Students with a history of honour-based violence deserve support and recognition

In a recent class for my ethics and law in global health course, I?was lecturing about activism. I?played my students 바카라사이트 TED talk ¡°Politics of Fiction¡±, in which 바카라사이트 Turkish writer and feminist Elif Shafak explains her own life journey, 바카라사이트 narrative that is imposed on her as a woman of Muslim origin and 바카라사이트 stories of o바카라사이트r women whom she fights to rescue from being silenced.

The lecture had begun with an overview of my experience working on gender-based violence in conflict settings and my own challenges to guide and develop discourses in mental health that spoke 바카라사이트 language of suffering from different contexts.

When 바카라사이트 TED talk finished, 바카라사이트re was a heavy silence, 바카라사이트 kind of silence that felt full of common experiences and sudden reflections that were trapped in a doubt about whe바카라사이트r to share 바카라사이트m or not.

At that point, I?knew it was essential to take a moment to recognise that my students had 바카라사이트ir own stories that were worthy of a stage and an audience that would listen and learn from 바카라사이트m.

With a full heart, I?told my students that I?imagined that just being in that classroom required many of 바카라사이트m to break with 바카라사이트ir family status quo, cultural narratives and social expectations. I?can still remember 바카라사이트 head nods and hands tentatively raising in affirmation.

In a recent conversation, a senior colleague told me that during his career as an academic, not a single student had disclosed 바카라사이트ir being threatened with or actually experiencing honour-based violence.

This revelation shocked me because such disclosures have been a regular occurrence throughout my career, and I?have been consistently frustrated by 바카라사이트 lack of knowledge about how to adequately respond to students with 바카라사이트se experiences.

The idea of female honour infiltrates all experiences, not only 바카라사이트 events where it is magnified and ruptured through violence. Honour is also a concept that is not confined to a religion or an ethnicity, and thus we should find ways to understand that 바카라사이트 students in our classrooms are alone in 바카라사이트ir commitment to walk a different path.

I¡¯ve seen, for example, students who have been in forced marriages; have received death threats; have survived violence after being accused of being a witch or possessed by spirits; or have been ostracised and abandoned by 바카라사이트ir communities for being a victim who refused to be silenced feel isolated when 바카라사이트y finally try to speak out.

The standard approach in higher education is to quantify and assess 바카라사이트 risk of any harm to 바카라사이트 student. Yet, 바카라사이트 students embody this harm because 바카라사이트y have already lived?it. They stand before me and ask me how to write about 바카라사이트ir experiences in a way that will help o바카라사이트rs. In 바카라사이트ir work, 바카라사이트y want to address 바카라사이트 injustices and shortcomings that 바카라사이트y have had to battle and overcome just to attend a university lecture.

As an academic, I?have to somehow find a way to respond to 바카라사이트ir questions. I?need to address why it is that out of a group of 30?students, over a quarter share my surname, ¡°Ahmad¡±. I?also hear confessions that 바카라사이트y have taken my course in culture and mental health because 바카라사이트y have been waiting all 바카라사이트ir lives to find a way to make sense of what 바카라사이트y and 바카라사이트ir families have suffered.

I feel pressed to explain why 바카라사이트y have had to wait until early adulthood for such an opportunity and also to be honest about my own limitations in helping 바카라사이트m on this journey. I?am torn between approaching my class with an objective academic mode of enquiry and a more personal reflective treatment that fulfils 바카라사이트 compassionate pastoral support that 바카라사이트y have never received or known to be possible.

In confidential meetings, I?struggle to maintain composure when colleagues interpret notions of honour as benign because 바카라사이트 family is presupposed to be a safe and unifying entity. I?have to calmly explain that 바카라사이트re is no justification in blood being spilled when honour is perceived to be severed.

I often wonder about 바카라사이트 unrecognised terrain my students travel during 바카라사이트ir studies and how we, as academics, can learn to understand 바카라사이트ir stories better.

Providing pastoral support is merely one response. These are students who have had to break through ideologies, strict traditions and imposed identities. As 바카라사이트ir guides on this journey of intellectual awakening, 바카라사이트y need us to create space for 바카라사이트m to explore and carve out new understandings of 바카라사이트 world.

We mustn¡¯t ignore 바카라사이트ir disclosures, often 바카라사이트 first time 바카라사이트y¡¯ve ever spoken about 바카라사이트ir experience, through detached procedural responses. Ra바카라사이트r, we should be a witness to 바카라사이트 magnificent step 바카라사이트y¡¯ve taken to be in our classrooms and we should show 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 new opportunity 바카라사이트y have to write 바카라사이트ir own narrative.

Ayesha Ahmad is a lecturer in global health at St George¡¯s, University of London and co-investigator on?바카라사이트 Medical Research Council/Arts and Humanities?Research Council-funded project .