DESCRIPTION:
This Working Group aims to develop an evolving subfield of Feminist Security Studies by creating a discussion between key scholars in the field of gender and international relations and new voices seeking to grow and consolidate these research programs. Addressing subject matter of interest to the Peace Studies, International Security, Feminist Theory and Gender Studies, and Women’s Caucus sections of the ISA as well as the conference theme, this working group will deal with questions about the relationships between gender, war, and peace; between the theory and practice of gender and security; between gender/feminist theorizing on security and the mainstream of “Security Studies”; and between different branches of Feminist Security Theorizing.
In the last five years, work in Feminist Security Studies has proliferated, producing dozens of journal articles, several important books, and several journal special issues, including, most recently, a special issue of the journal Security Studies. This workshop is meant both to reflect on and analyze this recent proliferation of scholarship and to look forward to defining and developing Feminist Security Studies as a subfield. Gathering a group of approximately 15-20 junior and senior scholars working in the field, the Working Group will look at Feminist Security Studies both internally (what is this subfield) and externally (how does it relate to Security Studies/IR more generally, and what does it have to say about “real world” practice of security?) through a variety of panels, informal conversations, roundtables, and other presentations.
GROUP COORDINATORS
Jennifer Lobasz
Jennifer Lobasz is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. She has been a member of the Governing Council for the International Studies Association-Northeast since 2005, and is a recipient of the Robert T. Holt Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Lobasz’s research interests include feminist security studies, language and the construction of meaning in world politics, and international human trafficking. Her work has been published in Security Studies and the Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.
Contact: jennifer.lobasz@gmail.com
Laura Sjoberg
Laura Sjoberg is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. She has been a member of the Executive Board of the Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section of the International Studies Association for five years, serving as Program chair for three years and as the current section chair. Sjoberg’s work is in a number of areas in Feminist Security Studies, including gender and just war theory, feminist security theorizing, and women’s violence in global politics. Her work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Review, International Studies Perspectives, International Relations, Security Studies, International Politics, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, Politics and Gender, the European Journal of Women’s Studies, Feminist Review, and the Austrian Journal of Political Science.
Contact: sjoberg@ufl.edu
SCHEDULE
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
9:00am-6:00pm
Pre-Conference Workshop
THE STATE OF FEMINIST SECURITY STUDIES
8:30-10:15am > Roundtable
Panelists from the larger group of working group participants will be asked to present their understandings of the meaning and content of this growing field, particularly as relates to recently published work, the field’s relationship to feminist theory/gender studies as well as security studies, and promising directions for future work.
NETWORKING AND COFFEE BREAK
10:15-10:30am
GENDER AND SECURITY: THEORY AND PRACTICE WORKING GROUP INTRODUCTION AND COHESION EXERCISES
10:30-12:15pm > Roundtable
Each participant will be asked to give a five-minute introduction to themselves, their research interests as they relate to the field, and what they hope to get out of the working group in terms of intellectual development, networking, research inspiration, etc.
LUNCH
12:15-1:15pm
THEORY MEETS PRACTICE: GENDER AND SECURITY IN THE POLICY WORLD
1:30-6:00pm > Mini-Conference
This will be an innovative panel session matching practitioner-participants with theorist-participants who work on similar issues to converse about the potential for cross-pollination between their work. We will invite representatives from groups like the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Women in International Security; the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; and the Boston Consortium for Gender, Security, and Human Rights to attend and supply practitioner insights to have conversations with theorist-participants about the empirical and practical implications of scholarly work in feminist security studies. Each mini-panel will have between two and four participants, and will be allotted an hour for presentations and discussions, with a break in the middle and closing thoughts.
PANEL 1: GENDER AND PEACEKEEPING
1:30-2:30
PANEL 2: GENDER AND POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION
2:30-3:30
Break
3:30-3:45
PANEL 3: GENDER, SECURITY, AND WOMEN’S BODIES
3:45-4:45
PANEL 4: GENDER, SECURITY, AND MAJOR FOREIGN POLICY PROBLEMS
4:45-5:45
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
5:45-6:00
OPTIONAL DINNER (TO BE PLANNED)
6:30-til:
8:30am-10:15am
Follow-up Forum
DISCUSSION: WHAT IS FEMINIST SECURITY?
This meeting will focus on the relationship between Feminist Security Studies and the field of Security Studies, including both conversations between the two and space for the opinions of those scholars who think that such conversations are counterproductive. We envision a circle-group discussion, including both scholars understood as members of the traditional field of “security studies” and scholars who have various understandings of the work of gender and security from the working group population, moderated by the group facilitators.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
8:30am-10:15am
Wrap–up Session
DISCUSSION: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT THEORY AND PRACTICE?
This meeting will review the work of the Working Group over the course of the conference, and discuss the productivity of the Tuesday mini-conference, the insights gained from panels attended over the course of the conference, and the implications of past and potential future feminist theorizing for criticizing and bridging the theory-practice divide in security studies and in international relations more generally. We will conclude this meeting talking about potential publication venues for the collaborative work done by the working group over the course of the conference.
