WUNRN
Call for
Papers – Upholding Gendered Peace at a Time of
War - Conference
Conference: “Upholding Gendered Peace at a Time of War: Academics and Activists Speak Out on the Shifting
Places
of Women in the Arab World” / June 2-4,
2015 - Lebanon
Organized by the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University Beirut is hosting a conference in partnership with “Women in War” (Carol Mann), and “Beit Al-Hanan” (Evelyne
Accad).
From December
2010 to December 2013,
an unprecedented wave of
protests known as the Arab Spring
spread through the Arab world, forcing rulers out of power in some countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen,
Libya), upheavals elsewhere in Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, and
demonstrations in Mauritania, Western Sahara, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Palestine
(West Bank). The
Syrian uprising led to a most tragic ongoing civil war with grave consequences affecting
its citizens,
neighboring
Arab countries,
as well as minorities
in the region such as
the Kurds, Yazidis, and
Christians.
The wars and unrest in the Arab region, the ongoing
wars raging presently in Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, Libya, and on the borders of Lebanon, have proven lethal to women’s rights. Not to mention that the Arab region
is witnessing the largest refugee crisis that has affected Lebanon and Jordan to a great extent. Every
aspect
of this conflict has a
fierce gender component built into it. The
gender dimension is at the core of
both
the struggle during armed conflict and the social reconstruction that follows.
For
that purpose the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University Beirut is hosting a conference from June 2-4, 2015 entitled “Upholding Gendered Peace at a Time of War: Academics and Activists Speak Out
on the Shifting Places of Women in the Arab World”. The
conference is
organized in Beirut in partnership with “Women in War” (Carol Mann), and “Beit Al-Hanan” (Evelyne
Accad).
Deadline: Abstracts
are due by February 20, 2015
Scholars and
activists
are
invited to submit papers
or testimonies that address
the following themes:
•
The state of women’s rights in the Arab countries since the upheavals
in the region
•
Transformations
in gender and
inter-generational relations during
armed conflict
•
When gender intersects with
religion in armed
conflict
•
Gender and radicalization: The place of women in the new forms of jihad (nikah al-Jihad, and ISIS female recruitment
in the Arab world and
Europe).
•
Women as active participants in armed conflict: Rojava Kurdish combatants, ISIS female brigades, female suicide bombers, etc.
•
Sexual violence in conflict: Rape as a weapon of war (rape, mass rape, prostitution
and trafficking, child
marriages among refugees, temporary marriages, etc.).
•
Forgotten victims:
War widows, pregnant
women, the girl child,
and
elderly women.
•
Women, war and the media (female journalists as witnesses and revolutionaries, internet activism, You-Tube and the performance of revolution).
•
The refugee crisis and gendered consequences (hosting refugees in a major crisis,
GBV in the refugee settlements: the case of Lebanon and Jordan, maintaining
refugee social, cultural, and
national identity).
•
Audio-visual: video-clips, filmed documents about women and/or made by women in the region on these themes
•
Testimonies
related to gender activism
in times of war.
Proposals should consist
of a
250-word abstract in English, Arabic, or French that includes the paper’s title and a short bio data with the author’s affiliation and contact information. These should be sent to:
iwsaw@lau.edu.lb
Participants will be notified if their abstract is accepted three weeks after the deadline. Full papers should be
sent no later than May 15, 2015. Any queries about the conference or the program should be directed to iwsaw@lau.edu.lb.
The languages of the conference will be:
English, Arabic, and French.
Women in War - www.womeninwar.org
Carol
Mann - cmann@womeninwar.org