Logo of Maastricht Summer School

Gender, Conflict, and Peacebuilding

Maastricht Summer School
Netherlands, Maastricht
Maastricht Summer School Netherlands, Bonnefantenstraat 2, 6211 KL Maastricht, The Netherlands
Tuition fee €899 one-time
More information

maastrichtsummerschool.nl 

Overview

Course Description
Gender, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
War, peace, security, and other global issues have been deeply gendered throughout history. Globally, gender is one of the crucial factors that determine who is most vulnerable to abuse and violated during wars, who commands authority and respect and who is marginalised, and who gets access to basic amenities and who does not. Gender is also a determinant of who is involved in framing the debates around peace and security both domestically and internationally. Basic conditions of people’s lives are often shaped by their sexual or gender identity. This course explains what this means in theory and practice, and why it is important. The course introduces students to the gendered nature of global issues such as conflict, peacebuilding, humanitarian action, and development. More specifically, the course aims to develop and strengthen the awareness and understanding of women’s involvement in war, peace, and security-related issues. Some of the topics that will be covered in this course include gender dimensions of armed conflicts, child soldiers, gender implications of armed conflicts, women’s involvement in peacebuilding practice, Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR).

Goals
At the end of this course, students should be able to:
• Understand the dynamic nature of war and its impacts on women and girls.
• Reflect critically on feminists’ perspectives on war, peace, and security.
• Practice applying a gender lens to peace processes and conflict resolution.
• Examine and critique existing approaches to gender and peacebuilding.
• Develop a gender-sensitive and analytical mindset, as well as oral skills to confidently discuss global issues.



Recommended Literature
Beckley, E.M. 2021, “DDR and the Education of Ex-Combatant Girls in Africa” in The Palgrave Handbook of African Women’s Studies, eds. O. Yacob-Haliso & T. Falola, 1st edn, Springer Nature, Switzerland, pp. 178.
Coulter, C. 2008, “Female fighters in the Sierra Leone war: challenging the assumptions?”, Feminist Review, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 54-73.
Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. 2nd ed. University of California Press, 2014.
Hudson, H. 2016, “Decolonizing the mainstreaming of gender in peacebuilding: toward an agenda for Africa”, African Peacebuilding Network (APN) Working Paper, no. 8.
Hudson, H. 2012, “A double-edged sword of peace? Reflections on the tension between representation and protection in gendering liberal peacebuilding”, International Peacekeeping, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 443-460.
Oluwaniyi, O. 2019, “Women’s Roles and Positions in African Wars” in The Palgrave Handbook of African Women’s Studies, eds. O. Yacob-Haliso & T. Falola, First edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 85-105.
Specht, Irma. 2006. Red Shoes  : Experiences of Girls-Combatants in Liberia. Geneva: ILO.

Teaching Methods
Problem-Based Learning, Lectures, Research, and Work in subgroups.

Assessment Methods
Presentation, Attendance, Assignment, Participation.

Course Coordinator
Esther Beckley – International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

Apply now! Maastricht Summer School 2023/24
Application deadline
22 Jun 2024, 23:59:59
Central European Time
Studies commence
22 Jul 2024
Apply now! Maastricht Summer School 2023/24
Application deadline
22 Jun 2024, 23:59:59
Central European Time
Studies commence
22 Jul 2024