Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2026
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Social Work
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Jessica Sanchez
Second Advisor
Jennifer Murphy
Third Advisor
Tiara Okoruwa
Abstract
Between 16% and 55% of A/PI women and 8.4% of men report experiencing intimate partner violence in their lifetime (API GBV, 2020). The DC, Maryland, and Virginia tri-state region is home to a growing Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI) population and calls for further learning about their culturally relevant social services. The Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP) is the only pan-A/PI specific anti-violence organization in this area. Grounded in intersectionality and collective memory theory, the current study employs oral history methodology to interview 14 individuals involved in supporting A/PI survivors, who are and have been part of the DVRP community. The collection of oral histories functions as a community memory project to support DVRP in holding its own stories, as well as an academic exploration into culturally specific anti-violence service delivery. The strategies of addressing gender and power-based violence in Asian/Pacific Islander communities are understudied in current literature. The findings surfaced themes of 1) Understanding and Transforming Power, 2) Evolution Within and Beyond the Anti-Violence Movement, and 3) Healing and Community Care. DVRP’s culturally responsive approach involves frameworks of language and healing justice, intersectionality, anti-carceral practices, relational building, and creative modalities of healing. These themes contribute to scholarship on gender and power-based violence, culturally specific service provision, and the role of nonprofit organizations in the broader anti-violence movement. As a deep dive into non-mainstream ways of serving survivors of violence, this project reveals alternative approaches emerging from marginalized A/PI perspectives. Consistent with identified shifts in the anti-violence movement, the work of addressing gender and power-based violence involves shared power, community care, and collective safety.
Keywords
Culturally specific services, Asian Pacific Islander, Gender-based violence, Power-based violence, Oral history, DMV, Healing justice, Community care, Anti-violence movement
Disciplines
Social Work
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kuo, Linda, "Community Narratives on Addressing Gender and Power-Based Violence: Asian/Pacific Islander Voices From DC, Maryland, and Virginia; An Oral History of the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP)" (2026). Social Work Theses. 223.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/socialwork_theses/223