Full Description
Women and War in the Middle East provides a critical examination of the relationship between gender and transnationalism in the context of war, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction in the Middle East. Critically examining the ways in which the actions of various local and transnational groups - including women's movements, diaspora communities, national governments, non-governmental actors and multilateral bodies - interact to both intentionally and inadvertantly shape the experiences of women in conflict situations, and determine the possibilities for women's participation in peace-building and (post)-conflict reconstruction, as well as the longer-term prospects for peace and security. The volume pays particular attention to the ways in which gender roles, relations and identities are constructed, negotiated and employed within transnational social and political fields in the conflict and post-conflict situations, and their particular consequences for women.
Contributions focus on the two countries with the longest experiences of war and conflict in the Middle East, and which have been subject to the most prominent international interventions of recent years - that is, Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Issues addressed by contributors include the impact of gender mainstreaming measures by international agencies and NGOs upon the ability of women to participate in peace-building and post-conflict resolution; the consequences for gender relations and identities of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq; and how transnational feminist movements can most effectively support peace building and women's rights in the region.
Based entirely on original empirical research. Women and War in the Middle East brings together some of the foremost scholars in the areas of feminist international relations, feminist international political economy, anthropology, sociology, history and Middle East studies.
Contents
Introduction: Women and War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives - Nadje Al-Ali & Nicola Pratt
Part I: Gendering the Neo-liberal, Imperial Project
1. Gendering Informal Economies in Iraq - V. Spike Peterson
2. The United States, the Iraqi Women's Diaspora and Women's 'Empowerment' in Iraq - Nadje Al-Ali & Nicola Pratt
3. Imperialism, 'Post-war Reconstruction' and Kurdish Women's NGOs - Shahrzad Mojab
Part II: Revisiting Trans/national Women's Activism in the Context of Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Peace-building
4. Gender Mainstreaming and Feminist Organizing in the Middle East and North Africa - Isis Nusair
5. 'Here it's not about Conflict Resolution - We can only resist': Palestinian Women's Activism in Conflict Resolution and Non-Violent Resistance - Sophie Richter-Devroe
Part III: Gender, Citizenship, and 'Post'-conflict Reconstruction
6. Fragmented Citizenship: Communalism, Ethnicity and Gender in Iraq - Martina Kamp
7. Gendered Palestinian Citizenship: Women, Legal Pluralism and Post-Conflict Aid - Riina Isotalo
Conclusion: Concluding Reflections on Gender and Transnationalism in the Context of Post/Conflict - Nadje Al-Ali & Nicola Pratt:
List of contributors
