‘Honour Killing’ in the Immigration Context: Multiculturalism and the Racialization of Violence against Women

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Western immigrant-receiving countries have been confronted with honour killings and other forms of honour-related violence. This article analyses the uses of culture in public, policy, and legal approaches to honour killing. By reifying culture, debates regarding honour killing and honour-related violence racialize immigrant communities within which this form of violence occurs. Yet, culture is an important element in expressions of (and responses to) violence and by approaching culture as a meaning-making process, I argue for an understanding of honour killing and honour-related violence as forms of the gendered violence that affects all societies. From this vantage point, I outline the social patterns associated with honour killing and analyse policy efforts in countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and Britain that aim at prevention and protection, bringing those to bear on a Canadian context largely devoid of systematic policy approaches. The article ends with a brief account of the legal processes attending this violence in both immigrant-sending and immigrant-receiving states, turning to two case studies to illustrate the culturally nuanced approach to analysing honour killing this article proposes.