Open Access(En)gendering post-conflict agency: Women’s experiences of the ‘local’ in Sierra Leone
Author(s) -
Laura S. Martin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cooperation and conflict
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.224
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1460-3691
pISSN - 0010-8367
DOI - 10.1177/00108367211000798
Subject(s) - peacebuilding , sierra leone , agency (philosophy) , transformative learning , transitional justice , political science , scope (computer science) , gender studies , power (physics) , sociology , economic justice , public administration , social science , law , socioeconomics , pedagogy , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
This article explores how female agency and experience manifest in a local Sierra Leonean peacebuilding program known as Fambul Tok. While post-conflict literature, namely transitional justice and peacebuilding, has become more critical in recent years, there is still a tendency to generalize both the ‘local’ and ‘women’. There is, however, much greater scope to delineate how local programs shape and are shaped by women in these settings. While Fambul Tok was, at least theoretically, meant to better align with the needs and priorities of Sierra Leoneans, including women, the empirics suggest that female engagement ultimately results in a wide range of outcomes, which are not necessarily more ‘empowering’, ‘transformative’ or ‘good’ than international programs. Drawing on original empirical data from Fambul Tok, this article highlights the complexity of gendered power relations within these programs and how individual women have multiple, diverse and contested forms of agency and experiences within local settings.