‘Beyond Borders’ is a podcast series exploring intersections of domestic violence, religion and migration in today’s globalised and conflict-affected world. The series aims to provoke new thinking and questions that can inform practice and policy in responses to domestic violence and interconnected forms of violence internationally, but especially in religious, migrant and ethnic minority contexts.

The seventh episode of our series features our first Research Associate, Ms Fisayo Onaseso, who joins us to discuss the importance of contextualised and community-grounded research for responding to domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) in the African region. Fisayo has previously conducted independent research with victims and survivors of kidnapping and survivors of domestic violence in Nigeria and Canada, which she reflects on in this interview.

In the episode, ⁠Dr Romina Istratii⁠ and Fisayo explore together numerous topics, including:

• The relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘religion’, concepts that are usually differentiated in people’s minds but are inseparable in lived experience.
• Particular experiences of faith in African rural contexts and the importance of cultural socialisation in framing religious heritage.
• The importance of differentiating between social practices from religious teaching and the role of religious leaders in teaching the faith.
• The role of faith and religious teachers in domestic violence and kidnapping experiences in Nigeria and how the latter could be leveraged better to support survivors.

The podcast is intended for practitioners and policy makers who would like to understand better the current state of evidence and innovative research and intervention approaches, including faith-based initiatives by faith institutions, to domestic violence in religious, migrant and ethnic minority communities.