Achilleos-Sarll, Columba-Isabella (2020) ‘Seeing’ the women, peace and security agenda : exploring the visual (re)production of WPS through UK Government National Action Plans. International Affairs, 96 (6). pp. 1643-1663. doi:10.1093/ia/iiaa168

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Abstract

Examining the visual (re)production of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through UK national action plans and annual reports to parliament, this article proposes a new direction for WPS research. The visual politics of WPS, which affects both how the agenda is enacted and how it is encountered, has been largely understudied. To date, WPS scholarship has focused predominantly on linguistic modes of communication, neglecting both the visual aspect of WPS communication and the visual politics of WPS. The article argues that, as a vector of power, visuals matter in the agenda's (re)production, and therefore develops a theoretical and methodological framework to study the visual politics of WPS. In presenting the most comprehensive visual analysis of the WPS agenda to date, this article makes three distinct contributions to the literature. Firstly, it offers a theoretical contribution advancing visuality as a vector of power in the reproduction of WPS. Secondly, it proposes a methodological contribution by developing an analytical framework constructed around a visibility spectrum. Thirdly, it provides an empirical contribution through its focus on the UK as an illustrative case of visual reproduction. The visual analysis reveals four subject-positions placed on a visibility spectrum: the (hypervisible) ‘agential woman-in-conflict’, the (absent presence) of the ‘woman-as-victim’, the (visibility) of the ‘international community’, and the (invisibility) of ‘men and boys’. The analysis demonstrates that rather than challenging global hierarchies of power, these mutually constituted subjects visually reproduce particular gendered, racialized and colonial logics, further stripping the agenda of its transformative potential.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain J Political Science > JZ International relations
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Women and war, Peace movements, Women and peace, Women and the military, United Nations.Security Council.Resolution 1325
Journal or Publication Title:	International Affairs
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	0020-5850
Official Date:	9 November 2020
Dates:	Date Event 9 November 2020 Published 1 September 2020 Accepted
Date of first compliant deposit:	7 September 2020
Volume:	96
Number:	6
Page Range:	pp. 1643-1663
DOI:	10.1093/ia/iiaa168
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Publisher Statement:	"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Columba Achilleos-Sarll, ‘Seeing’ the Women, Peace and Security agenda: visual (re)productions of WPS in UK government national action plans, International Affairs, Volume 96, Issue 6, November 2020, Pages 1643–1663, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaa168. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions."
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Related URLs:	Publisher

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