Editorial

Citation

Graham-Kevan, N., Ireland, J.L., Davies, M. and Fry, D.P. (2012), "Editorial", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jacpr.2012.55004aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Volume 4, Issue 1

Welcome to the first edition of 2012 of the Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research. In keeping with our philosophy, this edition includes articles of interest to a wide range of academics and practitioners. The current edition presents two papers on domestic (or partner) violence in Africa, as well as a paper the use of violence by parents and an interesting paper on the psychology of extreme violence. As always, this edition’s articles help to enhance our understanding of all forms of aggression.

The issue begins with a study exploring help-seeking women’s from Mozamique experience of domestic (partner) violence perpetration. The authors, Antonio Zacarias, Gloria Macassa and Joaquim Soares used a quantitative methodology to assess how frequently the women in their sample used this type of violence and how severe their violence was. They found surprisingly high rates of female perpetrated violence and male injury. These results are important as African women’s experiences of family violence are under researched, particularly their own use, and studies such as this help to provide a more complete picture of the problems of family conflict and abuse than could be attained from exploring domestic (partner) violence from only one perspective.

The second paper exploring domestic (partner) violence in African populations is by Marina Butovskaya. Her paper explores the victimization of women in contemporary Datoga pastoralists of Tanzania as well as the other methods used to control these women by their husbands and family. Using a qualitative methodology, Butovskaya explored the women’s accounts of violence from their husbands as well as details of the post-conflict interactions between the spouses and with relatives from the wife’s side. They found a high prevalence of violence towards wives from their husbands. The women used male relatives such as fathers and brothers to provide protection from their husbands and punishment when violence was used. Interestingly, the wives own use of aggression was related to her victimization, as was the number of co-wives her husbands had.

The final two papers both present a review of the literature. Donald Dutton reviews the literature on extreme violence, exploring the transitional processes. This paper calls into question traditional conceptualisations of extreme, cruel and/or sadistic violence as largely an outcome of individual pathology. The paper instead presents evidence to suggest that this type of violence may have sociobiological roots that are sensitive to situational and psychological influences. In exploring this topic Dutton examines both societal transitions, such as warfare, as well as psychological transitions, in terms of emotions and cognitions, that facilitate individuals’ use of extreme violence towards others. Such analysis is important as by exploring the factors associated with an increase in extreme violence, it affords individuals, societies and nations tools to reduce the risk of these outcomes.

The last article in this edition is a paper by Richard Davis. Davis encourages us to contemplate the logic behind legally sanctioning the use of physical aggression by parents towards their own children, whilst at the same time criminalising the physically assaultive behavior that occurs between adult family members. His article highlights how theories of social learning (such as role modelling) would lead to the expectation that parental violence towards children would contribute to an increased risk of the child going on to use aggression in adulthood both within his or her own family and towards non-family individuals. Davis suggests that a societal move towards the virtues of nonviolent discipline and education are important to help reduce violence in general. Articles such as this are provocative as they challenge widespread assumptions and beliefs about the rightful use of aggression and the concept of the family being a private institution, exempt from societal scrutiny. Davis however explains (and research does support him) that the family environment cannot be viewed as separate from society.

Overall, we think you will find these papers both informative as well as provocative. Further we welcome the submission of papers from readers which can further illuminate our understanding of human conflict and peace.

Nicola Graham-Kevan, Jane L. Ireland, Michelle Davies and Douglas P. Fry