Enough Violence: The Importance of Local Action to Transnational Feminist Scholarship and Activism

Enough Violence: The Importance of Local Action to Transnational Feminist Scholarship and Activism

Peitho Volume 18 Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2015

Author(s): Nicole Khoury

Abstract: This article provides a rhetorical analysis of a gender violence media campaign launched by KAFA, an NGO based in Lebanon, modeling the kind of empowerment possible when activists not only adopt but also adapt transnational resources to suit local contexts and local rhetorical situations. KAFA’s gender violence campaigns have opened a cultural space for the public discussion of gender and women’s rights in Lebanon, raising questions about the state’s responsibility to protect its citizens from violence, and redefining domestic violence as violence. KAFA’s leadership includes adopting and adapting transnational examples for local use and also managing the media; they use print, visual, and social media simultaneously to keep the issue of gender violence at the forefront of public discourse. This article further provides guidelines relevant to feminist scholars doing transnational work at the intersection of multiple national constituencies and discourses, including public, legal, religious, and private ones. Transnational concepts, such as women’s rights, are constantly being negotiated within local contexts and used in grassroots activism within marginalized communities as powerful language that can challenge oppressive discourses.

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