Research at LSE

ENGAGING WITH THE GENDER, PEACE AND SECURITY AGENDA IN RESEARCH AND ACTIVISM IN

Elizabeth Laruni, Charbel Maydaa and Henri Myrttinen 17/2018

+ Issues relating to gender, peace and security are a contested field in the Arabic-speaking world. This includes the history and present state of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, which local grassroots level actors and critical voices often struggle to influence. Rather, it is often powerful national governments, non-state actors and outside actors – including donor governments, international organisations and international non- governmental organisations (INGOs), Global North academia but also powerful religious institutions – that define much of the framework, direction and content of gender, peace and security work. Much of the region is marked by armed conflict, occupation, displacement and rule by authoritarian governments. Increasingly, in a number of the countries the already limited space for civil society and academia is shrinking further, due to an increased securitisation of politics. This is exacerbated by policies of Global North actors that focus on countering violent extremism (CVE) and/or utilise frameworks put in place to address gender inequality (such as the WPS agenda) to address short-term security concerns, which can marginalise women’s rights organisations’ work on redressing gender inequality and its societal impacts.¹

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on Peace network co-ordinated by the LSE to find themselves in situations of very the current state of gender, peace and Centre for Women, Peace and Security.2 limited power and agency at best, and at security work in Lebanon in particular, worst in extremely precarious conditions. providing a view from a critical academic While the majority of literature on gender Similarly, persons of diverse SOGI, and civil society perspective, with a strong inequality within Lebanon and the especially those who cannot draw on focus on and gender and North Africa (MENA) socio-economically or politically powerful identity (SOGI) issues. It draws on ongoing region more widely has tended to focus networks, are often placed in positions of discussions and collaboration among a women’s marginalisation, we argue particular vulnerability, facing exclusion, network of academics, practitioners and that it is also important to broaden the and violence, often activists working on gender and sexuality, debate to include diverse SOGI issues. exacerbated if they are prescribed other both in Lebanon and more broadly as part The majority of women, men, and those societally marginalised identity markers.3 of the Gender Violence Across War and with other gender identities continue

Elizabeth Laruni is Programme Officer for Gender and Peacebuilding at International Alert, Charbel Maydaa is Director of MENA Organization for Services, Advocacy, Integration & Capacity-building (MOSAIC) and Henri Myrttinen is Head of Gender and Peacebuilding at International Alert. movement[s], which engaged women from + grassroots organizations […] in working for De-politicisation of the women’s rights and gender justice a combined feminist-nationalist agenda” movements has occurred through an ‘NGO-isation’ of the into interlocutors for the international 8 work, whereby civil society organisations become mere community. This has hindered, and in some cases precluded previously service providers, often for outside actors such as INGOs resistance- and grassroots-oriented and UN agencies. organisations from carrying out more political work. Organisations are instead having to focus on short-term fundraising, service delivery, meeting donor reporting requirements and working on serial 1 See also, International Alert, Oxfam and UK BACKGROUND Foreign and Commonwealth Office,Now is the projects on democratisation, healthcare, Time: Research on Gender Justice, Conflict and 9 Fragility in the Middle East and North Africa While the region is often viewed from peacebuilding and women’s rights. (London: International Alert, 2017), https:// the outside as a backwater in terms of Political work for gender equality is often www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/ file_attachments/rr-gender-justice-conflict- gender justice activism, women’s political done by outside agencies, be it INGOs, fragility-mena-050617-en.pdf; Kvinna till Kvinna, activism in the ‘modern’ sense dates donors or UN agencies, where “weakened Suffocating the Movement: Shrinking Space for th Women’s Rights (Stockholm: Kvinna till Kvinna, back to at least the late 19 century states, under the pressure of international 2018), http://thekvinnatillkvinnafoundation.org/ in the Arab World.4 Women’s rights agencies and some local constituencies, files/2018/03/kvinna-till-kvinna-suffocating- the-movement-report-eng-2018.pdf organisations and politically outspoken are pushing for more ‘gender-equitable 10 2 Between August 7–8, 2017, MOSAIC, and the women were a central part of anti-colonial legislation’.” This is also linked to LSE Centre for Women Peace and Security independence movements in many of the processes that Lila Abu-Lughod has co-organised a workshop in which brought together 25 activists, academics and countries. Post-independence, however, referred to as the “internationalization practitioners to discuss how academic women’s rights and gender equality