Structural Violence, Intersectionality, and Justpeace: Evaluating Women's Peacebuilding Agency in Manipur, India

Hypatia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 574-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karie Cross Riddle

The general scholarship on armed conflict in Manipur, India, ignores the experiences of women as agents. Feminist scholarship counters this tendency, revealing women's everyday responses to the violence that constrains them. However, this scholarship often fails to be intersectional, and it lauds every instance of women's agency without evaluating it in terms of its ability to build peace. Employing Kimberlé Crenshaw's underused distinction between structural and political intersectionality and Saba Mahmood's concept of agency, I analyze my field research conducted with women's peacebuilding groups in Manipur in 2014 and 2015. Using structural intersectionality, I first describe the qualitatively different experiences of women peacebuilders living at different social locations. Using political intersectionality as a normative tool, I then show that ethnic and religious hierarchies often disrupt women's attempts to build peace. Interethnic peacebuilding groups that rely on gender‐based solidarity tend to privilege the experiences of the women coming from the majority ethnic group. Other peacebuilding groups, bound by ethnicity, often distrust and resent women who come from different ethnic enclaves. I argue that women's peacebuilding agency must aim at an inclusive justpeace if it is to succeed. We should evaluate agency, rather than glorifying all instances of women's responses to violence.

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-639
Author(s):  
Sanja Rankovic

The ethnic identity of the inhabitants of Gora was formed over the course of many centuries during which time religious conversion took place (from Orthodox Christianity to Islam). This gave rise to a particular cultural matrix based on the continuous movement of various influences, deeply limited by patriarchal values and faith-based rules which dictated that woman?s role be tied to the home and the birthing of children. In this sense the ?musical behavior? of women is in accordance with the generally accepted norms deemed desirable by the Gorani environment. Starting in the mid-twentieth century up to today, the ethnomusicological study of the musical and folkloric heritage of Gora has uncovered the role of women in the process of establishing continuity of the rare forms of traditional singing in private, semi-private and public spaces. Analyzing the results of in-field research carried out not only in their traditional homeland but in Belgrade, the musical experiences of the women can be defined as being aimed not only towards their own community, but also representing the promotion of Gorani culture in a wider framework. By comparing the position of the female narrator using chronological and spatial perspectives, their significance is perceived in the process of preserving and popularizing traditional singing, which is concurrently the link with the Others and the ?materialization? of this ethnic group?s identity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofeen Ebrahim

This booklet narrates the stories of five female journalists from Pakistan who are working on environment- and climate-change-related issues. Women are being disproportionately and adversely impacted by climate change and female journalists are uniquely placed to understand and share their stories. However, these journalists are ‘missing in action’ from the media in sharing their experiences of environmental activism and climate action. The publication covers a range of challenges journalists face, from limitations on mobility and harassment, to gender-based discrimination in media houses. It highlights why environmental issues sometimes make headlines while remaining dormant at others.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Anna McKay

Over the past two decades, medieval feminist scholarship has increasingly turned to the literary representation of textiles as a means of exploring the oftensilenced experiences of women in the Middle Ages. This article uses fabric as a lens through which to consider the world of the female recluse, exploring the ways in which clothing operates as a tether to patriarchal, secular values in Paul the Deacon’s eighthcentury Life of Mary of Egypt and the twelfth-century Life of Christina of Markyate. In rejecting worldly garb as recluses, these holy women seek out and achieve lives of spiritual autonomy and independence.


Author(s):  
Olha Hurenko ◽  
Nataliia Matseiko

The concept of «gender-based violence» essence, which recognized as an extreme manifestation of the individual rights and freedoms violation and as reproduction mechanism of society gender system, which based on uneven powerful relationships between women and men in the society and characterized by the egalitarian attitudes absence has been revealed in the article. Manifestation features of the phenomena and their varieties have been outlined. The fundamental difference between the concepts «gender-based violence», «domestic violence» has been defined. The Ukraine state social politics of gender-based violence prevention and opposition based on international and national legal framework has been analyzed. The current information about trends of this negative phenomenon spread within the country, including considering the consequences of the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine has been listed.  Problems and prospects of the struggle with gender-based violence in Ukraine in the context of social work have been defined. And priority among which are improvement of reaction measures at the stages of violence facts detection and further support to the victim or the offender; setting-up systematic correctional work with perpetrators of violence or with perpetrators belonging to a risk group for its commission, the interdepartmental interaction of subjects of prevention and opposition this phenomenon; activating the system of preventive influences to the younger generation's consciousness and society in general to the direction of tolerance, mutual respect, opposit to gender role attitudes and stereotypes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilene Hyman ◽  
Mandana Vahabi ◽  
Annette Bailey ◽  
Sejal Patel ◽  
Sepali Guruge ◽  
...  

