Women in Peace Politics

This volume reflects the multiplicity of women′s role in peace politics in South Asia through a collection of important articles on the subject. Reflecting the three genres through which women′s peace politics is often played out, the book is divided into three sections: ideas and ideologies, South Asian women′s practices of structured negotiations for peace, and the lives of ′ordinary′ women who symbolize women′s unending quest for peace and justice.

Women in Peace Politics explores the role of women as agents and visionaries of peace in South Asia. Peace is redefined to include in its fold the attempt by women to be a part of the peace making process, reworking the structural inequalities faced by them and their struggle against all forms of oppression.

This volume, the third in the series of the South Asia Peace Studies, deals with the myriad dimensions of peace as practised by South Asian women over a period of time. It chronicles the lives of "ordinary" women—their transformative role in peace and an attempt to create a space of their own. Their peace activism is examined in the historical context of their participation in national liberation movements since the early twentieth century. The articles in the collection adopt a new approach to understanding peace—as a desire to end repression that cuts across caste, class, race and gender and an effort on the part of women to transform their position in society.

This compilation would interest a wide readership besides students and scholars of human rights, peace and security studies, politics and international relations.

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Series Note
Preface
I. IDEAS & IDEOLOGIES: Introduction - Samir Kumar Das
Shefali - Ranabir Samaddar
Security, Gender and Conflict Prevention: Perceptions from South Asia - Sumona Dasgupta
Ethnicity and Democracy Meet When Mothers Protest - Samir Kumar Das
Afterword - Stree Shakti Sanghatana
Islam, Feminism and the Women′s Movement in Pakistan: 1981-1991 - Fauzia Gardezi
Women, Nationalism and War: "Make Love Not War" - Rada Ivecovic
II. MOVEMENTS: Introduction - Kalpana Kannabiran
Women in Sri Lankan Peace Politics - Saro Thiruppathy and Nirekha De Silva
Motherhood as a Space of Protest: Women′s Political Participation in Contemporary Sri Lanka - Malathi De Alwis
Negotiating Peace: Feminist Reflections - Kalpana Kannabiran, Volga and Vasantha Kannabiran
The Space Between: Women′s Negotiations with Democracy - Paula Banerjee
Minorities, Women and Peace: A South Asian Perspective - Meghna Guhathakurta
III. VOICES: Introduction - Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
Shed No More Blood: Mothers for Peace
WAF to Continue Protest Against Discriminatory Laws
The Way of the World - Josiane Racine and Jean Luc Racine
Chadur Aur Diwari - Fehmida Riyaz
Drawing Lines, Erasing Lines: Feminism as a Resource in Opposing Xenophobia and Separatism - Cynthia Cockburn
In Conversation with Dr Hanan Ashrawi - Aditi Bhaduri
Further Readings on Themes in Peace Studies
Index