of Muslim women’s rights”, in which research and NGO work can be used as a tool for emancipation. were mostly relegated to a position of a small group of elites speak on 3 Henri Myrttinen and Megan Daigle, When Merely minor importance by the neo-patriarchal behalf of all women in a language of Existing is a Risk: Sexual and Gender Minorities 5 In Conflict, Displacement and Peacebuilding and mostly autocratic governments. international rights and obtain funds for (London: International Alert, 2017), Several governments, such as those of projects to target and “empower” women https://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/ 11 files/Gender_SexualAndGenderMinorities_ , and , also a sought to beneficiaries. While this trend has been EN_2017.pdf ‘governmentalise’ women’s rights through affecting women’s rights movements 4 Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: official committees closely linked to the for over a decade in the region, it is also Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992). government, in what has been called increasingly happening with organisations 6 5 See for example, Hisham Sharabi, Neopatriarchy: ‘state feminism’. These official state that focus on persons of diverse SOGI. A Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society bodies, often including women linked (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). to the political elite, “wrested women’s The twin trends of governmentalisation 6 Nadje Al-Ali, Secularism, Gender and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s issues from civil society and women’s and NGO-isaton of gender justice work Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University organisations; cover[ed] up problems have led in part to Islamist women’s groups Press, 2000). and […] essentially served to capture the proliferating where NGOs have co-opted the 7 International Alert et al, Now is the Time: 35. women’s movement and made women leaders of the secular mass movement.12 8 Islah Jad, The Demobilization of Women’s Movements: The Case of Palestine (Toronto: activists who chose to participate or However, post-Arab Spring, the space for Association for Women’s Rights in Development, cooperate with the system appear to be these groups and movements to work 2008): 2, https://www.awid.org/sites/default/ 7 files/atoms/files/changing_their_world_-_ complicit with the state.” has been radically reduced: for example, demobilization_of_womens_movements_-_ in Egypt this has occurred due to real or palestine.pdf; see also Laleh Khalili, Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine - The Politics of A further de-politicisation of the women’s perceived links of these groups to political National Commemoration (Cambridge: rights and gender justice movements has opposition movements. Cambridge University Press, 2009). occurred through an ‘NGO-isation’ of the 9 International Alert et al, Now is the Time. work, whereby civil society organisations Over the past decade, however, there have 10 Jad, The Demobilization of Women’s Movements. become mere service providers, often also been numerous advances in terms of 11 Lila Abu-Lughod, “The Active Social Life of ‘Muslim Women’s Rights’: A Plea for for outside actors such as INGOs and increasing awareness about and spaces Ethnography, Not Polemic, with Cases from UN agencies. This process continues for persons of diverse SOGI across the Egypt and Palestine”, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 6 (1) (2010): 5-6. to transform “mass-based, living social region; locally developed transformative

2 approaches to transforming masculinities; and the emergence of more radical, + secular feminist movements. These The perception of Lebanon’s ‘progressive’ status in the new movements go beyond the limited, MENA region tends to be informed by an urban, upper and previously dominant state feminism, seeking a more intersectional and class, Beirut-centric view, drawing on romanticised tropes of comprehensive approach to gender ‘the Paris of the Orient’. This masks the socially conservative, equality. These processes have not been highly patriarchal and often socio-economically harsh uncontested, however. realities that continue to define the lives of most people living in Lebanon. GENDER AND RIGHTS IN LEBANON

Lebanon is often considered to be one of of citizenship based on one’s communal the more socially progressive and open and religious identity as opposed societies in the MENA region, including to individual rights.”16 In the field of in terms of gender norms. Women in the economic participation and opportunity, country have enjoyed a greater level of Lebanese women are also marginalised, 12 Sherine Hafez, An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic social and economic freedom than their and despite their high literacy rates, women’s Movements (New York: New York University regional counterparts, and have been economic participation remains low.17 Press, 2011); International Alert et al, Now is the Time. playing active roles in public life. The 13 See for example Sanaa H, “A Political Movement country has a comparatively strong civil Moreover, the perception of Lebanon’s in Lebanon? A Conversation on Feminism and society working on gender equality issues ‘progressive’ status in the MENA region Queerness”, Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research 1 (1) (2015): 92-104. as well as on diverse SOGI rights, the tends to be informed by an urban, upper 14 Recent police crackdowns, in particular against latter more so than in other countries in class, Beirut-centric view, drawing on trans persons, have tended to use suspicions the region.13 Through court rulings, there romanticised tropes of ‘the Paris of of drug dealing or sex work as legal ‘justifications’. has been a de facto decriminalisation of the Orient’. This masks the socially 15 Lana Khattab, Gendering State-Citizen Relations in Lebanon – The Case of the Family Violence same-sex sexual activities and of trans conservative, highly patriarchal and Bill 2014 (London: International Alert, 2016), identities and practices, although legal often socio-economically harsh realities https://www.international-alert.org/sites/ default/files/Gender_ provisions previously used to criminalise that continue to define the lives of StateCitizenRelationsLebanon_EN_2016.pdf persons of diverse SOGI remain in place. 14 most people living in Lebanon, be they 16 International Alert, Emerging Voices: Young Lebanese citizens, Palestinian or Syrian Women in Lebanese Politics (London: International Alert, 2011), https://www. However, in spite of this relatively refugees, Ethiopian or Filipino migrant international-alert.org/sites/default/files/ publications/092011LebanonGenderFINAL.pdf progressive environment, the country workers or others. In Lebanon, civil rights paradoxically has one of the lowest rates are to a large degree dependent by law on 17 William Robert Avis, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Lebanon (Brighton: of women’s political engagement in the one’s status, both in terms of nationality K4D, 2017), https://reliefweb.int/sites/ 15 reliefweb.int/files/resources/175-Gender- MENA region. The barriers to Lebanese and religious affiliation, and in practice Equality-and-Womens-Empowerment-in- women’s political representation and on connections to powerful individuals Lebanon.pdf participation has been attributed and political and social actors.18 Persons 18 While Lebanon has a secular legal system, issues relating to family rights (e.g. marriage, to its sectarian, patriarchal and of diverse SOGI still face widespread divorce, custody rights, inheritance) are paternalistic political order where men discrimination and harassment privately regulated separately for the officially recognised religious groups by the respective religious are legally legitimised as the heads of and publicly, and the police raids at the authorities themselves. For a discussion of the the household. Furthermore, because time of Beirut Pride 2018 may signal a implications of this for women’s rights, see for example Khattab, Gendering State-Citizen political representation in Lebanon is return to more oppressive police tactics Relations in Lebanon, and Maya Mikdashi, proportionally divided among religious against them.19 “Sex and Sectarianism: The Legal Architecture of Lebanese Citizenship”, Comparative Studies communities, the combination of these of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 34 (2) two structural systems creates and Consultations with activists, practitioners (2014): 279-293. reinforces “a male dominated, clan-based and academics in Lebanon have also 19 Trey Strange, “Beirut Pride Was Forcibly Cancelled. Lebanon’s LGBTQ Community system of clientelism (replicated within highlighted the limitations of legal Remains Undeterred.” Huffington Post, approaches, both with regard to the 11 June 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost. party politics) that not only discriminates com/entry/beirut-pride-cancellation_ against women but creates a sense criminalisation of domestic violence and us_5b1bdc4ee4b09d7a3d72d7d7 the decriminalisation of , in Lebanon. Work in and on Lebanon as these measures on their own would and Lebanese society itself, including not be enough for shifting gender on issues of gender and sexuality, are discourses and power dynamics, or receiving far less outside interest and prevalent gendered attitudes and biases. support than previously. The war and refugee influx have also brought in major GENDER WORK UNDER international actors to Lebanon, such as THE SHADOW OF WAR UN agencies and large INGOs as well as private sector companies, which largely The various past and present wars in dominate the field, including in terms of the region have had major impacts on data collection and analysis. The fact that Lebanon. The country hosts around the data is increasingly being collected 450,000 Palestinian refugees, while by private sector companies involved Lebanese society and party politics in the Syria response, and the tendency continue to be largely defined by the of international actors to keep data to legacies of the 1975-1990 Civil War, the themselves, reduces transparency and subsequent de facto Syrian occupation accountability to beneficiary communities and the 2006 war against Israel. The and reduces the possibilities for local outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 researchers to compete for funds. has also had numerous impacts on neighbouring Lebanon. Fighting has Due to the internal logic of the aid spilled over occasionally into northern sector, these external agencies and large Lebanon as Syrian armed groups have international organisations often place used it as a fall-back area, and