Masculinities, Violence and (Post-)Conflict
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.