Event

The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs has the pleasure of inviting you to a seminar with Professor Laura Sjoberg, for a book presentation of her new book

Gendering Global Conflict: Toward a Feminist Theory of War

Laura Sjoberg works on gender and international security, particularly in theorizing war from a feminist perspective and studying the representations of women's violence in global politics (see below for further details). She positions gender and gender subordination as key factors in the making and fighting of global conflict. Through the lens of gender, she examines the meaning, causes, practices, and experiences of war, building a more inclusive approach to the analysis of violent conflict between states.

Considering war at the international, state, substate, and individual levels, Sjoberg’s feminist perspective elevates a number of causal variables in war decision-making. These include structural gender inequality, cycles of gendered violence, state masculine posturing, the often overlooked role of emotion in political interactions, gendered understandings of power, and states’ mistaken perception of their own autonomy and unitary nature. Gendering Global Conflict also calls attention to understudied spaces that can be sites of war, such as the workplace, the household, and even the bedroom. Her findings show gender to be a linchpin of even the most tedious and seemingly bland tactical and logistical decisions in violent conflict. Armed with that information, Sjoberg undertakes the task of redefining and reintroducing critical readings of war’s political, economic, and humanitarian dimensions, developing the beginnings of a feminist theory of war.

Laura Sjoberg is also presenting her paper on Calculating Critique? The Potential of Quantitative Methods for Critical and Constructivist IR at NUPI's Theory Seminar, taking place the same day, 13:14-15:00.Your are of course welcome to attend both events.