Background Violence is a critical public health problem associated with compromised health and social suffering that are preventable. The Centre for Global Health and Health Equity organized a forum in 2014 to identify: (1) priority issues related to violence affecting different population groups in Canada, and (2) strategies to take action on priority issues to reduce violence-related health inequities in Canada. In this paper, we present findings from the roundtable discussions held at the Forum, offer insights on the socio-political implications of these findings, and provide recommendations for action to reduce violence through research, policy and practice. Methods Over 60 academic researchers, health and social service agency staff, community advocates and graduate students attended the daylong Forum, which included presentations on structural violence, community violence, gender-based violence, and violence against marginalized groups. Detailed notes taken at the roundtables were analyzed by the first author using a thematic analysis technique. Findings The thematic analysis identified four thematic areas: 1) structural violence perpetuates interpersonal violence - the historical, social, political and economic marginalization that contributes to personal and community violence. 2) social norms of gender-based violence—the role of dominant social norms in perpetuating the practice of violence, especially towards women, children and older adults; 3) violence prevention and mitigation programs—the need for policy and programming to address violence at the individual/interpersonal, community, and societal levels; and 4) research gaps—the need for comprehensive research evidence made up of systematic reviews, community-based intervention and evaluation of implementation research to identify effective programming to address violence. Conclusions The proceedings from the Global Health and Health Equity Forum underscored the importance of recognizing violence as a public health issue that requires immediate and meaningful communal and structural investment to break its historic cycles. Based on our thematic analysis and literature review, four recommendations are offered: (1) Support and adopt policies to prevent or reduce structural violence; (2) Adopt multi-pronged strategies to transform dominant social norms associated with violence; (3) Establish standards and ensure adequate funding for violence prevention programs and services; and (4) Fund higher level ecological research on violence prevention and mitigation.


Author(s):  
Vaughn Rossouw

Abstract Discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) detainees remains one of the most pressing contemporary humanitarian challenges. This article focuses on the interpretation of the phrase “or any other similar criteria” as contained in Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions, upon which adverse distinction is prohibited, in order to qualify sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds of adverse distinction. The interpretation of “or any other similar criteria” will be embarked upon by employing the general rule of treaty interpretation provided for in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, so as to qualify sexual orientation and gender identity as “any other similar criteria” and ultimately to realize the protection of LGBTQI detainees against discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence during non-international armed conflict.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Yang ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Sailesh Ranjitkar ◽  
Mingxiang Li ◽  
Yongjie Guo ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundNatural dyes used since historic times for coloring food, leather, textile fibers, and paint body parts. The use of natural dyes has suffered drastically under the influence of modern technologies in the textile industry and socio-economic changes. Hence, ethnobotanical studies of indigenous dye plants and dyeing craft in local communities are urged to protect their potential ecological and economic value. MethodsWe conducted semi-structured surveys on dye plants and traditional craft in 11 Monpa villages of Mêdog County, South-east Tibet, China. The cultural significance of local dye plants was evaluated by an index of cultural importance (CI). Field research was conducted to record the indigenous madder (the root of Rubia wallichiana Decne.) dyeing craft. An experiment was performed with aqueous extract and ethyl alcohol extract of residue remained after water extraction. These two dye solutions were respectively used to dye two fabrics with two biomordants and two metallic mordants by three mordanting methods. We evaluated color properties that were characterized by physicochemical evaluations using UV-visible spectroscopy and FTIR analysis. The dyed fabrics were evaluated by indicators of color strength and fastness including washing, rubbing, and perspiration. ResultsAltogether 15 species belong to 12 families were listed as dye plants, which were used in cloth and food dyeing. The CI of R. wallichiana was highest. Monpa ethnic group used madder directly or with metallic mordants. It was found experimentally that biomordants and metallic mordants were comparable in improving the dyeing properties of indigenous madder. The dyeing properties of both extracts of madder were equal or ethyl alcohol extraction was marginally better.ConclusionsUse of dye plants and indigenous knowledge of dyeing still present in the Monpa ethnic group. Our experiment revealed the feasibility of enhancing the dyeing property and reuse of the residue from madder dyeing. The improved dyeing and reuse of residue can improve the ecological and economic benefits of local meanwhile provide basic application research for the subsequent commercialization of plant dyes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-85
Author(s):  
Falak Shad Memon

Climate-induced gender-based violence is an emerging area of study. Although studies on women and climate change are not new, a fresh understanding of gender-based issues and related problems are becoming of greater concern now. Women in Pakistan are generally at a disadvantage due to their societally- perceived norms, roles and responsibilities. This study aims to examine the experiences of women in flood settlement camps and to identify an association between natural disasters and violence against women. For this study, with the help of qualitative research methodology, 20 women were interviewed in the flood-prone areas of Sindh. Findings show that most women experience different types of violence, physical as well as emotional, committed by partners and even by complete strangers. The rate of such violence rises when women are displaced and are in temporary shelter facilities during a post-disaster period. Committing violence under such situations results in critical implications for both women victims and the development and implementation of gender-sensitive climate change and disaster planning policies.


Author(s):  
Powderly Joseph ◽  
Silva Rafael Braga da

The women’s rights movement has secured important reforms aimed at realizing the promise of genuine equality and the universality of fundamental human rights norms. Giving substantive voice to the cultural rights of women has been an important feature of the discourse and has led to significant advances in recognizing the intersectionality of the forms of oppression experienced by women, the centrality of women’s agency in exercising their cultural rights, and the dangers of essentialized conceptions of the lived experiences of women. The chapter explores the extent to which gender issues are reflected in international cultural heritage instruments as well as in the practices and policy initiatives of UNESCO. It suggests that the advances made in the realization of women’s cultural rights have not yet been fully translated in the context of international cultural heritage law and practice.


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