Framing the Narrative: Female Fighters, External Audience Attitudes, and Transnational Support for Armed Rebellions

Female combatants play a central role in rebel efforts to cultivate and disseminate positive narratives regarding the movement and its political goals. Yet, the effectiveness of such strategies in shaping audience attitudes or generating tangible benefits for the group remains unclear. We propose and test a theory regarding the channels through which female fighters advance rebel goals. We argue that female fighters positively influence audience attitudes toward rebel groups by strengthening observers’ beliefs about their legitimacy and their decision to use armed tactics. We further contend that these effects directly help them secure support from transnational non-state actors and indirectly promote state support. We assess our arguments by combining a novel survey experiment in two countries with analyses of new cross-national data on female combatants and information about transnational support for rebels. The empirical results support our arguments and demonstrate the impact of gender framing on rebel efforts to secure support

Ethics, empathy and fear in research on violent conflict

The discussion of ethics in the social sciences focuses on ‘doing no harm’ and ‘giving back’ to research participants, but does not explore the challenges of empathy and fear in research with participants in political violence and war. Drawing on 180 in-depth interviews on the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993 collected over eight months between 2010 and 2013 primarily in Abkhazia, but also Georgia and Russia, I argue that researchers can come to empathize with some but fear other participants in past and present violence. These emotional responses can influence researchers’ ability to probe and interpret interviews and respondents’ ability to surpass strong positions to explore dilemmas of participation in violence. By empathizing with not only ‘victims’ and ‘non-fighters’ as I had expected based on my pre-existing moral-conceptual categories, but also participants in the war, I found that individuals adopted multiple overlapping roles and shifted between these roles in the changing conditions of violence. In contrast, failing to empathize with and fearing those who continued to participate in violence at the time of my interviews limited my ability to fully appreciate the complexity of their participation, but shed light on the context of violence in contemporary Abkhazia. This analysis shows that reflection on the role of empathy and fear in shaping our interactions with research participants can help advance our understanding of participation in violence and this difficult research context

Review of "Women in War: The Micro-Processes of Mobilization in El Salvador," by Jocelyn Viterna

International audienceBaux ruraux. Renouvellement, Conditions, Date d'appréciatio

Heroes, martyrs, and mothers: Maternal identity politics in revolutionary Nicaragua.

This dissertation presents an historical comparative analysis of maternal identity politics in Nicaragua (1977-1994) with the thesis that changes in economic and political conditions structured changes in collective identity. First, I argue that the Sandinista revolution was born out of and fed by a distinctly maternal discourse. Maternal images were mobilized by various political powers, and women, in this context, organized primarily as mothers. Second, maternal mobilizing was individually empowering to women and reshaped social views on women's place in politics. However, the maternal discourse restricted women to political action deemed deferential and self-abnegating. Third, economic conditions, often discounted by identity theories, also shaped collective identity. Among the poor, development and social recognition of identity depended upon and was shaped by economic survival. Finally, in my case study, collective identity shifted from expressive to instrumental. Defying the assumptions of New Social Movement literature, a collectivity may shift from a new social movement stressing the expression of an identity to an old social movement making material demands. Research is anchored in the study of one mothers' organization--the Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs of Matagalpa. Through one year of participant observation, analysis of membership documents, and 55 open-ended interviews, I trace the collectivity's changing identity and goals. It evolved from a small Sandinista auxiliary prioritizing ideologlcal commitment and a shared maternal grief into a semi-autonomous community organization of over 2,000 members with significant material aid projects. The Mothers' history is linked to political and economic contexts, as well as Sandinista maternal action frames and gendered discourse. The latter are examined through content analysis of 15 years of two Nicaraguan newspapers and other texts. The implications of structural changes on membership profiles and solidarity are also explored. Despite an external appearance of coherent goals and identity, latent within the collectivity were not only strong emotional bonds but also conflict and contradictions--a finding that adds depth to our understanding of the meanings members attach to collectivities and their interpretation of the benefits of membership.Ph.D.Latin American historyPolitical sciencePsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologySocial structureWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/129939/2/9711921.pd

(Ab)usos y costumbres: mujeres indígenas confrontando la violencia de género y resignificando el poder

Desarrollamos una reflexión para categorizar la violencia de género desde el Continuum de la Violencia y la resignificación del poder en las mujeres indígenas. Partimos de la experiencia de mujeres de la Sierra Norte de Puebla, quienes confrontan el sistema imperante en una manera creativa y colectivamente para desnaturalizar/erradicar la violencia de género en sus comunidades.We develop a reflection on gender violence within the framework of the Continuum of Violence and how indigenous women re-signify power. We start from the experience of the indigenous women of the Sierra Norte de Puebla, who confront the prevailing system creatively and collectively to denaturalize and eradicate gender violence in their communities