Militarizing Her: Context and Cause for Tamil Women in Sri Lanka
2014-02-11
What explains female participation in violent armed groups? Social scientists have productively focused on recruitment into violent groups yet none has gone beyond the initial moment of joining to examine the trajectory of women once ensconced within a rebel group.
Uppsala Forum and Forum for South Asia Studies Lecture with Dr Nimmi Gowrinatha Time: December 11, 15.15-17.00Venue: Brusewitz-salen, Gamla Torget 6 |
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What explains female participation in violent armed groups? Social scientists have productively focused on recruitment into violent groups yet none has gone beyond the initial moment of joining to examine the trajectory of women once ensconced within a rebel group. Does the method of recruitment determine the nature of participation? Dr Nimmi Gowrinathan argues that recruitment has little impact on the nature of women’s participation within a violent group. Drawing on the case of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka she argues that the political identity of the woman, shaped by her prior experience of state repression (in particular militarization), has a greater impact on individual female participation than the specific manner of her recruitment. This complicates the dominant assumption that the way in which someone is recruited into a rebel group will determine the nature of their participation. Instead, Dr Gowrinathan demonstrates that even in cases of coercive recruitment, female participation cannot be predicted and may even evidence high levels of commitment to the insurgent cause.
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