Introduction
Gender-based violence (GBV) has become a prominent theme in feminist struggles across Africa (Medie Reference Medie2019). A burgeoning literature has recently emerged as a result of debates about GBV in a variety of African settings, resulting in a multifaceted picture of the causes and consequences of GBV in the continent (Aroussi Reference Aroussi2017; Ayiera Reference Ayiera2010; Bennett Reference Bennett2010; Oku Reference Oku, Yacob-Haliso and Falola2021). As laudable as this body of research is, certain lacunae are easily noticeable in respect to studying GBV in Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in smaller states such as Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. With a few exceptions (Henriques et al. Reference Henriques, Silva, Sá, Có, Sambu, Fernandes, Camará, Cabral and Jandi2015; Moura et al. Reference Moura, Roque, Araújo, Rafael and Santos2009; Mourão Reference Mourão2009; Silva Reference Silva2021, Reference Silva2022), these countries are often neglected in feminist research in Africa, especially in English-speaking circles. There is even less attention paid to the particular political settings of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and how they affect feminist agendas around GBV.
Cape Verde has a long record of political stability which, in turn, created an ideal landscape for the passing of an overarching bill on GBV (Law 84/VI/2011). Resulting from feminist struggles championed by civil society organizations (CSOs) around Rede Sol, a network bringing together a variety of social, juridical, and political actors working on different aspects of gender equality and GBV (Silva Reference Silva2022), the law defines GBV as deriving from gender hierarchies that position women and men in sites of vulnerability and discrimination, manifesting itself as physical violence, psychological violence, patrimonial violence, and sexual violence.Footnote 1 A decade after its implementation, Cape Verde has observed a sharp decrease in cases of GBV across the archipelago (ICIEG n.d.).
The political landscape in Guinea-Bissau is more sobering. After the civil war in 1990s, Bissau has been plagued by political instability, with coup attempts, political scandals, corruption, and persecution of human rights and pro-democracy activists. These cycles of political unrest have deleteriously affected state capacity to implement public policies, especially those that could potentially implement constitutional principles of gender equality (Gomes Reference Gomes2016; Santy and de Barros Reference Santy and de Barros2019). The politics of GBV is immersed in this unstable scenario, where political struggles combine with lethargy in the judicial system and subsequent feelings about impunity with regard to GBV.
In this brief Notes from the Field, we share our experiences doing field research in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, contrasting how political (in)stability affects research both at the methodological level — in terms of how stable and unstable settings impose certain opportunities and constraints to conducting field research — and at the level of the lessons learned from our research through interactions with a host of individuals and CSOs. More precisely, we are interested in answering the following question: how does one navigate in contexts where political (in)stability matters?
Political stability is often understood in terms of whether a country has democratic institutions that allow for peaceful contestation and political participation. Political instability can take a host of forms. In African contexts, civil wars, coups, and repression of civil society are common manifestations of instability. During our field research conducted between January and February 2024, we navigated in the unstable political scene of Guinea-Bissau and the stable political setting of Cape Verde, interviewing a variety of social agents (CSOs, activists, and survivors) on issues of GBV. The political situation intermingled with our research endeavor, influencing our methodological choices, and illuminating us on the challenges facing the politics of GBV in both countries.
Political Instability and Research on GBV in Guinea-Bissau
We began our field research in Bissau in a context of political instability. In late 2023, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló dissolved the parliament of Guinea-Bissau, accusing its opponents of orchestrating a coup d’état (who in turn made the same claim against President Embaló). Since that occasion, the president has surrounded himself with ostentatious security displays, using a heavy security apparatus in his daily movements around the capital city. At least twice we witnessed these displays of power. During our time in the field, we also witnessed the controversial arrest of pro-democracy protesters.
The scenario of political instability marked our interactions with local interlocutors. Although the research topic was not directly connected to the Guinea-Bissau political scene, most interviewees reported that persistent cycles of political instability were detrimental to efforts to fulfill principles of gender equality in the constitution and to implement public policies. In particular, one of our interlocutors working in feminist advocacy shared that instability leads to a perennial state of “starting all over again,” as when new political agents emerge in the political stage, CSOs have to restart discussions on the very same issues that had been put on hold during the changes in power (Miguilan, Mindjeris di Guiné nó lanta. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Bissau.). Such discontinuities are especially problematic for policies on GBV. Without focused, ongoing efforts, legislation is fragmented, criminalizing specific acts of violence like domestic violence and female genital mutilation (FGM) instead of conceptualizing GBV more broadly. Discontinuities in the judicial process have also prevented perpetrators from facing trial, generating widespread feelings of impunity (Mikat, Movimento Mindjer ika Tambu. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Bissau; Renluv, Rede Nacional de Luta contra Violência no Género e Crianças. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Bissau.).
This politically unstable setting affected our methodological choices. CSOs were overtly welcoming to our research and cooperated extensively with us. But they also feared disclosing information that could be perceived as too critical or sensitive in respect to political agents and institutions. Often on these occasions they would either prefer not to have the conversations recorded, opting instead to speak more freely without any form of recorded media, or they would go completely silent about a particular question or issue. Understanding the risks entailed by our interviews, we moved on to other topics of discussion to preserve mutual trust between the researcher and the researched. However, the greatest challenge for our research was a political crisis which erupted during our stay in Bissau: pro-democracy protesters were arrested by governmental forces, and many of the CSOs we interacted with attempted to negotiate their release with Embaló.
Overall, researching in Guinea-Bissau involved navigating political instability with certain caution, eschewing themes that could jeopardize interlocutors’ security, as well as our own. Yet it also enabled us to interrogate our own positions as researchers with respect to the place where we do our field research and the people with whom we interact. By shifting positions of (in)security with CSOs, activists, and survivors, we were able to understand the challenges, struggles, and resistances around GBV in the face of political instability, complexifying and honoring their experiences in this process.
Researching GBV in Politically Stable Cape Verde
Political stability of Cape Verde provided a striking contrast in our field research in Praia. Cape Verde held its first democratic elections in 1991, and a year later a multiparty system was officially instated. These events have allowed the Cape Verdean state to develop its capacity, as well as civil society to flourish, providing opportunities for the emergence of cooperative ties between CSOs and the government (Silva Reference Silva2022).
It is in this context of mutual cooperation that the law on GBV was approved and enacted. Feminist CSOs, activists, the public attorney, and deputies cooperated to produce a bill comprising an understanding of GBV that attributed violence to gender hierarchies in Cape Verdean society (Silva Reference Silva2022). These actors not only possessed expertise in dealing with the multifaceted dimensions of GBV, but they also had experience cooperating with government agencies in a variety of public policies on gender issues. These ongoing collaborative links enabled us to interview representatives of virtually all of these organizations.
While most of our interviews in Guinea-Bissau lasted an hour or less, the vast majority of our interviews in Cape Verde lasted more than an hour and a half, as our respondents were willing and able to provide deep assessments of the situation of GBV in Cape Verde. We sensed both transparency and a cooperative attitude toward us as researchers, as well as in respect to the government and judicial system (Associação Caboverdiana de Luta Contra a Violência Baseada no Género. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Praia; Organização das Mulheres de Cabo Verde. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Praia; VERDEFAM, Associação Cabo-verdiana Para a Proteção da Família. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Praia). The relatively long record of democracy and political stability has helped strengthen ties between civil society and the government, enabling CSOs to opine on and support the implementation of public policies on GBV in Cape Verde (Associação Caboverdiana de Luta Contra a Violência Baseada no Género. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Praia; Organização das Mulheres de Cabo Verde. 2024. Interviewed by Authors. Praia.). As the Cape Verdean state does not possess enough capacity to reach all islands and sites as prescribed by the GBV law, CSOs’ support is also essential to ensuring the overall effectiveness of the public policies associated with it.
Political stability also helped us methodologically. We were able to access not only CSOs but also institutional and governmental agents. These interactions brought in perspectives directly associated with the state and its legal, political, and bureaucratic routines, which added an extra layer of information and complexity to our research. As researchers, we felt comfortable discussing sensitive issues regarding the politics of GBV. Furthermore, the availability of data of different forms, which were not available in Guinea-Bissau, enabled us to advance more specific questions about the effectiveness of public policies and the GBV law.
To sum up, navigating in the politically stable setting of Cape Verde was characterized by a more welcoming environment to openly discuss issues concerning GBV. We also had the opportunity to participate in activities focused on violence against women and FGM. Stability was further manifested in how issues were discussed in a more transparent fashion and through the connections and collaborations between CSOs, activists, survivors, and government authorities. Risks in the research process were low and more connected to the sensitive character of GBV rather than to the political setting itself.
Conclusion
Political (in)stability affects research in myriad ways. Researching GBV in Portuguese-speaking Africa involves reflecting upon the conditions under which individuals speak about sensitive issues. Talking about violence can be traumatic, but these risks are even greater when political instability poses a threat to individuals’ security more broadly. As Bennett (Reference Bennett2001, 92) reminds us, there are “dangers for everyone involved.”
Our experiences in doing field research in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau demonstrate how political (in)stability matters to researchers and researched. Although those experiences reflect just a part of our research endeavor, they may assist other researchers in anticipating situations in the field — and, more importantly, in preparing for certain challenges. Furthermore, by showing how political (in)stability also matters to the politics of GBV, we hope our reflections contribute to strategizing struggles and resistances around this issue.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to our interlocutors in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau who shared their experiences on GBV with us. We also thank Feminist Africa, Charmaine Pereira, and Jane Bennett for their constant support and feedback on this research.
Competing interests
There are no competing interests.
Funding
This paper is part of the research entitled “Deciphering the gendered messages of violence against women in Portuguese-speaking Africa: A comparative analysis of gender-based violence in Angola, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau,” which, in turn, is conducted under the auspices of the research consortium “Violence, gender and power: feminist struggles around violence against women,” funded by Ford Foundation West Africa and Feminist Africa (University of Ghana).
