Gender Center Spring Conference: Bridging the Gap: Gender and Conflict Theory, Research and Practice

The Center for the Study of Gender and Conflict (CGC) at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, invites submission for its inaugural Annual Conference, Bridging the Gap: Gender and Conflict Theory, Research and Practice, to be held April 11-13, 2013 at our campus in Arlington, Virginia, just 10 minutes from the heart of D.C.  

We invite presentations of individual papers, organized panels and workshops, including those that focus on applicable strategies and skills, and artistic presentations. Please email [email protected] with your abstracts of no more than 250 words. Deadline: Saturday, March 30.

The conference will foster spirited dialogue on the application of gender and feminist theory to the practice and research methods of conflict analysis and resolution. Over the past decade, gender has emerged as a core global issue for the conflict analysis and resolution field. Since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 in 2000, virtually all major international organizations engaged in conflict prevention and resolution incorporate gender into their projects and a slate of international conventions, laws and networks exists to promote attention to gender issues as key dimensions of conflict. And yet, our practices of conflict resolution have lagged behind our theorizing when it comes to recognizing that gender is not just about paying attention to women’s needs and potential, but deepening our understanding of how cultural and historical frameworks of masculinity and femininity help shape our sense of the possible. The field has overwhelming tended to reduce “gender” to “women,” which has helped keep the systemic exclusions undergirding structural violence invisible and blocked our engagement with some of the most exciting theoretical developments within gender studies. Innovative means of addressing the underlying power dynamics that marginalize women, the GLBTQ community, and other historically subjugated populations are needed to extend efforts to address the structural roots of conflict.

We hope you will join us to engage with the controversies, complexities and tensions that mark the intersections among theoretical innovation and research and practice! Additional details, including accommodations, are available at https://scarcgc.wordpress.com/events/cgc-research-conference-april-11-13-2013/