Gender & Peace Conference, 6-7 May 2017

Gender & Peace Conference

Honouring Cynthia Cockburn

6-7 May 2017

Istanbul, Turkey

Keynote Speakers: Cynthia Cockburn, Cynthia Enloe, Nadje Al-Ali 

Not only has the past century witnessed numerous wars, genocides and armed conflicts, shaping life in all its forms throughout the world, but the 21st century has begun with new as well as old kinds of war and conflict with profound effects on life and politics. As Turkey goes through a challenging time with the wars and conflicts in Syria and Iraq, as well as inside its own borders, we find it crucial to explore the gendered aspects of wars and conflicts, and to bring together theories, practices, and policy interventions regarding peace. Recent scholarship and praxis has shown that the effects of wars and conflicts are deeply gendered, and that a focus on gender and sexuality can help us understand and articulate new voices and perspectives against existing and often entrenched needs of the societies in conflict. Moreover, there is a growing body of literature that problematizes the taken-for-granted associations between masculinity, violence and militarism, and the binary gender system. One of the aims of this conference will be to bring together academic work on gender, war/conflict, and peace, highlighting both the gendered dimensions of war and peace, as well as the grassroots and international efforts by women, feminists, and LGBTI activists towards peace. 

With her pioneering, groundbreaking, imaginative research and writing through the years, feminist scholar and Women in Black activist Cynthia Cockburn has paved the way for a new body of critical feminist scholarship on war and peace. At Sabancı University, we have benefited immensely from Cynthia Cockburn’s lectures and conference presentations on gender, militarism and peace since 2004 and we feel honored to have her as part of the Gender Forum International Board of Advisors. From Bosnia to Palestine and Israel, from Cyprus to Turkey itself, Cynthia Cockburn has offered new perspectives through which to understand the gendered aspects of war and militarism around the world and in our region, as well as the creative activism in search of peaceful processes and outcomes. This conference aims to honor Cynthia Cockburn and express our gratitude for the tremendous gift that her scholarship and friendship has been for gender scholars and activists everywhere. Cynthia Cockburn’s opening remarks will be followed by plenary talks by other path-opening feminist scholars in the field, including Cynthia Enloe and Nadje Al-Ali. 

It has been 15 years since the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council (SC) adopted the Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Since then, several other resolutions have passed, but only few countries have adapted national action plans to realize the objectives of these groundbreaking resolutions. This conference is designed to bring together local and international activists and practioners with academics, providing a space to discuss the burning issues related to gender in conflict, war and peace. 

Below are the suggested themes of the conference: 

-The gendered continuum of violence

-Gender and (anti)militarism

-Women’s role in peace processes and in conflict prevention

-Feminist and LGBTI interventions in peace research and politics 

-Gender and sexuality in conflict and post-conflict

-Gender-based awareness work for peace 

-Gendered memories of war and conflict 

-Gender in transitional justice/reconciliation

-New methods for researching war, violence and antimilitarist/antiwar/peace activism

The conference will be in English and Turkish. Proposals for 20 minute presentations should be about 300 words and sent to genderandpeace@sabanciuniv.edu by January 15, 2017.

Sabancı University Center of Excellence for Gender and Women's Studies