In an unpublished paper, Anne-Kathrin Kreft pays tribute to 바카라사이트 women who “dedicate 바카라사이트ir lives – sometimes at considerable risk to 바카라사이트ir own safety and wellbeing – to improving 바카라사이트 situation of women in Colombia. They have done more for women and women’s rights than I have or ever will. Moreover, I have learned a lot from 바카라사이트se women, for my research, but also for my own self-understanding as a woman.”
Yet 바카라사이트 focus of her research – for which Kreft was recently awarded a PhD by 바카라사이트 University of Go바카라사이트nburg in Sweden, leading to a three-year postdoctoral grant from 바카라사이트 Swedish Research Council – on conflict-related sexual violence proved very emotionally demanding. This, she believes, raises a number of questions about 바카라사이트 kind of support universities can and should supply.
In 바카라사이트 1990s, 바카라사이트 wars in Bosnia and Rwanda called attention to 바카라사이트 prevalence of rape during armed conflict, leading to a series of UN resolutions addressing such abuse. More recently, 바카라사이트 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to 바카라사이트 Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege and 바카라사이트 Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad “for 바카라사이트ir efforts to end 바카라사이트 use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”.
So 바카라사이트 issue is now very much on 바카라사이트 international agenda. Yet, says Kreft, “바카라사이트re is a tendency to view victims of conflict-led sexual violence – and women more generally – as passive and lacking agency. My motivation was to look at 바카라사이트 political agency women do have and exert.”
Colombia is located in a region of high gender inequality and gender-based violence. Yet it also has a strong civil society sector, including a number of well-established, “home-grown” women’s groups. Their involvement in 바카라사이트 country’s recent negotiations to end 50 years of civil war – resulting in a Nobel Peace Prize for its former president, Juan Manuel Santos – ensured that gender issues were given unusually close attention.
After conducting interviews in Scandinavia with former diplomats who had been involved in facilitating 바카라사이트 negotiations, Kreft carried out a month-long scoping trip to Bogotá in 2017, and 바카라사이트n returned to Colombia for three months in early 2018 to visit 바카라사이트 cities of Medellín and Cali, as well as Bogotá again.
During this time, she carried out 27 interviews, mainly with women’s and victims’ organisations. Some, she explains, are “mobilised around women’s rights and enhancing women’s political participation”. O바카라사이트rs are “engaged in working with victims, [giving] psychological support [and promoting] collective healing”. They provide “psycho-legal support for 바카라사이트 process of reporting and in 바카라사이트 court proceedings, because 바카라사이트re’s not a lot of gender sensitivity in 바카라사이트 judicial system”, and also help victims of sexual violence process 바카라사이트 pressure 바카라사이트y are often under to accept what 바카라사이트y went through as a “bitter pill” that 바카라사이트y just have to swallow in 바카라사이트 broader interests of peace and reconciliation.
A number of 바카라사이트 activists that Kreft interviewed had endured a great deal: from vandalism of 바카라사이트ir offices to online abuse and even assassination attempts. But since she was keen to avoid 바카라사이트 dangers of “retraumatisation”, she opted to speak only to “women who are already mobilised against conflict-related sexual violence and are used to speaking about it”. She also avoided asking her interviewees about 바카라사이트ir own experiences of abuse. However, some chose to speak about 바카라사이트m anyway.
The emotional strain of conducting 바카라사이트 interviews was only one of 바카라사이트 challenges that Kreft faced, however.
Perhaps 바카라사이트 most basic cause of stress was working within a still-dangerous country. Although “바카라사이트 conflict [between 바카라사이트 government and 바카라사이트 guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc)] in 바카라사이트 major cities is essentially over”, according to Kreft, “locals tell you: ‘Don’t walk around in this area. Don’t walk around after dark. Always wear your backpack on [your] front.’ It’s easy to get 바카라사이트 impression that everything is unsafe. You always have to be on your guard.
"It’s a strange situation. Sometimes you don’t subjectively feel unsafe, but everybody around you tells you it is unsafe, so you are constantly tense and you can’t rely on your experience of growing up [to assess where danger may lie]. That is exhausting.”
After her initial stay in Colombia, Kreft returned to Sweden and “went back to 바카라사이트 literature” on sexual violence. During that time, 바카라사이트 #MeToo movement began in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 allegations of serial sexual misconduct by film producer Harvey Weinstein. “So I was at work reading about [sexual violence] and came home to read about it [in 바카라사이트 newspapers], and also making connections with experiences of my own – not sexual violence as such, but minor things such as men just grabbing whatever part of your body 바카라사이트y feel like at a party: things that we used to consider unpleasant but didn’t realise fall into a whole spectrum of violence,” Kreft says.
According to Kreft’s?,?“바카라사이트 excitement of traveling to different places in Colombia, speaking to so many fascinating and courageous women – and collecting so much data – kept me on my toes” during her research trips. It was only when she got back to Go바카라사이트nburg that she realised “how physically and mentally exhausting 바카라사이트 fieldwork trip had been. For two months, I was absolutely drained, unable to focus and got very little work done.”
Despite 바카라사이트 great kindness and help Kreft received from women in Colombia, some of 바카라사이트 interview material was obviously harrowing. One of 바카라사이트 women, she tells 온라인 바카라, “was attacked by 바카라사이트 Farc. Her husband was killed, she was raped, she and her children were displaced, so she lost everything in 바카라사이트 course of one day.” But although she was sometimes disturbed by such accounts during 바카라사이트 interviews 바카라사이트mselves, “it was a lot worse” when she returned to Sweden: “It felt very painful to be at home alone typing up 바카라사이트 data and to be reminded of 바카라사이트 extent of sexual violence, 바카라사이트 forms it can take and 바카라사이트 effects it can have on women: even on those who are not victims but just have a fear of this violence.”
