Emotional discourses in the courtroom: women’s empowerment work in honour-related trials
The article investigates emotional exchanges as manifestations of power through emotional body language. Subtle as well as obvious displays of emotion are related to the macro political renegotiation of power relations taking place out of court in light of the court case. The testimonies of women in trials investigating honour-related crimes include emotional displays of contempt, friendly intimacy, anger and resignation, each connecting to the sociology of emotions theories primarily of Clark, Katriel and Hochschild. These theories are in turn connected to the critical discourse analysis of Fairclough.
When emotions are analysed through the lens of critical discourse analysis as social practices manifested through (body) language, it highlights the significance and implications of emotions as signifiers of change. The empirical study suggests that critical discourse analysis and emotions theories analysing (body) language are both theoretically and empirically interconnected. This lays theoretical as well as methodological foundations for future studies, addressing the connection between emotions, discourse and power.
-
Baianstovu, R.Í. (2012) Mångfald Som Demokratins Utmaning. En Studie av hur Socialtjänsten Som Välfärdsbyråkrati Och Moralisk Samhällsinstitution Förstår Och Hanterar Kulturell Mångfald [Diversity as a Challenge for Democracy. A Study of how Social Services as a Welfare Bureaucracy and Moral Social Institution Understands and Handles Cultural Diversity], Örebro: Örebro University.
-
Baianstovu, R.Í. (2017) Heder. Hedersrelaterat Våld, Förtryck och Social Arbete [Honour. Honour, Honour Related Violence, Oppression, and Social Work], Lund: Studentlitteratur.
-
Bandes, S.A. (1996) Empathy, narrative, and victim impact statements, University of Chicago Law Review, 63(2): 361–412. doi: 10.2307/1600234
-
Bandes, S.A. (ed) (1999) The Passions of Law, New York: New York University Press.
-
Bandes, S.A. (2009) Empathetic judging and the rule of law, Cardozo Law Review de Novo, 133–48.
-
Bandes, S.A. (2017) Compassion and the rule of law, International Journal of Law in Context, 13(2): 184–96. doi: 10.1017/S1744552317000118
-
Barbalet, J.M. (1998) Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure – A Macrosociological Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Barbalet, J.M. (2002) Science and emotions, The Sociological Review, 50(2 suppl.): 132–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2002.tb03595.x
-
Barbalet, J.M. (2011) Emotions beyond regulation: backgrounded emotions in science and trust, Emotion Review, 3(1): 36–43. doi: 10.1177/1754073910380968
-
Berggren, H. and Trägårdh, L. (2015) Är Svensken Människa? Gemenskap och Oberoende i det Moderna Sverige [Is the Swede a Human Being? Community and Independence in Modern Sweden], Stockholm: Norstedts.
-
Bergman Blix, S. (2009) Emotional participation: the use of the observer’s emotions as a methodological tool when studying professional stage actors rehearsing a role for the stage, Nordic Theatre Studies, 21(1): 29–38.
-
Bergman Blix, S. and Wettergren, Å. (2016) A sociological perspective on emotions in the judiciary, Emotion Review, 8(1): 32–7. doi: 10.1177/1754073915601226
-
Bergman Blix, S. and Wettergren, Å. (2018a) Humour in the Swedish court: managing emotions, status and power, in J. Milner Davis and S. Roach Anleu (eds) Judges, Judging and Humour, London: Palgrave MacMillan, pp 179–209.
-
Bergman Blix, S. and Wettergren, Å. (2018b) Professional Emotions in Court, London: Routledge.
-
Björktomta, S.B. (2005) Unga Kvinnor, Frihet och Heder — Arbete Mot Hedersrelaterat Våld [Young Women, Freedom and Honour - Work to counter Honour Related Violence], Work Report Series, Stockholm: Ersta Sköndal Högskola.
-
Björktomta, S.B. (2007) Personalens Möten Med Utsatta Flickor—Arbete Mot Hedersrelaterat Våld [Staff Meetings with Vulnerable Girls - Work to counter Honour Related Violence], Work Report Series, Stockholm: Ersta Sköndal Högskola.
-
Björktomta, S.B. (2008) Saraprojektet 2004–2007. Ett Metod- och Kompetensutvecklingsprojekt [The Sara Project 2004-2007. A Method and Competence Development Project], Stockholm: Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län.
-
Björktomta, S.B. (2012) Om Patriarkat, Motstånd och Uppbrott – Tjejers Rörelser i Sociala Rum [On Patriarchy, Resistance, and Break-up - Girls’ Negotiations of Social Spaces], PhD Thesis, University of Gothenburg, Department of Social Work, Malmö: Égalité.
-
Brinkemo, P. and Lundberg, J. (2018) (eds) Klanen – Individ, Klan och Samhälle Från Antikens Grekland Till Dagens Sverige [The Clan - Individual, Clan and Society from Antique Greece to Today’s Sweden], Stockholm: Timbro.
