Honour-Based Violence and Self Immolation - Thesis Example

Different acts of suicide are often related to personal intent and an association with beliefs, specifically relating to psychology, culture, or social standards. Suicide not only alters in terms of the personal act but also links to the method used with the suicidal tendencies.  Self–immolation is one that moves beyond this because of the cultural and social context.  In the UK, the use of self–immolation for suicide-related incidents carries a different impact.  The fire victims often associate the killing with a cultural aspect or another form of understanding that moves beyond suicide and into one which is based on traditional victimization that is accepted within the culture.  Examining the cases of self–immolation and how it relates to incidents of suicide create a deeper understanding of the reason behind fire as a method of suicide and the deeper implications that are a part of this.  Depicting the relationship between self–immolation in the UK and fire investigations then creates a different interpretation of fire-related honor killings and self–immolation that occurs among specific groups in the UK.  This research study will examine the number of reports which are based on self–immolation and how this compares to the number of suicides that occur from other types of suicide.  This will then lead to indications of ethnicities that are in the UK and ways that this is linked to awareness by fire investigators that are in the UK.  Understanding more depth that is related to the relationship and depth of suicide can then lead to new solutions to assist those who consider self–immolation as an accepted form of suicide.

Background and Context

Self–immolation is described as a suicide that occurs by one burning to death.  While the definition is based specifically on individuals that determine to commit suicide through burning to death, there is also a relationship to burn patients that have created self–inflicted burns because of a given incident.  This is often referred to as parasuicide, specifically because it is a self–inflicted burn that is meant to harm without committing suicide.