Abstract
This article presents findings from community-based participatory action research that explores how Cambodian immigrant women in Seattle, Washington (in the USA) talk about domestic violence and the strategies they use to respond. All 39 Cambodian women participants interviewed had been recruited through service providers at Refugee Women’s Alliance by using purposive sampling to recruit women who had previously used victim services as well as women who had no history of using victim services. Six focus groups were also conducted. Studies on Asian immigrants and refugees have shown that sociocultural factors such as language, gender roles and values relate to help seeking behaviour, and different cultural beliefs may also reflect differing sociopolitical contexts of immigration and patterns of adjustment to life in the US. Research on Cambodian refugees shows the psychological impact of cumulative traumas from genocide, torture, re-education (brainwashing) camps, separation from family and friends, escape to and life in refugee border camps and adjustment to US society. The article discusses violence against women theory which universalises women’s experiences, and refers to using an immigrants-in-context framework, which acknowledges immigrants’ experiences of domestic violence as shaped by an ongoing interplay between their current sociocultural context and the country of origin. Sociocultural differences within groups and between groups also influence the way victims of domestic violence interpret their situations and the strategies they prefer to use in responding to domestic violence. Structural factors include language ability, economic status and the ability to provide for children. Immigration status, work prohibitions and threat of deportation are also factors for some. This study reports that community attitudes and cultural norms strongly affected women’s decisions. Community norms included discouragement of seeking help outside the family. It also found that they lacked knowledge of the US legal system. Abusers controlled finances and legal information to have power over their spouses. The need for social support is essential since isolation is a tactic used by abusers – a tactic compounded further for women isolated by limited English and immigration.