BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:ics.py - http://git.io/lLljaA
BEGIN:VEVENT
DESCRIPTION:*Content Notice: As indicated by the title\, this talk deals with sexuality in the context of war.  It makes multiple references to sexual violence. There will be several points in the talk that detail bodily reactions to sexual violence. \n \nThis talk reflects on male sexual desire and its expression in coercive environments\, focusing on young men in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). While discussions of sexualities in war often center on sexual violence\, female victims and male perpetrators\, this study in contrast places men and boys at the center of inquiry and refuses a singular lens of criminality to understand their desires and actions.  \nThe research explores the experiences of male LRA fighters\, many forcibly conscripted as teenagers into a highly sexually regulated group. These men and boys faced limited sexual opportunities: either as a reward in the form of a forced 'marriage' or in violation of strictly enforced rules with severe consequences including death or castration. Many were designated 'wives' and fathered children within this context.\n\n\nIn international law\, determining criminal responsibility for conflict-related sexual violence has shifted from hinging on individual consent of women to assessing 'coercive circumstances'. Holly Porter proposes extending this concept to understand the experiences of all actors\, including men. She suggests viewing 'coercive circumstance' as a violent affective space shaping the desires of all its inhabitants\, setting aside questions of agency tied to criminal responsibility.\nInterpreting the experiences of male combatants in this way reveals insufficiencies in the binary penal logic underpinning most understandings of sexual dynamics in conflict situations. It calls for a radical rethinking of common frames applied to sexual action in 'warscapes'\, venturing beyond justice debates and carceral logics and offering new perspectives on desire\, agency\, and coercion in war.\n \nHolly Porter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies and Deputy Director of the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies. An anthropologist focusing on Africa\, her work centers around issues of gender\, sexualities\, violence\, and local notions of healing and justice after war—particularly in northern Uganda where she has lived for more than ten years. Previously\, she has worked in South Sudan\, Bosnia and Herzegovina\, Azerbaijan\, and Palestine in the fields of access to justice\, gender-based violence\, transitional justice\, peacebuilding and human rights. Prior to Cambridge\, she held positions at the London School of Economics\, and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Antwerp and Gent University.  She is the author of many articles and the 2018 Herskovitz Book Prize finalist\, After rape: violence justice and social harmony in Uganda\, published by Cambridge University Press.\n\nhttps://today.coloradocollege.edu/events/8011
DTEND:20240830T003000Z
LOCATION:Cornerstone 131 (Screening Room)
DTSTART:20240829T230000Z
SUMMARY:Encounter Series Lecture with Holly Porter - Rebel Sex: Male Combatants & Gendered Desire in Coercive Environments
UID:dfeff977-a5ea-4cac-aca2-6fcb762ac234
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR