Peacekeeping and Gendered Relations
Television pictures of peacekeepers holding babies, handing out sweets to children, and disarming militia combine to portray these individuals as saviours of the war torn citizenry. Peacekeeper’s involvement in the reconstruction of schools, roads and utilities add to the sense that wealthier, more powerful countries wish to assist through their agreement to contribute peacekeeping troops, who in turn, are noted to impact positively on the society in question. However, these representations jostle with others that may evoke a qualitatively different response……
Security and Economic Development: Masculinized Goals for Post-Conflict Reconstruction
The end of an armed conflict is the starting moment of a new period that creates space for transforming institutions, structures and relationships within society. In such historical moments the actors of peace negotiations and peace building processes have the window of chance and responsibility to create a new society based on gender equality. However, in what Cynthia Enloe calls“the morning after”, when the guns are silent, the persistent militarization and promotion of masculinity continue in postwar societies, in both the public and private sphere. This paper will attempt to track such political processes and identify the tools and factors contributing to militarization and masculinization in post conflict societies. Moreover, this paper will highlight reasons for failing to consolidate women’s gains deriving from their war-time experience and to promote gender equality in peace building processes.
Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen Volume 7
In 2013, I participated in Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen Volume 6. It was a program I hoped to perform in, for sometime. What sparked my interest was the solidarity among women. What I find in hip hop is a real absence of the divine feminine energy and to me, hip hop in its essence is Ma’at. In its essence hip hop is a sacred balance of the divine feminine and masculine energy
Reconstructing the Notion of Youth
Youth are variously described as the hope and future of our species or the most irresponsible and potentially violent of our kind. Unfortunately, it seems as though this later view has gained ground among certain social critics who see a large youth populations as potentially destabilizing to society. As Shahbaz Israr Khan argues, it’s time to reconstruct our notion of “youth”.
Nonviolent Resistance and the Rise of the Feminine
Rebecca Reeves reflects on the Great Shift of 2012, the balance of masculine and feminine qualities in social and political struggle, and the potential for meaningful transformation in the way peace is conceived of and practiced