The Library
What happened after we put our guns down : the reintegration experiences of former female combatants in post-conflict Sierra Leone
Tools
Cheve, Gwendolene Sithokozile (2023) What happened after we put our guns down : the reintegration experiences of former female combatants in post-conflict Sierra Leone. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_Theses_Cheve_2023.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1868Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3980885~S15
Abstract
Histories of various post-conflict societies suggest that former combatants face challenges to reintegration that have a long-term impact on their lives. In turn, an area of focus for peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction has been to ensure former combatants receive support in rebuilding their socioeconomic lives, through interventions such as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and truth commissions under the umbrella term ‘reintegration’. The plethora of literature on former combatants’ post-conflict experiences has largely focused on the years immediately following a conflict and on official reintegration programmes. These programmes are predominantly used by male combatants, with limited engagement by female combatants. Accordingly, research on post-conflict experiences has paid relatively little attention to the experiences and relationships of former female combatants (FFCs) in the years after they ‘put down their guns’. Recognising both this limitation in the literature, and shortcomings with DDR in Sierra Leone, this thesis develops a dynamic and nuanced understanding of the extent and ways in which FFC reintegration experience informed their post-conflict lives, using in-depth interviews with FFCs in Sierra Leone.
The thesis builds on work by feminists questioning how FFCs’ experiences are conceptualised in conflict and peacebuilding theory and practice, and how traditional gender norms and values shape post-conflict environments. The thesis contributes to existing scholarship, arguing that economic and social reintegration programmes can allow FFCs to advance gender equality in their families, communities and work environments. More specifically, I argue that the inclusion of female combatant experiences/narratives in the design of programmes can facilitate how gender norms, values and dynamics are reshaped, reformed and practised in post-conflict environments. This must be done whilst paying careful attention to the nuanced roles of female combatants in a multiplicity of active or passive modes of supporting fighting groups, and their expectations for life afterwards. The thesis also reveals the importance of capturing FFC post-conflict experiences, demonstrating the role that reintegration programmes play, many years into the post-conflict environment.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DT Africa J Political Science > JC Political theory |
||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Sierra Leone -- Politics and government -- 1961-, Women in combat -- Sierra Leone, Conflict management -- Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone -- History -- Civil War, 1991-2002 | ||||
Official Date: | May 2023 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Politics and International Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Lynch, Gabrielle ; Welland, Julia ; Jones, Briony | ||||
Sponsors: | University of Warwick. Department of Politics and International Studies ; British Institute of Eastern Africa | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | 259 pages | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |