Accounting for Episodes of Domestic Violence in the Anglophone Caribbean: Novel Achievements in the Midst of Persistent Challenges

Domestic violence is a universal scourge with negative implications for societal outcomes. More recently, it has been re-conceptualized as intra-familial violence and in many ways intersect with other related manifestations such as intimate partner violence and gender-based violence. The paper seeks to unravel these concepts in a Caribbean context drawing on my formal scholarly engagement with philosophical, methodological, analytical and interpretive challenges that are confronted in the course of conducting research. Specific reference is made to such experiences in the context of Trinidad and Tobago, the Commonwealth of Dominica and the wider Anglophone Caribbean focusing specifically on the rationale and challenges associated with data collection mechanisms. The paper addresses achievements made during the first two decades of the twenty-first century and concludes with a discussion about how such achievements will likely contribute towards promoting more favourable outcomes with respect to violence against women in “domestic” settings within the Anglophone Caribbean.