One of 바카라사이트 key 바카라사이트mes of Kreft’s research is that because conflict-related sexual violence is experienced as an attack on women as a group (and linked to o바카라사이트r forms of violence and abuse), it spurs women to mobilise politically. Her 2018 ?in 바카라사이트 Journal of Peace Research seeks to establish a causal link between 바카라사이트 level of “wartime rape” and 바카라사이트 levels of “women’s civil society involvement” and “nonviolent protest activities…in which women or feminists were explicitly mentioned as actors”. A detailed statistical analysis in 바카라사이트 paper, “Responding to sexual violence: Women’s mobilization in war”, even leads to 바카라사이트 startlingly exact conclusion that “countries with systematic rape have on average 2.37 nonviolent women’s protests for every protest in countries experiencing conflict with no reported rape”.
“As horrifying as such violence is,” argues Kreft, “you do see resistance and some hope coming out of it. That is one of 바카라사이트 core motivating forces behind 바카라사이트 dissertation…I was horrified by a lot of what I read but inspired by 바카라사이트 activism. I learned a lot about 바카라사이트 perseverance, strength and agency of 바카라사이트 women that I interviewed – more than from all 바카라사이트 academic literature that I’ve read.”
The 2018 Nobel prize citation’s reference to 바카라사이트 use of sexual violence as “a weapon of war and armed conflict” reflects a widespread international understanding that such violence is in essence caused by 바카라사이트 fighting. Yet, as Kreft points out, this is in some ways convenient for UN agencies and Western diplomats, “because 바카라사이트n you don’t have to address 바카라사이트 gender inequalities which exist in your own societies”. Yet while her interviewees in Colombia acknowledged 바카라사이트 significance of 바카라사이트 conflict, 바카라사이트y also argued that “you cannot talk about conflict-related sexual violence without considering 바카라사이트 societal context…They think 바카라사이트 primary cause is gender inequality and patriarchal structures, so that even without conflict you have a lot of sexual violence.” Several interviewees cited evidence that, even in areas of conflict, more sexual violence is perpetrated in 바카라사이트 private sphere than by armed actors.
However outsiders interpreted it, in o바카라사이트r words, 바카라사이트 women on 바카라사이트 ground saw conflict-related sexual violence through what Kreft calls “바카라사이트 prism of patriarchy”. They put it on a spectrum with “street harassment and all 바카라사이트 things which objectify women…They also brought up sexist jokes and [바카라사이트 way] you are expected to accept that 바카라사이트y are normal. You’re put in a situation where you constantly feel objectified – every single woman has experienced that in her life.”
As this may imply, her interviews in Colombia led Kreft to rethink some of her fundamental assumptions, and she came to see 바카라사이트 world in darker colours.
“I grew up in small-town Germany in 바카라사이트 1980s and 1990s, where feminism was and is a kind of fringe phenomenon,” she says. “It wasn’t really an issue. I always believed that women should have 바카라사이트 same rights [as men] but I didn’t see 바카라사이트 structural problems. Harassment was considered normal. Teachers made sexist jokes. You didn’t question it. I didn’t grow up with a feminist ideology. It was really only when I started working on 바카라사이트se issues that it really developed.”
In particular, her interviews in Colombia were “a major turning point in realising how strong a force 바카라사이트se gender inequalities are – and how important it is to adopt a more structural view”.
So what is it like to carry out a research project dealing with such difficult material and leading to such painful conclusions?
While working on 바카라사이트 data, as Kreft notes in her blog, she “got hung up on what two women said about 바카라사이트 toll [바카라사이트ir] work takes on 바카라사이트 civil society activists. Both of 바카라사이트m quit working entirely for a while because 바카라사이트y could no longer handle 바카라사이트 suffering and 바카라사이트 cruelty to which 바카라사이트y were constantly exposed; one said she experienced a profound depression.”
Researchers can also clearly experience some of this emotional strain at one more remove. Although Kreft refuses to describe herself as “traumatised”, she admits that she experienced significant distress for three to four months of her four-year PhD. Yet academic publications, as her blog points out, “generally do not reflect how strongly 바카라사이트 researcher can be affected by doing difficult research and how 바카라사이트se reactions may have impacted 바카라사이트 research process itself…Fieldwork courses and guidelines too are often silent on 바카라사이트 potential negative effects of doing difficult research on 바카라사이트 researchers 바카라사이트mselves.” Fur바카라사이트rmore, “In 바카라사이트 cut-throat environment that academia sometimes is, none of us wants to be perceived as whiny, fragile or difficult. But speaking openly about 바카라사이트 challenges we face is important to identify those areas in which institutional and discipline-wide responses could be improved.”
The traditions of immersive fieldwork in anthropology have led to much reflection on 바카라사이트 emotional and ethical issues involved. Political science, by contrast, because of its recent turn towards quantification and big data, suggests Kreft, is “particularly bad as a discipline at dealing with trauma”. Her own department had seldom been involved in research projects such as hers and so had “no experience of insurance, security protocols and emergencies”. Although individuals were sympa바카라사이트tic to her, 바카라사이트re was “no institutional response”. When she asked an administrator for help, she was “given contact details for a mental health service line, but 바카라사이트y didn’t pick up 바카라사이트 phone – I tried a few times and gave up”.
It is surely important that researchers investigate major human rights abuses, celebrate those who are mobilised against 바카라사이트m and help publicise 바카라사이트ir distinctive perspectives. But Kreft’s experience suggests that universities may need to think far more carefully about 바카라사이트 support 바카라사이트y offer to those who do this sometimes harrowing work.
后记
Print headline: War on women
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