Examining Structural Violence Across Geographies and Disciplines

In July 2026, a cohort of researchers, scholars, practitioners, community leaders, and policy experts convened to examine how structural violence operates across institutional and geographic contexts, and how rigorous research on structural violence can lead to lasting change.

Funded by a Global Opportunity Grant from NYU’s Office of Global Programs, the Structural Violence Conference took place at NYU Florence in July 2026. It was co-designed by IHDSC affiliate Dr. Stephanie Cook and Dr. Salvatore Sberna of the European University Institute and co-organized by IHDSC Director, Dr. Erin Godfrey, and IHDSC affiliate Dr. Shabnam Javdani.

Reflecting on the conference, Dr. Cook noted that “What was especially exciting about this conference was the way that the program moved across regions and disciplines, while keeping a shared question at the center: How do institutions, policies, places, and social systems produce patterned harm, and what does it take to interrupt those processes?” The conference  examined these issues through multiple disciplinary lenses and academic as well as practice perspectives. Topics included the ways in which structural violence is enacted through spatial and intersectional health inequities; exclusive healthcare systems, the exploitation of migrant women; UN peacekeeping efforts; geographic confinement and educational access, and labor regulation. The conference also highlighted ways to interrupt these processes, exploring   community-led infrastructures of resilience; socio-medical support for victims of trafficking; and efforts to safeguard minors in areas affected by organized crime. Sessions were held in English and Italian, and were made available for remote attendees to join by Zoom. Conference organizers also spent two days in Naples, Italy, learning directly from grassroots organizations and local agencies combating economic inequality and crime.

This convening highlighted how structural violence can take many forms, and that novel and innovative strategies for research are critical to understand and dismantle structural violence on a global level. Dr. Cook emphasized the importance of these conversations: “This was an opportunity to put forms of structural violence that are too often studied separately into direct conversation, while also creating space for NGO and community-based perspectives on resistance, resilience, and intervention in practice.”