Gender-Based Violence, Domestic Violence and Transformative Acculturation | Dr Allison R. King

Abstract

Existing acculturation frameworks do not adequately explain how trauma, gender-based violence (GBV), and host-country conditions can reshape the identity, autonomy, agency and intimate relationships of refugee women.  Although Berry's (1997) bidimensional model explains acculturation through four strategies, and Bornstein's (2017) specificity principle identifies the factors that shape those processes, neither accounts for trauma-linked transformation.. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this article draws on a doctoral research of twelve legally recognised refugee women in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, and presents an idiographic analysis of three of the participants  from Turkey and Iraq whose accounts most fully evidenced Transformative Acculturation following their experiences of GBV. A convergence emerged in which participants reinterpreted pre-migration trauma as a refusable order rather than a fixed fate, with this reinterpretation becoming the catalyst for pursuing safety, autonomy, and agency, and selective engagement with the Swiss host culture functioning as the mechanism through which transformation occurred. Participants rejected their pre-migration norms that legitimised violence, ended their abusive relationships, and retained some pre-migration cultural practices. The article develops Transformative Acculturation (TA), a dynamic process in which refugee women actively use acculturation to reconstruct their cultural identities, gender roles, intimate relationships, and sense of agency in their pursuit of safety and autonomy following GBV. Rather than conceptualising trauma as a background moderator of acculturation, TA positions acculturation itself as the mechanism through which trauma-related transformation occurs. TA offers a culturally responsive, gender-sensitive lens for clinicians, services, and policymakers.

Keywords: acculturation; refugee women; gender-based violence; intimate partner violence; interpretative phenomenological analysis; trauma; Switzerland

Introduction

By mid-2024, approximately 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past decade (UNHCR, 2023, 2024). As forced displacement continues to increase, understanding how refugees experience acculturation within their host countries has become an increasingly important theoretical, clinical, and policy concern (Ager & Strang, 2008; Berry, 2005; Phillimore, 2011; Sam & Berry, 2010). Acculturation has long been used to explain the cultural and psychological changes that occur when individuals from different cultural backgrounds come into continuous contact with a host society, particularly within the context of migration and resettlement (Berry, 1997; Redfield et al., 1936; Potter et al., 2024). However, for refugee women exposed to gender-based violence (GBV), acculturation may extend beyond cultural adaptation to become an intentional process through which women negotiate and reconstruct aspects of identity, gender roles, intimate relationships, agency, and autonomy.

Berry's (1997) bidimensional model conceptualises acculturation as four strategies—assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalisation—and remains one of the most influential frameworks within acculturation research (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013; Schwartz et al., 2010; Abu-Rayya & Sam, 2017). Bornstein's (2017) specificity principle extended acculturation theory by proposing that acculturation varies according to the individual, context, setting, domain, and time. While Berry's framework describes orientations towards heritage and host cultures, and Bornstein's specificity principle explains the contextual factors that moderate acculturation, neither framework conceptualises acculturation itself as the mechanism through which identity is intentionally reconstructed. This distinction is particularly relevant for refugee women exposed to GBV. Rather than simply describing orientations towards heritage and host cultures, or identifying the contextual factors that shape acculturation, the present research examines how some refugee women intentionally use acculturation itself as the mechanism through which identity is reconstructed following GBV. Specifically, the women reinterpret previously normalised cultural and gendered norms, selectively reject harmful pre-migration norms while retaining valued cultural practices, and intentionally reconstruct their identities, gender roles, intimate relationships, agency, and autonomy following migration. This gap is especially relevant for refugee women whose post-migration experiences are shaped by pre-migration cultural norms and family expectations, together with forced displacement, post-migration uncertainty, racism, and exposure to GBV (Phillimore, 2011; Pittaway & Bartolomei, 2001; UNHCR, 2022; UN Women, 2023).

According to UNHCR (2022), GBV includes physical, sexual, financial, psychological, and emotional abuse (Devries et al., 2013; Sardinha et al., 2022; WHO, 2022). Recent estimates suggest that as many as one in five refugee women experience GBV both before and after migration (UNHCR, 2022; UN Women, 2023). GBV is associated with significant physical and psychological consequences, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Sullivan et al., 2021; Troisi et al., 2021; Kuupiel et al., 2024). However, while GBV has primarily been examined in relation to these adverse outcomes, less attention has been given to how it may reshape the process of acculturation itself. For some refugee women, experiences of GBV become the catalyst for pursuing safety, autonomy, and agency, while exposure to alternative cultural possibilities within the host society enables previously accepted cultural and gendered norms to be reinterpreted. Acculturation therefore becomes the intentional mechanism through which harmful pre-migration norms are selectively rejected, valued cultural practices are retained, and identity, intimate relationships, and cultural positioning are reconstructed.

