Exploring Concept of Subjectivity and Agency: Significant Framework for Studying Gender-based Violence Against Ethnic Minority Women in Thai Society
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Abstract
This article aims to review conceptual frameworks for the study of gender-based violence against women, by focusing on proposing a new analytical framework for understanding gender-based violence against ethnic minority women in Thai society. A review of the related literature from 2015 to 2024 finds that previous studies have limitations in explaining the complexity of gender-based violence against women within specific ethnic and cultural contexts. In particular, there is a lack of analysis regarding subjectivity and agency of women, as well as lack of application of intersectionality in examining gender-based violence and its effects. Therefore, this article develops a conceptual framework for studying gender-based violence against ethnic minority women by applying Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, and symbolic violence, together with the concepts of subjectivity and agency as proposed by Sherry B. Ortner and Lois McNay. The article argues that constructing a new conceptual framework for the analysis of gender-based violence against ethnic minority women should incorporate the notions of habitus, symbolic violence, subjectivity, gender, and agency. This approach can reveal the interplay between social structures that perpetuate masculine domination as a form of symbolic violence, as well as the negotiation and agency of ethnic minority women. Furthermore, the concepts of subjectivity, gender, and agency allow us to consider how subjectivity, gender identity and agency are constructed within specific contexts, which are multiple and fluid. The experiences and perspectives of ethnic minority women reflect the complexed power structures and forms of oppression, and the diverse ways in which resistance and negotiation occur in everyday life. In addition, collective agency should be examined as an instrument for challenging masculine domination and gendered habitus, thereby fostering social transformation.
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