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Virtual Violence and Protection from Participation

Hamberg Hjärtström, Lina LU (2015) STVM25 20151
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This thesis studies protection as integral to security. Protection has been used to keep women from the ‘public sphere’ and abused by peacekeepers and patriarchs alike, suggesting that being protected is not synonymous with being safe but can cause violence and exclusion. From that contradiction, I ask how the concepts of protection and security are produced, and to what effects for (gender) equality. The main endeavour in this text is theoretical; finding gender and security theories insufficient to understand life as embodied without being deterministic, I turn to posthumanist feminist theory. Combining theory by Karen Barad and Gilles Deleuze, I assemble a framework renouncing a division between the social and material, focusing on... (More)
This thesis studies protection as integral to security. Protection has been used to keep women from the ‘public sphere’ and abused by peacekeepers and patriarchs alike, suggesting that being protected is not synonymous with being safe but can cause violence and exclusion. From that contradiction, I ask how the concepts of protection and security are produced, and to what effects for (gender) equality. The main endeavour in this text is theoretical; finding gender and security theories insufficient to understand life as embodied without being deterministic, I turn to posthumanist feminist theory. Combining theory by Karen Barad and Gilles Deleuze, I assemble a framework renouncing a division between the social and material, focusing on immanent intra-actions as productive of the world. Everything is material-discursively constructed phenomena, providing means for understanding the apparent discrepancies between the well-intended and actually violent effects of protection.
Studying National Action Plans for UNSCR1325, which propose women’s increased protection and participation to promote peace and security, I find that the suggested actions rely on protection as a capacity for violence, indicating that protection as violence aimed at a potential perpetrator simultaneously exposes the protected to what I call virtual violence, impeding equal participation, peace and security. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hamberg Hjärtström, Lina LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
A feminist posthumanist theoretical perspective on the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda
course
STVM25 20151
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
National Action Plan for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), protection, gender equality, posthumanist performativity, agential realism
language
English
id
7758119
date added to LUP
2015-09-09 17:34:04
date last changed
2015-09-09 17:34:04
@misc{7758119,
  abstract     = {{This thesis studies protection as integral to security. Protection has been used to keep women from the ‘public sphere’ and abused by peacekeepers and patriarchs alike, suggesting that being protected is not synonymous with being safe but can cause violence and exclusion. From that contradiction, I ask how the concepts of protection and security are produced, and to what effects for (gender) equality. The main endeavour in this text is theoretical; finding gender and security theories insufficient to understand life as embodied without being deterministic, I turn to posthumanist feminist theory. Combining theory by Karen Barad and Gilles Deleuze, I assemble a framework renouncing a division between the social and material, focusing on immanent intra-actions as productive of the world. Everything is material-discursively constructed phenomena, providing means for understanding the apparent discrepancies between the well-intended and actually violent effects of protection. 
Studying National Action Plans for UNSCR1325, which propose women’s increased protection and participation to promote peace and security, I find that the suggested actions rely on protection as a capacity for violence, indicating that protection as violence aimed at a potential perpetrator simultaneously exposes the protected to what I call virtual violence, impeding equal participation, peace and security.}},
  author       = {{Hamberg Hjärtström, Lina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Virtual Violence and Protection from Participation}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}