-
Carbin, M. (2010) Mellan Tystnad Och Tal: Flickor och Hedersvåld I Svensk Offentlig Politik [Between Silence and Speech: Girls and Honour Related Violence in Swedish Public Politics], Stockholm: Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Stockholms universitet.
-
Clark, C. (1990) Emotions and micropolitics in everyday life: some patterns and paradoxes of ‘place’, in T. Kemper (ed) Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp 305–33.
-
Collins, R. (1990) Stratification, emotional energy, and the transient emotions, in T. Kemper (ed) Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp 27–57.
-
Damasio, A.R. (2000) The Feeling of What Happens: Body, Emotion and the Making of Consciousness, London: Vintage.
-
de los Reyes, P. (2003) Patriarkala Enklaver Eller Ingenmansland? Våld, Hot och Kontroll Mot Unga Kvinnor I Sverige [Patriarchal Enclaves or No Man’s Land? Violence, Threats and Oppression Against Young Women in Sweden], Norrköping: Swedish Board of Integration.
-
de los Reyes, P. (2004) Kulturella stereotyper och våldsoffrens utsatthet, [Cultural Stereotypes and the Vulnerability of Victims of Violence] in M. Lindgren, K.Å. Pettersson and B. Hägglund (eds) Utsatta Och Sårbara Brottsoffer [Vulnerable and Exposed Victims of Crime], Stockholm: Jure.
-
Ekström, S. (2009) Hedersmorden Och Orden: Berättelser Om Kultur, Kritik Och Skillnad [Honour Killings and Words: Stories of Culture, Criticism, and Difference], Halmstad: Makadam Förlag.
-
Eldén, Å. (1998) ‘The killing seemed to be necessary’. Arab cultural affiliation as an extenuating circumstance in a Swedish verdict, NORA, 6(2): 89–96.
-
Eldén, Å. and Westerstrand, J. (2004) Hederns försvarare. Den rättsliga hanteringen av ett hedersmord [Defenders of Honour. The Judicial Handling of an Honour Killing], Kvinnovetenskaplig Tidskrift, 3(04): 35–56.
-
Englund, C. and Larsson, S. (2004) (eds) Debatten Om Hedersmord: Feminism Eller Rasism? [The Honour Killings Debate: Feminism or Racism?], Stockholm: Svartvitts förlag, Expo.
-
Fairclough, N. (1989) Language and Power, London: Routledge.
-
Fairclough, N. (2013) Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language, New York: Routledge.
-
Fairclough, N., Jessop, B. and Sayer, A. (2003) Critical realism and semiosis, in J. Joseph and J. Roberts (eds) Realism Discourse and Deconstruction, New York: Routledge.
-
Ghanim, D. (2009) Gender and Violence in the Middle East, Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
-
Gill, A.K. and Brah, A. (2014) Interrogating cultural narratives about ‘honour’-based violence, European Journal of Women’s Studies, 21(1): 72–86.
-
Gill, A.K., Strange, C. and Roberts, K. (2014) (eds) ‘Honour’ Killing and Violence: Theory, Policy and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
-
Goffman, E. (1951) Symbols of class status, British Journal of Sociology, 2(4): 294–304. doi: 10.2307/588083
-
Guha, R. (1983) Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
-
Hochschild, A.R. (1979) Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure, American Journal of Sociology, 85(3): 551–75. doi: 10.1086/227049
-
Hochschild, A.R. (2019) Emotions and society, Emotions and Society, 1(1): 9–13. doi: 10.1332/263168919X15580836411805
-
Hydén, H. (2002) Rättssociologi Som Rättsvetenskap [Sociology of Law as Legal Science], Lund: Studentlitteratur.
-
Kahan, D.M. and Nussbaum, M.C. (1996) Two conceptions of emotion in criminal law, Columbia Law Review, 96(2): 270–374, https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/115.
-
Katriel, T. (2015) Exploring emotion discourse, in H. Flam and J. Kleres (eds) Methods of Exploring Emotions, Abingdon: Routledge.
-
Kemper, T. (1978) Toward a sociology of emotions: some problems and some solutions, The American Sociologist, 13(1): 30–41.
-
Kemper, T. and Collins, R. (1990) Dimensions of microinteraction, American Journal of Sociology, 95(1): 32–68. doi: 10.1086/229492
-
Lazarus, R. and Folkman, S. (1984) Stress, Appraisal, and Coping, New York: Springer Publishers.
-
Lutz, C. and Abu-Lughud, I. (1990) Introduction: emotion, discourse, and the politics of everyday life, in C. Lutz and I. Abu-Lughud (eds) Language and the Politics of Emotion, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B. (2016) Designing Qualitative Research, 5th edn, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
-
Maroney, T.A. (2011) The persistent cultural script of judicial dispassion, California Law Review, 99(2): 629–81.
-
Maroney, T.A. (2012) Angry judges, Vanderbilt Law Review, 65(5): 1207–86.
-
Maroney, T.A. and Gross, J.J. (2014) The ideal of the dispassionate judge: an emotion regulation perspective, Emotion Review, 6(2): 142–51. doi: 10.1177/1754073913491989
-
Mohanty, C.T. (2003) Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
-
Ochs, E. and Schieffelin, B. (1989) Language has a heart, Text, 9(1): 7–25.
-
Ouis, P. (2015) Primär och sekundär diskurs om heder: att problematisera givna föreställningar om förövare och brottsoffer i ‘hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck’ [Primary and Secondary Honour Discourse: Problematising Given Assumptions about Perpetrators and Victims of Crime Concerning ‘Honour Related Violence and Oppression’], Socialvetenskaplig Tidskrift, 22(3/4): 359–65.
-
Patulny, R. and Olson, R.E. (2019) Emotions in late modernity, in R. Patulny, A. Bellochi, R.E. Olson, S. Khorana, J. McKenzie and M. Peterie (eds) Emotions in Late Modernity, Abingdon: Routledge.
-
Rosquist, J. (2020) Moral i rätten. Utredningar av hedersrelaterat våld i Sverige 1997-2017. [Morality in the Justice System. Investigations of Honour-Related Violence in Sweden, 1997-2017] PhD Thesis, Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg, Department of Sociology and Work Science.
-
Scarduzio, J.A. (2011) Maintaining order through deviance? The emotional deviance, power, and professional work of municipal court judges, Management Communication Quarterly, 25(2): 283–310. doi: 10.1177/0893318910386446
-
Scarduzio, J.A. (2015) Sensegiving and sensebreaking via emotion cycles and emotional buffering: how collective communication creates order in the courtroom, Management Communication Quarterly, 29(3): 283–310. doi: 10.1177/0893318915581647
-
Scheer, M. (2012) Are emotions a kind of practice (and is that what makes them have a history)? A Bourdieuian approach to understanding emotion, History and Theory, 51(2): 193–220. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2303.2012.00621.x
-
Scheff, T. (1990) Microsociology, London: University of Chicago Press.
-
Scherer, K.R. (1984) Emotion as a multicomponent process: a model and some cross-cultural data, in P. Shaver (ed) Review of Personality and Social Psychology, Beverly Hills: Sage.
-
Schlytter, A. (2004) Rätten Att Själv få Välja: Arrangerade äktenskap, kön Och Socialt Arbete [The Right to One’s Own Choice: Arranged Marriages, Gender, and Social Work], Lund: Studentlitteratur.
-
Schlytter, A. and Kanakura, L. (2006) Elektra – Ett Projekt Mot Hedersförtryck Och Våld [Elektra - A Project To Counteract Honour Related Oppression and Violence], Stockholm: Allmänna Arvsfonden.
-
Schlytter, A. and Rexvid, D. (2016) Mäns Heder – Att Vara Både Offer Och Förövare [Mens’ Honour - To Be Both Victim and Perpetrator], Lund: Studentlitteratur.
-
Scott, J.C. (1990) Domination and the Arts of Resistance. Hidden Transcripts, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
-
Spivak, G.C. (1987) In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics, New York: Methuen.
-
van Eck, C. (2003) Purified by Blood: Honour Killings Amongst Turks in the Netherlands, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
-
Weiner, M.S. (2013) The Rule of the Clan, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
-
Welchman, L. and Hossain, S. (2006) (eds) Bibliography on ‘Crimes of Honour’ – Case Summaries, London: University of London, Centre Of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. www.soas.ac.uk/honourcrimes/bibliography/.
-
Westerstrand, J. (2017) Kontextualiseringens svåra konst. Kunskap, kön och förbindelselinjer i en förundersökning om ‘hedersvåld’ [The Difficult Art of Contextualization. Knowledge, Gender, and Connectivity in a Police Investigation About ‘Honour Violence’], Sociologisk Forskning, 54(3): 209–32.
-
Wettergren, Å. (2015) How do we know what they feel?, in H. Flam and J. Kleres (eds) Methods of Exploring Emotions, New York: Routledge, pp 115–24.
-
Wettergren, Å. (2019) Emotive-cognitive rationality, background emotions and emotion work, in R. Patulny, A. Bellochi, R.E. Olson, S. Khorana, J. McKenzie and M. Peterie (eds) Emotions in Late Modernity, Abingdon: Routledge.
-
Wijnendaele, B.V. (2014) The politics of emotion in participatory processes of empowerment and change, Antipode, 46(1): 266–82. doi: 10.1111/anti.12034
-
Wikan, U. (1994) Shame and honour: a contestable pair?, Man, New Series 19(4): 635–52. doi: 10.2307/2802330
-
Wikan, U. (2008) In Honour of Fadime: Murder and Shame, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Full Text Views | 21 | 21 | 13 |
| PDF Downloads | 18 | 18 | 11 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk