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This wide-ranging collection of essays elaborates on some of the most pressing issues in contemporary postcolonial society in their transition from conflict and contestation to dialogue and resolution. It explores from new angles questions of violent conflict, forced migration, trafficking and deportation, human rights, citizenship, transitional justice and cosmopolitanism. The volume focuses more specifically on the gendering of violence from a postcolonial perspective as it analyses unique cases that disrupt traditional visions of violence by including the history of empire and colony, and its legacies that continue to influence present-day configurations of gender, race, nationality, class and sexuality. Part One maps out the gendered and racialized contours of conflict zones, from war zones, prisons and refugee camps to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid, reframing the field and establishing connections between colonial legacies and postcolonial dynamics. Part Two explores how these conflict zones are played out not just outside but also within Europe, demonstrating that multicultural Europe is fraught with different legacies of violence and postcolonial melancholia. Part Three gives an idea of the kind of future that can be offered to post-conflict societies, defined as contact zones, by exploring opportunities for dialogue, restoration and reconciliation that can be envisaged from a gendered and postcolonial perspective through alternative feminist practices and the work of art and their redemptive power in mobilizing social change or increasing national healing processes. Though strongly anchored in postcolonial critique, the chapters draw from a range of traditions and expertise, including conflict studies, gender theory, visual studies, (new) media theory, sociology, race theory, international security studies and religion studies.
List of contents
Introduction: New Frames of Gendered Violence Sandra Ponzanesi Part I: Conflict Zones: Colonial Haunting and Contested Sovereignties 1. Neoliberal Discourses on Violence: Monstrosity and Rape in Borderland War Jolle Demmers 2. Thin Ice: Postcoloniality and Sexuality in the Politics of Citizenship and Military Service Vron Ware 3. American Humanitarian Citizenship: The "Soft" Power of Empire Inderpal Grewal 4. Female Suicide Bombers and the Politics of Gendered Militancy Sandra Ponzanesi Part II: European Frictions: Memories, Migration and Citizenship 5. Uses and Abuses of Gender and Nationality: Torture and the French-Algerian War Christine Quinan 6. Migrating Sovereignties and Mirror States: From Eritrea to L'Aquila Marguerite Waller 7. Doing "Integration" in Europe: Postcolonial Frictions in the Making of Citizenship Marc de Leeuw and Sonja van Wichelen 8. Coffin Exchange Paulo de Medeiros Part III: Contact Zones: Transitional Justice, Reconciliation and Cosmopolitanism 9. "Invisible Wars": Gendered Terrorism in the US Military and the Juárez Feminicidio. Alicia Arrizón 10. Political Transitions and the Arts: The Performance of (Post-)Colonial Leadership in Philip Miller’s Cantata REwind and in Wim Botha’s Portrait Busts. Rosemarie Buikema 11. Justice by Any Means Necessary: Vigilantism Among Indian Women Aaronette White and Shagun Rastogi 12. On Love and Shame: Two Photographs of Female Protesters Marta Zarzycka 13. Rethinking the "Arab Spring" Through the Postsecular: Gender Entanglements, Social Media and the Religion/Secular Divide Eva Midden
About the author
Sandra Ponzanesi is Head of Humanities at University College Utrecht and Associate Professor in Gender and Postcolonial Critique at the Department of Media and Culture Studies/Graduate Gender Programme, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Summary
This wide-ranging collection of essays elaborates on some of the most pressing issues in contemporary postcolonial society in their transition from conflict and contestation to dialogue and resolution. It explores from new angles questions of violent conflict, forced migration, trafficking and deportation, human rights, citizenship, transitional justice and cosmopolitanism. The volume focuses more specifically on the gendering of violence from a postcolonial perspective as it analyses unique cases that disrupt traditional visions of violence by including the history of empire and colony, and its legacies that continue to influence present-day configurations of gender, race, nationality, class and sexuality. Part One maps out the gendered and racialized contours of conflict zones, from war zones, prisons and refugee camps to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid, reframing the field and establishing connections between colonial legacies and postcolonial dynamics. Part Two explores how these conflict zones are played out not just outside but also within Europe, demonstrating that multicultural Europe is fraught with different legacies of violence and postcolonial melancholia. Part Three gives an idea of the kind of future that can be offered to post-conflict societies, defined as contact zones, by exploring opportunities for dialogue, restoration and reconciliation that can be envisaged from a gendered and postcolonial perspective through alternative feminist practices and the work of art and their redemptive power in mobilizing social change or increasing national healing processes. Though strongly anchored in postcolonial critique, the chapters draw from a range of traditions and expertise, including conflict studies, gender theory, visual studies, (new) media theory, sociology, race theory, international security studies and religion studies.
