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Bojeghre, Sophia Oghenerukevwe (2024) 'The culture stands as a god': the role of culture in the experiences of Nigerian women living in England who have experienced intimate partner violence and abuse. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
Intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) is a global public health and human rights problem which is widely acknowledged to have reached epidemic levels internationally. Despite the growing body of literature on IPVA against women in England, not much is known about the experiences of Nigerian women and how these can be analysed through existing key concepts in violence against women. This is a gap this thesis seeks to fill. The research underpinning it was aimed at exploring and understanding the role of culture in the experiences of help-seeking and coping strategies adopted by Nigerian women in England who are victim-survivors of IPVA. The study was conducted using qualitative semi-structured, in-depth interviews with ten Nigerian women living in England who were victim-survivors who experienced IPVA in their previous relationships. Thematic analysis uncovered the ways in which some of the consistent cultural norms that cut across the three dominant tribal groups in Nigeria, particularly norms related to families, relationships, and gender, are all implicated in providing a conducive context for IPVA to flourish.
To help explain this, this thesis puts forward a concept of 'conducive cultures' built on Liz Kelly’s (2007) concept of a conducive context formulated to explain situations or conditions that allow and encourage violence against women and girls. Here the concept of a conducive culture is developed to describe the ways in which cultural norms operate to unfold the spaces in which women and girls are most likely to encounter violence and abuse and to narrow the spaces women and girls have to resist and escape. The thesis argues that the cultural and religious norms of Nigeria create internal cultural barriers which narrow the space for action of Nigerian victim-survivors in England. The practice of these norms is unfolded in three broad themes: ‘men as the head of the family’; ‘the importance of keeping the relationship’; and ‘keeping up appearances'. These internal norms combine with external barriers for Nigerian women in England to further inhibit women’s ability to disclose abuse and seek help. However, there are also Nigerian cultural norms which provide spaces for women to resist and build resilience, including the strength ascribed to Black women and the role of faith. This means that the concept of a conducive culture is multi-faceted; cultural norms can be conducive to violence but also to escape. The thesis ends in exploring these as well as other ways in which the participants coped with and eventually escaped from violence. It highlights what is needed to support women from the Nigerian community in England and suggests practical possibilities for change.
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