Intimate partner violence (IPV), a subset of GBV, frequently persists across pre- and post-migration contexts through disrupted social networks, economic dependency, and uncertainty associated with refugee status (Krug et al., 2002; Tankink & Richters, 2007; Krause, 2015; Sullivan et al., 2021). In Switzerland, where refugee integration policies are decentralised and implemented differently across cantons, acculturation is further shaped by local structural, legal, and social conditions (Lutz & Lavenex, 2024; Mexi et al., 2021). Switzerland therefore provides an important context for examining how opportunities for identity reconstruction are enabled or constrained during resettlement.

Recent research suggests that post-migration adaptation among refugee women exposed to GBV can involve far more than adjustment to a new culture. Taheri et al. (2024), for example, demonstrated how Afghan refugee women in Australia moved beyond survival to re-evaluate religious beliefs, challenge gender norms, and pursue autonomy while mentoring others within their communities. Such findings suggest that, for some refugee women, acculturation is not simply adaptive but an intentional process of selecting, rejecting, and reconstructing cultural meanings.

Identity is central to this process. Forced migration disrupts familiar social structures, cultural values, relationships, and norms, thereby reshaping how identity is maintained, negotiated, and reconstructed (Bhugra & Becker, 2005). Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) explains how identity changes through evolving group memberships and social belonging, while Butler's (1990) theory of gender performativity highlights how gendered identities can be intentionally reshaped through changing social practices. Refugee women exposed to host-country norms of gender equality may therefore adopt, adapt, resist, or reinterpret these expectations, allowing previously accepted understandings of gender, violence, and intimate relationships to be reconsidered (Berry, 1997; Habash & Omata, 2023). Acculturation may therefore function not only as cultural adaptation but also as an intentional process through which refugee women reconstruct identity, agency, gender roles, and intimate relationships.

This article addresses one central theoretical problem: existing acculturation frameworks explain cultural orientations and contextual moderators but do not explain how refugee women intentionally use acculturation to reconstruct identity following GBV. To address this gap, the article develops Transformative Acculturation (TA), an interpretative concept emerging from an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of refugee women's lived experiences in Switzerland (Author, 2025). TA conceptualises acculturation as an intentional, agency-centred process through which refugee women selectively reconstruct their identities, gender roles, intimate relationships, agency, and autonomy. Unlike existing acculturation frameworks, TA does not conceptualise acculturation as an orientation towards cultures or as a process shaped solely by contextual moderators. Instead, it conceptualises acculturation itself as the mechanism through which intentional identity reconstruction occurs. Within this framing, GBV-related trauma functions as the catalyst for intentional change rather than its defining feature; trauma provides the motivation for transformation, whereas acculturation provides the mechanism through which that transformation is enacted. TA therefore shifts the focus of acculturation theory from the question of cultural orientation ("Which cultures are maintained?") to the question of intentional identity reconstruction ("How is acculturation used to reconstruct identity?").

Although TA shares some characteristics with Berry's (1997) integration strategy, the resemblance is descriptive rather than conceptual. Integration describes a cultural orientation—the maintenance of both heritage and host cultures—whereas TA describes an intentional psychological process. Participants did not simply maintain elements of two cultures; they selectively rejected harmful pre-migration norms while retaining valued cultural practices in pursuit of safety, autonomy, and agency. Consequently, acculturation was not merely an outcome of cultural contact but the mechanism through which identity, gender roles, intimate relationships, and agency were reconstructed.

TA is also distinct from process-oriented approaches to acculturation. Scholars working within dialogical and decolonial traditions have similarly moved beyond static categories, conceptualising acculturation as a negotiated, relational, and continually contested process shaped by power and diaspora (Bhatia & Ram, 2001, 2004). However, these approaches primarily theorise how migrants negotiate multiple cultural voices and positions across contexts of unequal power. TA differs by specifying acculturation as an intentional mechanism through which refugee women reconstruct identity in direct response to GBV, foregrounding safety, autonomy, and agency as the motivating ends of that reconstruction. In this way, TA locates the impetus for acculturative change not only in cultural contact or structural context but in women's deliberate reinterpretation of previously normalised violence.

This article makes three contributions. First, it demonstrates the limitations of existing acculturation frameworks when applied to refugee women exposed to GBV. Second, it develops Transformative Acculturation as an interpretative concept that extends existing acculturation theory by conceptualising acculturation as an intentional mechanism of identity reconstruction rather than solely as a cultural orientation (Berry, 1997) or a process moderated by contextual factors (Bornstein, 2017). Third, it contributes to culturally responsive, gender-sensitive understandings of refugee women's acculturation in Switzerland, with implications for clinical practice, policy, and future research.