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Kvinnokroppen som slagfält - En diskursanalys av konfliktrelaterat sexuellt våld i Sudan

Lundqvist, Alda LU (2025) MRSK62 20251
Human Rights Studies
Abstract
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has triggered the collapse of
state institutions and forced the displacement of millions. Amid this humanitarian crisis,
conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has emerged as a defining and deeply troubling
feature.
This thesis explores how CRSV is represented in three major international reports, authored
respectively by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), Human Rights Watch, and the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of
Africa (SIHA Network). The study uses Carol Bacchi’s What’ s the Problem Represented to
be? (WPR) approach as... (More)
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has triggered the collapse of
state institutions and forced the displacement of millions. Amid this humanitarian crisis,
conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has emerged as a defining and deeply troubling
feature.
This thesis explores how CRSV is represented in three major international reports, authored
respectively by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), Human Rights Watch, and the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of
Africa (SIHA Network). The study uses Carol Bacchi’s What’ s the Problem Represented to
be? (WPR) approach as its main method. It also draws on postcolonial feminist theory and
the concept of militarized masculinity. Together, these frameworks are used to analyze how
the reports represent sexual violence.
The study reveals that each report consistently portrays sexual violence as a deliberate and
strategic weapon of war, while largely ignoring the econmic engines (notable gold and arms
revenues) that sustain RSF operations. Local feminist agency, resistance, and contextual
understandings of trauma are often marginalized or filtered through globalized frameworks
rooted in the Global North. In doing so, these discourses can obscure the complex interplay
between gender, violence, and postcolonial power structures. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Sudan har sedan april 2023 präglats av ett brutalt inbördeskrig mellan Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) och Rapid Support Forces (RSF), vilket resulterat i en statlig kollaps och
omfattande civil fördrivning. I detta sammanhang har konfliktrelaterat sexuellt våld (CRSV)
blivit särskilt framträdande. Denna uppsats analyserar hur CRSV konstrueras i tre centrala
internationella rapporter från FN:s högkommissarie för mänskliga rättigheter (OCHR) ,
Human Rights Watch och Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA
Network).
Genom Carol Bacchis WPR-ansats och teorier från postkolonial feminism samt militariserad
maskulinitet granskas hur rapporterna framställer sexuellt våld. Studien visar att våldet
konsekvent framställs som... (More)
Sudan har sedan april 2023 präglats av ett brutalt inbördeskrig mellan Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) och Rapid Support Forces (RSF), vilket resulterat i en statlig kollaps och
omfattande civil fördrivning. I detta sammanhang har konfliktrelaterat sexuellt våld (CRSV)
blivit särskilt framträdande. Denna uppsats analyserar hur CRSV konstrueras i tre centrala
internationella rapporter från FN:s högkommissarie för mänskliga rättigheter (OCHR) ,
Human Rights Watch och Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA
Network).
Genom Carol Bacchis WPR-ansats och teorier från postkolonial feminism samt militariserad
maskulinitet granskas hur rapporterna framställer sexuellt våld. Studien visar att våldet
konsekvent framställs som ett strategiskt krigsvapen, medan ekonomiska faktorer bakom
RSF:s makt förblir underbelysta.
Vidare marginaliseras lokala feministiska perspektiv och förståelser av trauma, som ofta
filtreras genom västerländska tolkningsramar. Genom att synliggöra dessa diskursiva mönster
belyser uppsatsen hur humanitära narrativ kan reproducera globala maktordningar. Studien
betonar behovet av intersektionella och lokalt förankrade analyser vid förståelsen av sexuellt
våld i väpnade konflikter. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lundqvist, Alda LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
The Female Body as a Battlefield - A Discourse Analysis of Conflict Related Sexuel Violence in Sudan
course
MRSK62 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
: Conflict- Related Sexual Violence (CRSV), WPR framework, postcolonial feminism, militarized masculinity, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan Konfliktrelaterat sexuellt våld (CRSV), WPR, postkolonial feminism, militariserad maskulinitet, RSF, Sudan
language
Swedish
id
9207996
date added to LUP
2025-08-18 08:47:19
date last changed
2025-08-18 08:47:19
@misc{9207996,
  abstract     = {{Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has triggered the collapse of
state institutions and forced the displacement of millions. Amid this humanitarian crisis,
conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has emerged as a defining and deeply troubling
feature.
This thesis explores how CRSV is represented in three major international reports, authored
respectively by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), Human Rights Watch, and the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of
Africa (SIHA Network). The study uses Carol Bacchi’s What’ s the Problem Represented to
be? (WPR) approach as its main method. It also draws on postcolonial feminist theory and
the concept of militarized masculinity. Together, these frameworks are used to analyze how
the reports represent sexual violence.
The study reveals that each report consistently portrays sexual violence as a deliberate and
strategic weapon of war, while largely ignoring the econmic engines (notable gold and arms
revenues) that sustain RSF operations. Local feminist agency, resistance, and contextual
understandings of trauma are often marginalized or filtered through globalized frameworks
rooted in the Global North. In doing so, these discourses can obscure the complex interplay
between gender, violence, and postcolonial power structures.}},
  author       = {{Lundqvist, Alda}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Kvinnokroppen som slagfält - En diskursanalys av konfliktrelaterat sexuellt våld i Sudan}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}