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Statelessness and Forced Migration

Module Code: SO7102

ECTS Credit : 10
Mandatory/ Optional : Optional
Module Coordinator : Dr Roderick Condon
Module Length: 11 weeks (Hilary Term)

Module Description:

What does gender analysis reveal about the causes and dynamics of war and peace? In this module we begin by exploring and criticising some basic gendered assumptions - such as that war is the business of men and peace that of women. Instead we challenge these dichotomies by examining issues such as the complicated relationship between the social construction of masculinity and soldiering and the challenge posed to militaries by the inclusion of women in their ranks. We ask why peace processes have generally excluded women and what the consequences of that are for the sustainability of peace, while at the same time querying the assumption that 'women' as an essentialized group have particular skills to bring to the peace table. Through these debates we examine the ways in which war and peace are gendered experiences which also shape our understanding of what it is to be a gendered person.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Understand the foundational and ongoing debates in Gender Studies concerning sex and gender, femininity and masculinity, gender and difference and be able engage in discussion of these.
Comprehend and enter into arguments made concerning the gendered nature of war, the perpetration of gender based violence, the relationships between masculinity and violence/femininity and peace and the necessity of the inclusion of gender concerns in peacebuilding.
Demonstrate knowledge of key international political and legal developments in this area such as UNSC Resolution 1325 and the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals.
Show a familiarity with the literature in this field and engage in informed discussion of it.
Present persuasive written work with analytic arguments based on evidence, reading and reason.

Delivery and syllabus:

The module is delivered over 11 weeks. Each week's two hour session will combine a lecture and seminar session. The seminars will involve student groups working on a gendered case study of particular conflicts.

Syllabus

Part 1 - Understanding Gender

Part 2 - Gender and War

Part 3 - Gender and Peace

(Full syllabus provided in course handbook)

Recommended Texts

Bradley, H. Gender Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007.
Cockburn C. From Where We Stand: War, Women's Activism and Feminist Analysis, Zed Books, London, 2013
Cheldelin, S. (ed.) Women Waging War and Peace: International Perspectives of Women's Roles in Conflict and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Continuum, 2011
Duncanson C. Gender and Peacebuilding Polity Press, Cambridge, 2016
Kronsell, A. and Svedberg E. (eds.) Making Gender, Making War: Violence, Military and Peacekeeping Practices, Routledge, 2012.
Leatherman J. (et al) Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict (WCMW - War and Conflict in the Modern World), Polity Press, 2011
Sharoni, S., Welland, J., Steiner, L. and Pedersen, J. Handbook on Gender and War, Edward Elgar, 2016
Sjoberg, L. Gendering Global Conflict: Towards Feminist Theory of War Columbia UP, 2013.
Sjoberg, L. Gender, War and Conflict Polity Press, 2014
Whitworth, S. Men, Militarism and UN Peacekeeping, Lynne Reinner, 2007.