Structural Violence – Individual Work

Assignment:

PART 1STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE (Individual Work)
– Make sure that you have read ALL required readings for this week, as you will need them in Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this assignment.
– Read the definition of Structural Violence below:
Structural violence, a term coined by Johan Galtung and by liberation theologians during the
1960s, describes social structureseconomic, political, legal, religious, and culturalthat stop
individuals, groups, and societies from reaching their full potential [57]. In its general usage, the
word violence often conveys a physical image; however, according to Galtung, it is the avoidable
impairment of fundamental human needs orthe impairment of human life, which lowers the
actual degree to which someone is able to meet their needs below that which would otherwise be
possible [58]. Structural violence is often embedded in longstanding ubiquitous social structures,
normalized by stable institutions and regular experience [59]. Because they seem so ordinary in
our ways of understanding the world, they appear almost invisible. Disparate access to resources,
political power, education, health care, and legal standing are just a few examples. The idea
of structural violence is linked very closely to social injustice and the social machinery of
oppression [16]

Farmer, P.E., Nizeye, B., Stulac, S. & Keshavjee, S. (2006). PLOS Medicine, 3(10): e449. Retrieved from

– Watch the following video examples:
o Louisville redlining:
o Detroit Black Bottom/Paradise Valley:

o History of exploitation of Alaskan natives:
– Using Kruse (2019) and ONE of the video examples above, write an initial individual reflection (2-3 paragraphs) on structural violence.
Submit your reflection for Part 1 via Blackboard using the link in the Unit 4 weekly folder.