A Feminist Approach to Hybridity: Understanding Local and International Interactions in Producing Post-Conflict Gender Security

Citation:

McLeod, Laura. 2015. “A Feminist Approach to Hybridity: Understanding Local and International Interactions in Producing Post-Conflict Gender Security.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 9 (1): 48–69. doi:10.1080/17502977.2014.980112.

Author: Laura McLeod

Abstract:

Recently, the concept of hybridity has become popular within critical peacebuilding scholarship to explain the interplay of power between local and international actors in post-conflict contexts. However, a nuanced gender lens has often been missing from these analyses. This article develops a feminist critique and approach to hybridity in order to achieve a deeper sense of the effects that experiences and perspectives of international and local actors have upon peacebuilding initiatives. It begins to develop a feminist approach to hybridity via a case study of a gender security initiative concerned with challenging the prevalence of small arms and light weapons (SALW) abuse in domestic violence in Serbia. The article concludes by highlighting how this feminist perspective allows a richer understanding of the power relations shaping local and international interactions.

Keywords: feminism, hybridity, gender security, local, international

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Security, Weapons /Arms Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Serbia

Year: 2015