Works in Progress: "Undervalued and Overlooked: Women’s practices of preventing conflict in a post-colonial State"

International law and institutions acknowledge the roles that women play in conflict prevention and peace building but calls for their inclusion within militaristic and Eurocentric imaginations. Additionally, feminist scholarship on conflict studies overemphasizes women’s victimhood within African conflicts and thus produces problematic understandings of gender, ethnicity, war and peace that runs the risk of representing African women as victims without any sense of agency.

Using postcolonial feminist theories, I contend that colonialism and the earlier influence of feminists focus on sexual and gender-based violence in conflict situations have influenced the perception of women as victims or their preventative practices as care giving. The article/chapter will highlight conflict preventative practices deployed by communities that privileges women and rooted in spirituality and pre-colonial ways. Accordingly, I suggest that understanding the various practices that women engage in either as an individual in the community, a vigilante member or an early warning actor provides a more nuanced and multidimensional understanding of conflict prevention that eschews a care versus political framework. I also assert that women are excluded from political peace building mechanisms or conflict prevention strategies because their preventative practices are considered as care giving. 

I posit that despite women’s exclusion from formal (and even) informal peace building and conflict prevention mechanisms, their preventative practices would better serve in Nigeria- a post-colonial state with unending cycles of conflict.

About the speaker

Omowumi Asubiaro Dada (Wumi) is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal studies. Prior to her PhD studies, she worked as a human rights lawyer on issues of social inequality, gender-based violence and inclusion. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Lagos State University, Nigeria, was called to the Nigerian Bar, and obtained a Master of Law Degree from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. 

Wumi’s PhD project advances new understandings of how women’s practices and actions provides multidimensional understandings of conflict prevention with gender and power at the centre. The project argues that despite women’s exclusion from formal (and even) informal peace building and conflict prevention mechanisms, their preventative practices, often unintelligible to predominant political thought, have the potential to serve unending cycles of conflict in postcolonial states such as Nigeria. The main goal of Wumi’s project is to raise the value of women’s preventative work in conflict situations by reinscribing new practices and norms into government policies and projects.

Register

This event is free and all are welcome, but registration is required. 

Prior to the seminar, join us for a light lunch from noon to 12:30 pm in the Centre Lounge. Please indicate your lunch RSVP for catering purposes when you register.

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About the Works in Progress series

The Works in Progress series is presented by the CrimSL Research Cluster for the Study of Race and Inequality. This series of workshops is provides graduate students and post-doctoral fellows opportunities to present their works in progress and receive feedback from their peers. See the Cluster's full list of Fall 2023 Events.

Accessibility

Please note that CG 265 is on the second floor of the Canadiana Gallery building, with stair access only as there is no elevator. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email crimsl.communications@utoronto.ca and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

Health & Safety

We are following health and safety measures outlined by the University of Toronto and the Government of Ontario. Should there be changes in protocols related to health and safety of our guests and community, registrants will be advised.