A Gender-just Peace in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka: The Power of Intersectional Peacebuilding
Keywords:
Intersectional Peace Modelling, Critical Peace Studies, Post-Conflict Sri-Lanka, Tamil Women, NGO Feminism, Disability and Social Justice, Gender-just PeaceAbstract
This article examines the intersectional peace approach and assesses its effectiveness in acquiring a gender-just peace within a post-conflict society. This line of reasoning has been empirically exemplified through the gendered advocacy work of rural disabled Tamil women in post-conflict Sri Lanka. In recent times, the liberal peace model has become widely critiqued, resulting in a novel grounding of intersectionality into many contemporary peacebuilding initiatives. This has resulted in a more human-centred peace framework, uplifting the most marginalised voices within a conflict-affected community. Centrally, this article postulates that an intersectional peace approach is an effective method of attaining a gender-just peace, as it can act as a tool of empowerment, mobilising the most marginalised to transgress patriarchal norms and redefine the gender hierarchy upheld within a post-conflict society.
References
Bibliography
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• Björkdahl, Annika and Selimovic, M., Johanna “Gendering agency in transitional justice” Security Dialogue 46, no. 2, (2015): 165-182.
• Bunjun, Benita “Feminist Organizations and Intersectionality: Contesting Hegemonic Feminism” Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice 34, no. 2, (2010): 115-126.
• Carbado, W., Devon “Colorblind intersectionality” Journal of Women in Culture and Society 38, no. 4, (2013): 811-845.
• Carastathis, Anna “The Invisibility of Privilege: A Critique of Intersectional Models of Identity” The Ethics Forum. 3, no. 2, (2008): 23-38.
• Crenshaw, Kimberlé “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989, no. 1, (1989): 139-167.
• ———, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6, (1990): 1241-1299.
• Davis, Kathy “Who owns intersectionality? Some reflections on feminist debates on how theories travel” European Journal of Women's Studies 27, no. 2, (2020): 113-127.
• Guenther, Katja “The Possibilities and Pitfalls of NGO Feminism: Insights from Postsocialist Eastern Europe” Signs 36, no. 4, (2011): 863-887.
• Hettiarachchi, Shyamani and Attanayake, Senarath. “Candid Conversations: Narratives of Young Adults with Disabilities in Sri Lanka on Intimate Partner Relationships” In Diverse Voices of Disabled Sexualities in the Global South, edited by Chappell, Paul and de Beer, Marlene, 131-150. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Kappler, Stephanie and Lemay-Hébert, Nicholas “From power-blind binaries to the intersectionality of peace: connecting feminism and critical peace and conflict studies” Peacebuilding 7, no. 2, (2019): 160-177.
• Kandasamy, Niro, Soldatic, Karen and Samararatne, Dinesha “Peace, justice and disabled women’s advocacy: Tamil women with disabilities in rural post-conflict Sri Lanka” Medicine, Conflict and Survival 33, no. 1, (2017): 41-59.
• Kantola, Johanna and Squires, Judith “From state feminism to market feminism?” International Political Science Review 33, no. 4, (2012): 382-400.
• Lederach, J., Angela “Youth provoking peace: an intersectional approach to territorial peacebuilding in Colombia” Peacebuilding 8, no. 2, (2020): 198-217.
• Meier, D., Larissa “An intersectional approach to the understanding of patterns of marginalisation among ex-combatants with disabilities in Sri Lanka” Conflict, Security & Development 20, no. 4, (2020): 441-465.
• Merz, Sibille “‘Missionaries of the new era’: Neoliberalism and NGOs in Palestine” Race & Class 54, no. 1, (2012): 50-66.
• Ní Aoláin, Fionnuala and Rooney, Eilish “Underenforcement and Intersectionality: Gendered Aspects of Transition for Women” The International Journal of Transitional Justice 1, no. 3, (2007): 338-354.
• Phoenix, Ann and Pattynama, Pamela “Intersectionality” European Journal of Women's Studies 13, no. 3, (2006): 187-192.
• Richmond, P., Oliver “Resistance and the Post-liberal Peace” Millennium 38, no. 3, (2010): 665-692.
• Salskov, A., Salla “A Critique of Our Own? On Intersectionality and ‘Epistemic Habits’ in a Study of Racialization and Homonationalism in a Nordic Context” Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 28, no. 3, (2020): 251-265.
• Samararatne, Dinesha and Soldatic, Karen “Inclusions and exclusions in law: experiences of women with disability in rural and war-affected areas in Sri Lanka” Disability & Society 30, no. 5, (2020): 759-772.
• Samararatne, Dinesha and Soldatic, Karen “Transitioning with Disability: Justice for Women with Disabilities in Post-war Sri Lanka” In Rethinking Transitional Gender Justice, edited by Shackel, Rita and Fiske, Lucy, 315-337. Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Samararatne, Dinesha, Soldatic, Karen and Perera, Binendri “‘Out of the Shadows’: War-affected Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka: Final Report” (2018). Accessed 12 January 2021. url: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2018-07/apo-nid184871.pdf.
• Stavrevska, B. Elena, and Smith, Sarah “Intersectionality and Peace” In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, edited by Richmond, Oliver and Visoka, Gezim, 1-8. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Tomlinson, Barabara “Category anxiety and the invisible white woman: Managing intersectionality at the scene of argument” Feminist Theory 19, no. 2, (2018): 145-164.
• Yuval-Davis, Nira, “What is 'Transversal Politics’? Soundings 1, no. 22, (1999): 88-93.
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2021-12-06
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