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Sisters in arms? Female participation in leftist political violence in the federal republic of Germany since 1970
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Karcher, Katharina (2013) Sisters in arms? Female participation in leftist political violence in the federal republic of Germany since 1970. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2686704~S1
Abstract
This dissertation offers a qualitative study of female participation in leftist
political violence in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1970. It
focuses on four militant leftist groups: the ‘Red Army Faction’ (RAF), the
‘Movement of June 2’ (MJ2), the ‘Revolutionary Cells’ (RC), and the ‘Red
Zora’ (RZ). Unlike the RAF, the MJ2 has attracted little attention by
scholars and journalists; and there is virtually no literature on the RC and
the RZ. To offer a nuanced analysis of the history, ideologies and activities
of the four groups, this thesis draws on semi-structured interviews with
former group members and contemporary witnesses, autobiographical
accounts, scholarly literature, newspaper articles, and a range of archival
sources. The guiding questions for the analysis are: what roles have
women played in the four organisations and in concrete manifestations of
political violence? And, to what extent could female participation in
political violence be understood as a form of feminist militancy? To
answer these questions, this study combines theories and methods from
new feminist materialisms, philosophies of sexual difference, gender
theory and Cultural Studies. It finds that whilst opposing the existing
gender regime, women in the RAF and MJ2 effectively used femininity as
camouflage to carry out violent attacks. Neither groups had a feminist
agenda. The RZ and some of the women in the RC, by contrast, took up
central themes in the women’s movement. This thesis argues that their
activities evolved into a form of feminist militancy. Beyond the specific
context of research on political violence in Germany, this study makes a
more general contribution to scholarship on female participation in
armed conflicts, as it works towards a methodological and conceptual
approach that accounts for the material-discursive nature of political
violence, and for situational dynamics and gendered performances during
concrete attacks.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | J Political Science > JC Political theory | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Women -- Political activity -- Germany (West), Political violence -- Germany (West), Left-wing extremists -- Germany (West), Women radicals -- Germany (West) | ||||
Official Date: | February 2013 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of German Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Achinger, Christine; Alison, Miranda H., 1976- | ||||
Extent: | 394 leaves. | ||||
Language: | eng |
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