ABUSE AND DISCIPLINE: THE CREATION OF MORAL COMMUNITY IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GROUPS ON THE WAI‘ANAE COAST (HAWAI‘I)

Authors

Judith S. Modell, Carnegie Mellon UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article discusses the creation of moral community in two self-help groups on the Wai‘anae Coast of O‘ahu in the state of Hawai‘i. One is a women’s domestic violence group and the other a men’s anger management group. Both groups use freely constructed narratives from the participants as the foundation for establishing rules of conduct and standards of the “good person.” In each case, facilitators bring the lessons and the doctrine of a state agency to informal proceedings. The article argues that out of the intersection of participant interpretations of experiences and state-sanctioned forms of discipline come the lineaments of a moral community. In self-help groups, residents of the predominantly Hawaiian Wai‘anae Coast confront a discourse whose references to “wrong” do not accord with customary discourse about making things right. The development of “moral community,” then, involves a continual negotiation between apparently distant representations of proper conduct, ethical behavior, and the virtuous self.

Recommended Citation

Modell, Judith S. (2002) "ABUSE AND DISCIPLINE: THE CREATION OF MORAL COMMUNITY IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GROUPS ON THE WAI‘ANAE COAST (HAWAI‘I)," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol25/iss1/7