September 17
What does it mean to learn, research and write policies to redress political violence (such as war, genocide, settler colonialism, conflict related sexual violence) through feminist lenses and political commitments? We begin with a discussion of the implication of research in the violence of knowledge production on peace and conflict, and then turn to the praxis of feminist reflexivity, vulnerability, and care. We will then do an exercise on practising feminist reflexivity by examining the articles as illustrations, and considering you in relation to it.

Readings
1. Bâ, Oumar. “‘The Europeans and Americans Don’t Know Africa’: Of Translation, Interpretation, and Extraction.” Millennium 50.2 (2022): 548-560. (12 pages)
2. Abdelnour, Samer, and Mai Abu Moghli. “Researching violent contexts: A call for political reflexivity.” Organization (2021)..
3. Lederach, Angela J. “‘Each Word is Powerful’: Writing and the Ethics of Representation.” The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork (2021): 455-470 (15 pages)
4. Jelke Boesten, Marsha Henry, Between Fatigue and Silence: The Challenges of Conducting Research on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 25, Issue 4, Winter 2018, Pages 568–588, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy027

Presentation:  Artist: Alfredo Jaar

Further Reading

1. Shilliam, Robbie. “Notes on Europe and Europeans for the discerning traveller.” Decolonization and Feminism in Global Teaching and Learning (2018): 198-199.
2. Boer Cueva, Alba Rosa, et al. “A decolonial feminist politics of fieldwork: centering community, reflexivity, and loving accountability.” International Studies Review 26.1 (2024)
3. Jamie J. Hagen, Ilaria Michelis, Jennifer Philippa Eggert & Lewis Turner (2023) Learning to say ‘no’: privilege, entitlement and refusal in peace, (post)conflict and security research, Critical Studies on Security, 11:2, 126-144
4. Lake, Milli, and Alexandra C. Hartman. “Vulnerability, the pursuit of knowledge, and the humanity of doing research.” Qualitative Researcher Vulnerability. Routledge, 2023. 26-40.
5. Kappler, Stefanie. “Coping with research: Local tactics of resistance against (mis-) representation in academia.” Peacebuilding 1.1 (2013): 125-140.
6. Ackerly, Brooke, and Jacqui True. “Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on international relations.” International Studies Review 10.4 (2008): 693-707.
7. Kangas, Anni, et al. “Smashing containers, queering the international through collaging.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 21.3 (2019): 355-382.
8. Björkdahl, Annika, and Johanna Mannergren Selimovic. “Methodologies for feminist peace research.” Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research. Routledge, 2021. 40-49.
9. Chilmeran, Yasmin, and Jenny Hedström. “Reflexivity and fieldwork in feminist peace research.” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. 1264-1270.