1058822.
Porreca, W., Magiabosco, M.M., Pereira de Suza, B.d.F. and Dal Bello, L.M.d.S. (2024). Marital violence and religiosity/spirituality. Journal of Pschology and Clinical Psychiatry, 15(2), 114- 120. DOI: 10.15406/jpcpy2024.15.00767.
Reinhartz, A. (2000). Margins, methods, and metaphors: Reflections on a feminist companion to the Hebrew Bible, Prooftexts, 20(1), 43-60.
Risphipal, A. (2013). Blocked emotions: Mental suffocation, emotional ventilation, powerful living, International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research. 108(3), 363-82.
Scanzoni, L.D. (1988) Contemporary challenges for religion and family from a protestant woman’s point of view. D. Thomas (Ed.). The religion & family connection: Social science perspectives. (125-142). Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.
Schussler, F. (1985). `The will to choose to reject: Continuing our critical work, L. Russell (Ed.). Feminist interpretation of the Bible. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Simister, J. and Kowalewska, G. (2016). Gender based violence and Christianity: Catholic prevention of divorce traps women in an abusive marriage. Psychology, 7(13), 1624-44. DOI: 10.4236/psych.2016.713155.
Tedeschi, J.T. and Felson, R.B (1994). Violence, aggression and coercive actions. Washington, WA: APA.
The Qu`ran (E.H Palmer, trans), (1965) Delhi: Motilala Banardsidass [1880].
UN General Assembly (1993). Declaration on the elimination of violence against women, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-elimination-violence-against-women.
World Health Organisation (2024). Violence against women, available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 ASEAN Journal of Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Copyright belongs to the ASEAN Journal of Research
