How to cope and how to resist : Religion, Culture and Courage Among Thai Women in Belgium Faced with Intimate Partner Violence.

Sammanfattning: This thesis studies, through a series of interviews, the use of Lived Religion and cultural practices by migrant Thai women in Belgium as they seek to cope with the intimate partner violence they have suffered. The research looks at which strategies help the women to cope and which empower them to resist and leave their abusive context. The women were all beneficiaries of a Thai language support program run by the non-profit organisation Oasis Belgium.  The research uses a theoretical framework of Lived Religion, the religious and cul- tural practises in everyday life. In this case, this is not connected to congregational worship. In fact, the women in the study were very isolated and had to reconstruct their Lived Religion and cultural practice for themselves in their new location. To do this, they relied strongly on the memory of religion in their upbringing, the use of online media and communication with family back in Thailand. Through Lived Religion they were able to gain agency over their emotional reactions and then con- sider the problems they faced more objectively and decide how change might come.