The Prism of Human Rights : Seeking Justice Amid Gender Violence in Rural Ecuador

Gender violence has been at the forefront of women’s human rights struggles for decades, shaping political movements and NGO and government programs related to women’s empowerment, community development, and public health. Drawing on over twenty years of research and activism in rural Ecuador, Karin Friederic provides a remarkably intimate view of what these rights-based programs actually achieve over the long term. __The Prism of Human Rights__ brings us into the lives of women, men, and children who find themselves entangled in intimate partner violence, structural violence, political economic change, and a global cultural project in which “rights” are associated with modernity, development, and democratic states. She details the multiple forms of violence that rural women experience; shows the diverse ways they make sense of, endure, and combat this violence; and helps us understand how people are grappling with new ideas of gender, rights, and even of violence itself. Ultimately, Friederic demonstrates that rights-based interventions provide important openings for women seeking a life free of violence, but they also unwittingly expose “liberated” women to more extreme dynamics of structural violence. Thus, these interventions often reduce women’s room to maneuver and encourage communities to hide violence in order to appear “modern” and “developed.” This analysis of human rights in practice is essential for anyone seeking to promote justice in a culturally responsible manner, and for anyone who hopes to understand how the globalization of rights, legal institutions, and moral visions is transforming distant locales and often perpetuating violence in the process. CONTENTS 7 Prologue: Gabi, Part I 11 Introduction: Understanding Gender Violence through the Prism of Human Rights 13 1 “Somos del Campo”: Gender Politics of Rural Households 38 2 “Somos así por Naturaleza”: Bodies, Sexuality, and Morality on Ecuador’s Coast 62 Interlude: Gabi, Part II 87 3 “¿Por qué me maltrate así?”: Rethinking Violence, Rethinking Justice 91 4 The Prism of Rights: Empowering Women for Gender Justice 119 5 Cultivating Modern Selves: Reframing Sexuality and Violence within a Moral Economy of Development 153 Conclusion: Vernacularizing Human Rights for Gender Justice 171 Epilogue: Gabi’s Story, Part III 179 Acknowledgments 181 Notes 185 References 197 Index 207 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 215