Upcoming Events
February 25, 2025
Join WSRC Scholar Aditi Malik, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of the Holy Cross, as she discusses her most recent work.
Note: This talk discusses sexual violence and contains details some attendees may find distressing.
In societies marked by high levels of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), how do we account for citizens’ varied responses to such incidents? Drawing on comparative case studies of five lethal rapes in India and South Africa, which generated strikingly different reactions from ordinary citizens, this talk will demonstrate how victims’ social locations—that is, their urbanity, class, caste, race, and/or religion—crucially shape the possibilities for one key response to such violence, namely anti-rape protests.
Combining original event data on demonstrations against rape in India with insights from over 80 original and in-depth interviews in the two countries, as well as ethnographic observations of anti-GBV forums in South Africa, the talk will highlight the conditioning impact of women’s intersectional identities on the mobilization of protests against rape.