The Interlacement of Violence

In sociological studies, violence is often conceptualised as an act. This entails a focus on the agent carrying out the act and an understanding of violence as fixed in time. However, in this article I shift the focus to the point of view of the agent subjected to violence and investigate violence as an experience that extends in time. Based on narrative interviews with 11 women subjected to violence from an intimate partner and employing a temporal approach to violence, I argue that the lived experience of violence unfolds through three temporal orientations: legacies (past of violence), saturations (present of violence) and foreshadows (future of violence). I demonstrate how these three temporalities are interlaced in the present as they are weaved together, forming an integrated foundation for the women’s lives, making violence a pervasive condition rather than a passing disruption.