thousands local NGOs into subordinate positions of Lebanese have participated as as service providers and implementers combatants in the war, either as part of of agendas, plans and programmes political party militias or as individuals. designed and decided upon elsewhere. The greatest impact, however, has been Local actors’ input from ‘on the ground’ the mass influx of Syrian refugees. tends to be neglected and their autonomy While no exact figures are available, at is often minimal, limited to small acts of least one million Syrian refugees are subversion. This can, for example, mean estimated to be living in Lebanon, adding adhering to the minimum requirements to the already-present Palestinian and necessary to be compliant with donor Iraqi refugee populations in a country demands while doing as much as of around 8 million Lebanese citizens. is possible within the limitations to Relations between Syrian refugees and address locally identified needs not the Lebanese host population have been prioritised by the donor. Qualitative data at times strained, and local authorities drawn from focus group discussions have started restricting Syrians’ mobility. and consultations with activists and The war and the influx of refugees academics working in Lebanon shows has also had major consequences for that while respondents did not feel that Lebanese civil society organisations the donor focus on Syria and Syrian (CSOs) and for academic research, as refugees was problematic in and of itself, well as for the gender justice movement it was often a source of frustration, as and diverse SOGI community. the outcomes of the research on Syrian refugees often did little to better the lives For research and CSO work in Lebanon, of intended beneficiaries. The outputs which is often dependent on outside and outcomes of more theoretical or funding, the Syrian war has meant that policy-focused research, for example, donor interest and funding tends to now are mostly inaccessible to beneficiaries be squarely focused on Syrian refugees due to language barriers and lack of

4 access (e.g. lack of internet access, and individuals who rely on invisibility confidentiality issues or pay walls), for survival, but also communities and nor do they usually lead to concrete parts of the country where access improvements on the ground. More needs to be negotiated through powerful practice-oriented data-collection, such gatekeepers such as political parties. as needs assessments by humanitarian Furthermore, research on gender in agencies, tend to be highly repetitive Lebanon has not always taken an and have led to research fatigue among intersectional approach, leading to 20 For more background on LGBTIQ refugees in refugees who state their needs time and a lack of nuance and reflection on the Lebanon, see also Henri Myrttinen, Lana Khattab and Charbel Maydaa, ‘“Trust No One, Beware of again but often do not have these met by complexity of gender dynamics in the Everyone’ — Vulnerabilities of LGBTI Refugees the aid agencies. country. This lack of intersectionality in Lebanon”, in A Gendered Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis, eds. Jane Freedman, has led to an invisibilisation of particular Zeynep Kivilcim, and Nurcan Özgür Baklacıoğlu. At the beginning of the Syrian refugee and compounded vulnerabilities, (London: Routledge, 2017): 61-76. influx, a number of Lebanese gender as well as power differentials within 21 The term ‘intersectionality’ was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (“Demarginalizing the and diverse SOGI NGOs pushed back gender categories. Adopting an Intersection of Race and Sex: a Black Feminist on conditional funding by donors that intersectional approach allows for Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” University of was for Syrian refugees only, as their a deeper understanding of how gender Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1) (1989): 139-167). She has described it as “a way of framing the doors were already open to people from inequalities intersect with other forms various interactions of race and gender in the all nationalities, including Syrians. The of socio-economic inequality, including context of violence against women of color” (Kimberlé Crenshaw “Mapping the Margins: focus of aid to Syrian refugees has led age, class, disability, race, ethnicity, Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence to tensions between refugees and local location and sexual orientation, Against Women of Color”, Stanford Law Review 43 [1991]: 1296). It has since been used more communities, where the INGOs and frequently exacerbating the widely as a way of analysing how gender funders consider the local communities injustices associated with them.21 identities and expectations interact with other societal markers such as ethno-religious as privileged, and therefore do not This in turn enables the inclusion of those background, age, social class, sexual provide them with the services that they who are often absent from conventional orientation, marital status, disability or the like to create differentials of power and oppression. might also need. This is seen as not only global frameworks of analysis. 