Abstract
August 2016 saw the conclusion of the historic 2012-2016 peace process to end decades of armed conflict between the Marxist-Leninist armed group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Colombian government. In the same month, the FARC announced that it was formulating its own conception of feminism, insurgent feminism (feminismo insurgente). Developed on the eve of the FARC’s transformation into a political party and combatants’ return to civilian life, insurgent feminism represents a significant commitment to shore up the agency and political mobilisation of female combatants in the fraught transition from war to peace. As highlighted by feminist scholarship, this transition is often marked by the reassertion of patriarchy and attendant expectation for women to (re)assume traditional gender roles and (re)embody feminine norms. This thesis examines the conditions of possibility for the emergence of insurgent feminism, delineates its key constitutive elements as a discourse, and analyses the modes of agency insurgent feminism has shaped among female former combatants (firmantes) in post-accord Colombia.The findings show that the FARC could not be credibly considered a feminist insurgency, as it did not engage with feminist discourse, and its practices to cultivate equality between combatants were rooted in female combatants’ assimilation into masculine norms, motivated by strategic rather than feminist ends. Instead, it is argued that the contingencies of the 2012-2016 peace process were pivotal in the formulation of insurgent feminism. In particular, female combatants’ work on the gender sub-commission, the innovative body established to incorporate a gender perspective across the 2016 peace accord, in addition to their participation in the FARC’s wider delegation at peace talks, played key roles in fostering insurgent feminism. By examining the dynamics in and through which insurgent feminism emerged from the peace process, this thesis contributes new insights into how the peace process came to constitute a feminist movement and reshape the FARC’s stance on gender politics. In its delineation of the constitutive elements of insurgent feminism as a discourse, this thesis sheds light on its dual components as a memory project and hybrid discourse that draws on socialist feminism and intersectional feminism as its primary theoretical referents. This thesis also demonstrates how insurgent feminism has shaped multiple modes of agency among female firmantes. These findings challenge conceptualisations of the post-conflict period as tantamount to women’s depoliticisation and loss of agency, and instead foreground the political subjectivities of female firmantes and the multiple, contingent and complex ways in which they exercise agency, amidst and in spite of structural constraints.
| Date of Award | 1 Apr 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Vivienne Jabri (Supervisor) & Jelke Boesten (Supervisor) |