Conference: Masculinities, Violence and Post-Conflict

Call for Papers

Postgraduate Conference: Masculinities, Violence and (Post-)Conflict

Date: Thursday, 14 January 2016, 09:00 – 17:00

Venue: Ulster University, York St. Campus (Belfast, Northern Ireland)

The Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) and the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster University invite proposals for a one-day postgraduate conference on “Masculinities, Violence and (Post-)Conflict” on Thursday, 14 January 2016. This student-led event will offer academic presentations, peer discussion, networking opportunities and expert feedback in a supportive environment. The conference will be followed by an international high-level workshop on Masculinities and Violence on Friday, 15 January 2016, organized by International Alert, Saferworld and Conciliation Resources (CR), providing a forum for both practitioners and international academics to engage on the topic.

The conference will bring together postgraduate students working on the interface between social constructions of masculinities as well as violence and (post-)conflict. Specifically, the conference will focus on the relationship between these areas, assessing how socially constructed notions of masculinities - in their varying forms, including hegemonic and subordinate conceptions - theoretically and conceptually can, and empirically do (or do not), fuel violence or impact the advancement of women's rights. At the same time, we aim to explore how situations of violence and victimisation influence and (re-)shape notions and dynamics of masculinities (both combatant and civilian identities), in itself and in relation to femininities and gender-hierarchies. The conference will therefore move beyond simplified conceptualisations of gender identities and critically explore the largely ambivalent role of masculinities. We thus aim to approach masculinities as both potentially contributing to violence and at the same time as potentially (and factually) vulnerable. Questions to be explored thus include, but are not limited to:

How, conceptually and empirically, can masculinities be linked to violence, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and violence against women (VAW)?

Conceptually and empirically, what are the relationships between masculinities and femininities, gender equality as well as women's rights within (post-) conflict contexts?

How do situations of violence and (post-)conflict shape masculinities, and how are masculinities (re-)shaped and influenced during conflict and post-conflict lived realities?

How and to what extent do post-conflict peace-building and transitional justice processes consider and address masculinities?

We invite paper proposals from postgraduate students across various disciplines that utilize a gendered lens while exploring the dynamics of, and/or relationships between masculinities, violence and (post-)conflict either conceptually or empirically in different geographical contexts and across time. In-depth case study analyses alongside theoretical explorations and empirically-grounded papers, including feminist theoretical and methodological approaches, are welcome. Speakers and discussants at the conference include, inter alia, Prof. Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Prof. Brandon Hamber (both Ulster University) and Dr. Henri Myrttinen (International Alert).

If you would like to propose a paper, please submit an abstract of max. 250 words and a short one-paragraph academic bio by 15 November 2015 to Philipp Schulz (Schulz-P@email.ulster.ac.uk) and Seamus Campbell (Campbell-S25@email.ulster.ac.uk).

Papers will be grouped thematically and distributed among three main panels. Each panel will have a designated commentator, an established academic or other expert in the field. Commentators will offer expert feedback as well as complement and stimulate peer-discussion. We are seeking the possibility of a publication of contributions (from conference and workshop), for which selected postgraduate papers might also be considered.

Participation and attendance at the conference are free of charge and participants are invited to attend the workshop on the following day. We regret that we are unable to offer travel bursaries or other assistance with costs. 

Special Rapporteur: Focus on Non-Recurrence

This week, 14-15 October 2015, I attended a policy review meeting in Sweden focusing on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence latest report. The report focuses specifically on the issue of non-recurrence. The Special Rapporteur draws attention to different interventions that can impact of non-recurrence including the role of civil society, the spheres of culture and personal dispositions, as well as the role education reform, arts and culture, and trauma counselling.

Download the Report of the Special Rapporteur A/HRC/30/42, 7 September 2015, click here.

Colombia Visit and Peace Process

In early September I was lucky enough to visit Colombia (17-24 September 2015). Currently, the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) are in the midst of negotiations to end the 50 year conflict. Some 250,000 people (80% civilians) have been killed over the decades and 6.5 million people displaced. Talks began in November 2012 in Havana, Cuba. Several accords have been reached and the final agreement is set to be signed in 2016.

Bogota

I was invited to Colombia at the request of the City of Valledupar, one of the cities (some 1.5 hours north east of Bogota by plane) that was most affected by conflict. A series of conferences, presentations, and workshops were being organized under the leadership of Mayor Fredys Miguel Socarras Reales, focusing on preparing for the regional implementation of the peace. I addressed a range of community members (about 150-200) over a two-day process to discuss comparative peace lessons at a community level. I also met with the Mayor.

After the community engagements I spent some days in Bogota meeting some key players in the peace process and sharing lessons with them and different civil society members. The trip ended with a presentation to about 200-300 training lawyers at Libre University in Bogotá as part of conference on Reconciliation, Civil Law and Commissions. Again the focus was on comparative lessons from Northern Ireland.

View of the public meeting

Keynote: Psychosocial Issues and Peacebuilding

From the 6th to the 8th of May 2015, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (South Africa) and the War Trauma Foundation (Netherlands) hosted a conference attended by 52 individuals from 15 countries around the world that explored the nexus between psychosocial needs, practice and peacebuilding in the aftermath of conflict.