22 See for example Claire Harvey, Rosa Garwood being the case more broadly, but also and Roula El-Masri, Shifting Sands: Changing between Lebanese LGBTIQ (, , The response to the Syrian War and Gender Roles Among Refugees in Lebanon (Beirut: Oxfam and Abaad, 2013), bisexual, , and/or attendant displacement crisis has also https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/ bitstream/10546/300408/1/rr-shifting-sands- ) individuals and communities and had an impact on research agendas in lebanon-syria-refugees-gender-030913-en.pdf Syrian LGBTIQ refugees.20 Tensions have Lebanon. Given the research needs of 23 See for example Sarah Chynoweth, “We Keep It also been exacerbated by the perception donors who fund the studies, this has led in Our Heart” – Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys in the Syria Crisis (Geneva: UNHCR, that LGBTIQ refugees have easier access to a greater focus on Syrians in Lebanon 2018), https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/ to medical support services and stand rather than on Lebanon itself, and for download/60864; Christine Chinkin and Madeleine Rees, “I Lost My Dignity”: Sexual and a much higher chance of resettlement Lebanon to become a more accessible Gender-Based Violence in the Syrian Arab by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and safe place from which to research Republic – A Commentary on the Conference Room Paper of the Independent International than Lebanese applicants. The inclusive Syria. The resultant research has at times Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab approach of Lebanese NGOs has been excellent, be it on Syrian women’s Republic (London/Geneva: LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security and WILPF, 2018), attempted to reduce and counteract changing gender roles,22 sexual and https://wilpf.org/wp-content/ these tensions by continuing to provide gender-based violence,23 or men’s and uploads/2018/05/Syria-CoI-23rd_May2018_ CChinkin-MRees_FINAL3.pdf services to all and by actively seeking women’s vulnerabilities.24 Nonetheless, 24 International Rescue Committee, Vulnerability to bring together Lebanese, Syrian, large gaps remain. Research on gender Assessment of Syrian Refugee Men in Lebanon - Investigating Protection Gaps, Needs and Palestinian and other beneficiaries. issues has mostly focused on vulnerable Responses Relevant to Single and Working Syrian people, and there is little research on Refugee Men in Lebanon (Beirut: International Rescue Committee, 2016), https://www.rescue. In terms of working in Lebanon on gender people in power and the elites more org/sites/default/files/document/464/ issues and in particular on diverse SOGI broadly from a gender perspective. The irclebanonrefugeemensvulnerabilityassessment. pdf; Kimberly Howe, Roxani Krystalli, Vaidehi issues, a key issue that has emerged role of class privilege and socio-economic Krishnan, Jon Kurtz, and Reimar Macaranas, over the past years is that of a lack of status has therefore been under- The Wages of War – Learning From How Syrians Have Adapted Their Livelihoods local data, in particular on hard-to-reach researched and under-theorised, including Through Seven Years of Conflict (Washington communities. These include especially for women and LGBTIQ individuals. As DC: Mercy Corps, 2018), https://www. mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/RD_ the trans community, intersex persons mentioned above, these factors also play SyriaReport_dl_FINAL_US-web.pdf a key role in terms of access to services LEGACIES OF but also to justice and personal security (NEO-)COLONIALISM in the country. Some of the issues raised by activists and researchers that have What is visible in the region, as elsewhere been under-researched and addressed in the Global South, is the enduring legacy were those of misogyny, , of colonialism and post-colonial power and racism within the structures and dynamics. These impacts Lebanese LGBTIQ community, which are are different for different parts of the reflective of broader societal trends. This world, although a number of different has manifested for example in tensions characteristics are visible in different between men who have sex with men settings. For Lebanon and Syria, as well (MSM) and trans persons, but also in as neighbouring countries in particular, discrimination against Syrian LGBTIQ this includes the long-term impacts of persons within the LGBTIQ community.25 nation-states whose national borders were A further issue which has come up both drawn up by colonial powers, legislation in our research and the work of others (e.g. on sexual practices) introduced by has been a preference among some who colonial powers, the neo-patriarchal state could theoretically be seen as part of the apparatuses which arose in the post- LGBTIQ community to see their sexual independence period, and continued direct orientation as practice rather than as and indirect interventions by outside powers. identity, as tends to be the case in the Global North.26 Perhaps less visibly but not less influentially, uneven global power structures also Much of the current research and CSO permeate relationships in academia work is being done in moments of crisis, and civil society. In order to be ‘taken not only in terms of the Syrian Civil War but seriously’ in global academic circles, also with regard to internal developments and to access funding as junior partners in Lebanon. This has multiple impacts to Global North universities, regionally on the work itself, including a constant based universities need to engage with ‘tyranny of urgency’ of responding to one academic discourses defined by the crisis after the next, which often makes Global North and publish in Global North analysis, reflection and debate extremely outlets, preferably in English. This, along challenging. Furthermore, given how with pay walls and restrictive intellectual dynamic the working environment is, property rights policies, makes much of the time lag between research and the the research that is produced inaccessible findings might mean that to the communities who are researched, community needs have changed by 25 See also Sabiha Allouche, “IR and the but also to many service providers and the time the research is published – as Instrumentalization of Sexuality in the policymakers who could benefit from Reproduction of Political Leadership in Lebanon: might have security-related concerns On Being Queer Syrian and Refugee in the findings. Thus, the data that is being Contemporary Lebanon”, paper presented at around consent. The sense of continuing the International Studies Association (ISA) produced locally is sent abroad and is crisis, exacerbated by a highly politicised Annual Convention, Atlanta, 16-19 March 2016; not being used locally most of the time, Raja Farah, “Muscles and Glitter”, Muftah, 2015, environment and struggles for resources http://muftah.org/muscles-and-glitter; Adirana with very little real or perceived positive also negatively impact working relations Qubaia and Mathew Gagne, “Sexualizing and practical or immediate impact for the Villainizing Male Syrian Refugees in Lebanon”, between individuals, institutions and Muftah, 2014, https://muftah.org/sexualizing- research subjects. In part, this is due to organisations. Disagreements can easily and-villainizing-syrian-refugees the nature of research itself. In terms flare up and are catalysed by quick turn- 26 Nour Abu-Assab, Nof Nasser-Eddin and Aydan of more theoretical research, be it on Greatrick, Conceptualising Sexualities in the MENA around times for comments on social Region: Undoing LGBTQI Categories. Implications gender or other issues, hypotheses and media. Apart from increasing tensions for Rights Based Advocacy Approaches (London: findings are expected to speak mostly Centre for Transnational Development and between those who could otherwise be Co-operation, 2017), http://www.academia. to Western academic debates instead of edu/32117904/Conceptualising_Sexualities_ allies, these dynamics also contribute local ones, and there is little expectation in_the_MENA_Region_Undoing_LGBTQI_ to an inability to take time for self-care Categories_-_Implications_for_Rights_Based_ of concrete outcomes. Policy-oriented Advocacy_Approaches among activists and researchers. 6 research tends to focus more on outside actors (e.g. UN agencies, donors) rather + than national or local actors, and is Our discussions with local activists suggest that human rights designed to have an indirect rather than NGOs ought to adopt a more inclusive approach, engaging direct effect. The type of research with the most direct impact is that of NGOs more with LGBTIQ issues, and women’s organisations in who can use the findings to adjust particular could be more open to addressing the needs of programming to meet the direct needs lesbian, bisexual and trans women. of intended beneficiaries, but this type of research also often feeds into lengthy decision-making processes and needs to be balanced against donor demands. imaginings can shape policy and Co-operation between local and Western practical implementation include highly academia, as well as research co-operation problematic approaches to countering between local and international NGOs, violent extremism that seek to enlist has at times been marked by uneven Muslim Arab mothers as ‘natural’ de- power relations, including extractive radicalisers of men in their families and practices in which local researchers’ communities and draw on stereotyped, and NGOs’ data is used with little or no racialised notions of Arab and more acknowledgement or compensation. broadly Muslim masculinities;28 lack of engagement by INGOs and UN agencies For local CSOs, funding is often with Syrian men and boys on gender dependent on adhering to donor priorities issues due to persistent stereotypes and and/or those of more powerful Global pre-suppositions about ‘Arab men’;29 or North NGO partners. Local researchers’ the exoticisation and fetishisation of gay 27 More broadly on this issue, see for example Suzanne Clisby and Athena-Maria Enderstein, 30 knowledge is side-lined and they often Arab men and their bodies. “Caught Between the Orientalist-Occidentalist merely occupy positions as data gatherers Polemic: Gender Mainstreaming as Feminist Transformation or Neocolonial Subversion?”, for Global North actors, who then claim WAYS FORWARD International Feminist Journal of Politics 19 (2) ownership of the data. These dynamics (2017): 231-246. In terms of diverse SOGI in the Arab region and debates around greatly reduce the possibility of local or Our research and engagements with Orientalism, the most prominent one is likely even regional actors setting agendas the one surrounding Joseph Massad, Desiring Lebanese researchers and activists Arabs (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2007)— independently or critiquing activities of underscore both the need to recognise see for example Sahar Amer, “Joseph Massad