NOUR ABIDA
2025-26 Traveling Fellow
Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence, Culture, and Political Participation
Nour will explore how culture shapes the political participation of domestic violence survivors in the absence of a political rhetoric that acknowledges the extent of this issue and provides solutions to address it. She is interested in dissecting how cultural precepts can act as brakes to discussions about domestic violence, imposing a sense of guilt and shame on survivors. As a result, domestic violence survivors are often invisible in the political sphere, stripped of an agency that allows them to convey their concerns to political actors for concrete legislative change. To understand how the voices of domestic violence survivors can be stifled, Nour will consider the following questions: How does culture shape the discourse around domestic violence? What attributes are associated with domestic violence survivors in different cultural settings? How do cultural discourses or the lack thereof reinforce feelings of shame and guilt? How do these feelings affect the self-efficacy and, subsequently, the political participation of domestic violence survivors?
By engaging with domestic violence survivors, political activists, advocates, organizers, and community members, Nour hopes to build a project that is centered around the experiences of survivors and that recognizes the importance of their voices in politics.
Hometown: Tunis, Tunisia
Majors/Minors: Political Science and Law, History, and Society
Nour Abida (she/her) was born and raised in Tunis, Tunisia. She moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, to continue her education at the African Leadership Academy, where she further developed her passion for social justice and advocacy.
At Vanderbilt, where she is a College Scholar double majoring in Political Science and Law, History, and Society, Nour was able to delve deeper into her interest in political participation and criminal justice reform. On campus, Nour served in multiple roles, including Vice President of Internal Operations and Captain of Mock Trial , Co-Vice President of Political Involvement for Women in Government, and Research Assistant with the Research on Conflict and Collective Action (ROCCA) Lab. She was also a travel delegate with Vanderbilt’s Model United Nations and a Sports Photographer and Podcast Reporter for the school’s newspaper, The Hustler.
Nour worked firsthand with communities affected by the justice system, serving as a Programming and Admissions Intern at Dismas House, a rehabilitative initiative for formerly incarcerated individuals. She was a Court Advocate Intern with the Metro Office of Family Safety and accompanied domestic violence survivors seeking orders of protection and mental health support. Nour’s direct exposure to the criminal justice system and its repercussions strengthened her commitment to the pursuit of social reform. She hopes to develop concrete solutions at the intersection of social work and social policy to address the complexities of the criminal justice system.