 Based on years of experience in the field of peacebuilding (by IJR and its partners) and a long trajectory of developing, implementing and analysing mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) projects around the world (by WTF and its partners), the two organisations partnered in bringing together academics and practitioners from both fields to explore ways in which the nexus between MHPSS and peacebuilding could be better understood.

As such, the programme was structured in such a way that practitioners could share their experiences (best practice and challenges), academics could put forward their existing research and the group as a whole could explore ways in which the two fields could begin to be brought closer together in order to contribute to the development of more sustainable and holistic interventions.

 The full conference report is available here.

 To watch my keynote address at the conference play below.

Irish Association Talk: Transforming Societies

I will be speaking at the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations autumn lunch on Saturday 12th Sept 2015, 12.30-1.00. My topic is 'Transforming Societies After Political Violence: Reflections on Truth, Reconciliation and Healing in South Africa and N Ireland'. Using personal experience from engagement with victims and survivors during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, and peacebuilding work in Northern Ireland, the lecture will delve into the complex interplay between individual psychological processes and macro-political interventions such as truth commissions. Specifically the lecture will explore issues such as reparations, “doing justice”, the power of ambivalence, and concepts such as closure, trauma and reconciliation setting out the role of transitional justice, human rights and mental health practitioners in helping survivors move beyond the toxic past without covering it up or becoming mired. The lecture will take place at Stephen's Green-Hibernian Club, 9 Stephen's Grn, Dublin 2. For Details, click here.

MOOCS and Open Learning at Ulster University

By Professor Brandon Hamber and Dr Brian Murphy

These are times of massive change in the digital landscape. Global connectivity through the internet added to the power of communication technologies and the affordability of modern devices makes knowledge more accessible and education more and more distributed. It is in this context that MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – have been making the digital headlines in higher education recently. And it would be fair to say that a University-sponsored group on Open Learning may not have materialised were it not for the MOOC phenomenon.

The membership of the Ulster MOOCs and Open Learning Working Group drew in expertise across learning and teaching, research and innovation, internationalisation and digital learning; all common aspects of a MOOC. On the principle that we could not ignore the changes taking place, we reviewed the MOOC landscape extensively: what, for example, students expected; what others in higher education were doing and had invested heavily in; and what lay behind the power of the platform.

Download MOOCs & Open Learning Report

We started from a conundrum: we saw Ulster as having a proud and long-standing position of strength in depth behind the walls of our digital learning environment, yet some of the new players in MOOCs and Open Learning had moved into this space openly and rapidly. As we researched and reviewed, we increasingly found tensions in the higher education positions on MOOCs. This was reflected locally too in terms of delivery, resources, priority, issues of exclusivity and the additional pressure on lecturers and others for design, production and delivery in this arena. We recognise these tensions in this report. We also recognise the challenge of discerning a business model that works for Ulster, be it on reputation, finance, values, or a combination of these and others.

All paths led us back to the principles of Open Learning re-forged by the white heat of technology and its potential to transform the dissemination of knowledge and distribution of education whilst also remaining true to our institutional values.

We concluded that:

• Openness at Ulster should be as much practical as philosophical; widening access, for example, is a dominant gene in our institutional DNA.
• Openness at Ulster must resonate within our business equation; the tensions of resource must be set in the context of the value of what we want to do, the cost of getting there, and a recognition of where we are coming from.
• Openness at Ulster should draw from our niche educational provision relative to others in the sector.
• Openness at Ulster should draw from our niche and high quality research and enterprise; much of our research is publically funded with funders increasingly requiring open dissemination and public engagement with research that is accessible, substantial and demonstrable.
• Ramping up to massive open courses would be a massive step too far today; we need firstly to underpin a change in culture and capability that moves to openness in an assured manner. A measured approach would be to develop a conventional, for-credit online module and then scale for open access.
• MOOC costs are prohibitive unless in partnership; partners could be drawn from higher education, the commercial, professional body or third sectors; on a global scale there may be synergy with the aspirations of IGOs and NGOs with a remit in education, health, young people, poverty and peace - UNICEF, UNESCO for example.
• We must demonstrate capacity and capability by building our external profile in open learning and dissemination in an assured manner – using Jorum and iTunes U, for example. 
• We should realise the potential for innovation through the research-teaching nexus; using open learning to enhance the student experience and to inject valuable co-creation and collaboration with our students in curriculum and research outputs. 
• We need a policy statement on open learning with aims and objectives to frame an institutional position and calibrate diverse impacts. 
• And we must underpin all our efforts with on- going awareness raising, academic discussion, support and targeted projects.

In the end, our journey traced the sequence in the name of our Working Group: from MOOCs to Open Learning. Ironically, the impact of MOOCs on our University can be celebrated already: MOOCs were the genesis of this study and may yet be one the many academic fruits collectively visioned by this Working Group and endorsed by this University.

Download the MOOCs and Open Learning at Ulster University Final Report

Blog posted originally on Ulster University Access Digital and Distributed Learning: 02 Jul 2015