and the Alleged Violence of Human Rights”, Global North actors and their allies. and respect different approaches, and GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies the need for more cross-sectoral 16 (4) (2010): 649–653; Amr Shalakany, “On a Certain Queer Discomfort with Orientalism, A particular problem for gender work in engagement — as well as for spaces Proceedings of the Annual Meeting”, American the Arab-speaking region has been harsh Society of International Law 101 (2007): for academics and CSOs to discuss 125–129. More specifically on Lebanon, see critique of both academia and academics their concerns and frustrations frankly. for example Allouche, “IR and the Instrumentalization of Sexuality”. by other academics, often based in While there is a need for alliances, Global North universities, for allegedly 28 See Ramzi Kassem, “Gendered Erasure in The these should not come at the cost Global ‘War on Terror’: An Unmasked furthering Western agendas with their of restricting a plurality of views and Interrogation”, in Gender, National Security, and work and for accepting Western funding. Counter-Terrorism — Human rights perspectives, approaches. There is a clear need for eds. Margaret Satterthwaite and Jayne As in other Global South societies, there differentiated approaches to research, Huckerby (New York: Routledge, 2013): 15–35; and Katherine Brown “Gender and Counter- is also an on-going tension between where academics and activists have Radicalization: Women and Emerging the risk — and realities — of implicitly different needs, aims and possibilities for Counter-Terror Measures”, in Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism“: 36–59; also Orientalist essentialisation of findings or conducting it. Our discussions with local Jasbir Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: of societal dynamics by outside actors activists suggest that human rights NGOs in Queer Times (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007). and the potential excessive reification ought to adopt a more inclusive approach, 29 Lewis Turner, Challenging Refugee Men: of ‘local knowledge’ merely because it is engaging more with LGBTIQ issues, and Humanitarianism and Masculinities in Za‘tari locally produced and therefore seen as women’s organisations in particular could Refugee Camp, PhD thesis, (SOAS University of London, 2018). 27 ‘authentic’ and thereby beyond critique. be more open to addressing the needs 30 Allouche, “IR and the Instrumentalization of Examples of how (neo-)Orientalist of lesbian, bisexual and trans women. Sexuality”. Conversely, LGBTIQ organisations need be conducted ethically, not only in In terms of broader power structures that to adopt a more intersectional approach the narrow sense of adhering to best define the parameters of on-the-ground to advocating for rights. practices and standards, but also in ways work on gender, peace and security in that are more transparent to the research Lebanon, local activists have highlighted the In our conversations with local activists, subjects and intended beneficiaries, with need to change funding policies that create a point that has consistently emerged possibilities for their increased agency competition amongst NGOs, research is that, In terms of both research and and participation. Researchers, agencies institutions and researchers. This requires activism, there is a need to go beyond the and organisations commissioning and more selective approaches to funding by ‘usual suspects’ and make greater efforts funding research also need to take more recipients, being critical and pushing back to contact hard-to-reach individuals seriously the reality and/or perception where necessary on donor demands: more and populations, particularly the trans of the extractive nature of research, as locally-grounded research can help with community. Research on Lebanon well as research fatigue, and engage in this by providing better context analyses. must extend outside of Beirut, and its earnest in debates as to what a different Academics and local CSOs could also use parameters should be defined based approach might look like. In terms of what leverage and leeway they have to use on local debates, needs and concerns, publishing findings and ensuing public external funding in ways that reflect local rather than be imposed from outside or debate, respectful, constructive criticism needs and concerns, and resist extractive cater primarily to Global North concerns is needed, to allay fears of public smear and plagiaristic practices by INGOs, Global and debates. This research needs to campaigns and bullying. North academia and others.

This is paper 17/2018 in the LSE Women, Peace and Security Working Paper Series. The paper draws on workshops and discussions organised in Beirut and London as part of the ESRC Strategic Network on Gender Violence Across War and Peace, supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund. The Centre for Women, Peace and Security Working Paper Series is an outlet for research findings, position papers and policy briefs. The editorial board is led by Dr Paul Kirby and Professor Laura J. Shepherd. lse.ac.uk/wps/wps Design by LSE designunit (lse.ac.uk/designunit) Centre for Women, Peace and Security, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE lse.ac.uk/wps + blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps + @LSE_WPS