Herbert, Mary Brenda. 2023. More Than That! – A Study of the Everyday With Children Who Have Experienced Domestic Abuse and Social Work Intervention in an Inner London Borough, UK. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis addresses an epistemic injustice in the academic social work literature on children who have experienced domestic abuse and social care interventions. I argue that the extant literature on the topic fails to take children’s perspectives and lived experiences into consideration, and analyse how this omission upholds a patriarchal and colonial social order. I demonstrate how being attentive to the everyday lives of children can address this injustice.

The thesis is based on an 18-month multimodal ethnography with ten children who had experienced domestic abuse and social work interventions. The children were recruited through a social work department in an inner London borough, UK. The ethnography started in February 2020 and continued throughout Covid-19 physical restrictions. Methods used to explore children’s lives included walking, playing, talking, writing, photography, participation observation, using digital and in person methods. Photo-books for each child and a final exhibition of the children’s photography were also created as part of the multimodal research strategy. The research foregrounds children’s knowledge and experience of their lives. I use the analytical framework offered by cultural theories of everyday life, as well as the works of decolonial and feminist scholars, to analyse my data and to generate thick descriptions. Throughout, I argue that it is important to see children beyond the lens of trauma and abuse. In being attentive to their everyday lives, we can get to know children through their worlds, recognise their creativity, and meet them in their full humanity.

The thesis contributes to the substantive literature on domestic abuse and children in two primary ways. Methodologically, the research extends the practice of multimodal ethnography to mediated contexts. Theoretically, the research creates knowledge with children about their own lives that disrupts the colonialist tropes of childhood, and in doing so opens up opportunities for epistemic justice in social work theory and practice.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00033674
Keywords:	Children, Domestic Abuse, Epistemic Justice, Multimodal Ethnography, Everyday, Child as Method, Decolonial, Social Work, Feminist, Sociology
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Sociology
Date:	31 May 2023
Item ID:	33674
Date Deposited:	20 Jun 2023 13:05
Last Modified:	26 Jun 2023 14:47
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/33674

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