Feminists building peace and reconciliation: beyond post-conflict. (3rd May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Porter, Elisabeth
• Is Part Of: Peacebuilding. Volume 4:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 210
• Page End: 225
• Publication Date: 2016-05-03
• Subjects: Feminist peacebuilding -- gendered violence -- insecurity -- post-conflict -- reconciliation; Peace-building -- Periodicals; Peace -- Periodicals; Mediation -- Periodicals; Conflict management -- Periodicals; Nation-building -- Periodicals; 327.172
• DOI: 10.1080/21647259.2016.1192245
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2164-7259

Abstract

Abstract: Many feminists find the concept of 'post-conflict' troubling for two main reasons. First, the discursive space of post-conflict is contestable with fuzzy lines around when the conflict period becomes post-conflict. Second, for women, the period following the cessation of armed aggression continues to be one of insecurity, where intimate partner violence often remains high, particularly when male ex-combatants return from fighting. In the so-called post-conflict period, a culture of gendered violence, gendered insecurity and militarisation remains. I argue that the transition from conflict provides opportunities for transformation from a culture of violence to one of peace, from insecurity to security and from antagonism to reconciliation. This article outlines a four-fold conceptualisation of reconciliation as a spectrum, reconciling relationships, processes and cultures of reconciliation. To move beyond gender-blind notions of post-conflict, the article seeks to decipher what is uniquely feminist about these ideas in affirming feminist peacebuilding and reconciliation.