NCJ Number
177881
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 5 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 641-653
Date Published
1999
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study uses an integrated model of lethal violence to analyze two cases of wife burning in Asian Indian marriages in the United States, with attention to cultural cues that affect the production and direction of such lethal violence.
Abstract
Following a brief profile of Asian Indians in the United States, the authors note the continued importance of several religious-cultural norms surrounding marriage, family, and gender relations in the Asian Indian community. The practices of sati and dowry burnings are discussed as background for the two case studies of wife burning analyzed. The discussion notes that burning a woman alive has been one of the methods used historically in South Asian countries, particularly India, when a wife is viewed as an obstruction to the husband's economic and social well-being. Many reports of such deaths suggest that husbands and their families blame the burnt victims for having committed suicide or being involved in an accidental death. In the two case studies of such burnings in the United States, frustration, aggression, and the attribution of blame toward the wives were key factors. Both men believed that the burning of their wives was the appropriate response to their long-term frustration, situational anger, and deterioration of the marital relationship. The authors discuss the integrated model of lethal violence as a useful tool in understanding how frustration that is structurally induced is channeled into aggressive violent actions against women based on cultural cues that result in their deaths. Cultural patterns for dealing with marital stress must be identified when attempting to counter lethal abuse in the marriages of Asian Indians. 52 references