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University of Alberta Disciplining Development: Sex, Power and the (Re)Construction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone by Megan Hazel MacKenzie CO) A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science Edmonton, Alberta Fall 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46374-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46374-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada This dissertation is humbly dedicated to Tryphena, Salamatu, Zainab, Fatmata, Marie, Zainab, Lucinda, Mariatu, Jeneba, Katiata, Isatau, Kadie, Mabinty, Marion, Jamalitu, Sallamatu, Salamatu, Mansaray, Isatu, Kadiatu, Esther, Kadiatu, Neafa, Regina, Alimatu, Isatu, Moussu, Mamsu, Fatmata, Sophia, Anita, Ramatu, Isata, Mariatu, Aminata, Zainab, Fatmata, Aminata, Aminata, Kadiatu, Fatmata, Josephine, Maragrette, Fatmata, Mariatu, Amueta, Abibatu, Fatmata, and Ingreta. Thank you for sharing your stories. Abstract Personal interviews with female soldiers in Sierra Leone in 2005 largely shape the central questions of this dissertation. In particular, this dissertation asks what types of "conflicts" continue for women in the so-called post-conflict period? I compare my interview data with dominant representations of women and girls in conflict to problematize the following: the depiction of "womenandchildren" as a coherent category; the understanding that the notion of "post-conflict" as a seamless move from war to peace; and, the dominant definition of "women's empowerment." I argue that "conflict" has been defined and conceptualized in both development and international relations scholarship far too narrowly. The traditional focus on public violence and the political timeline of war (including the declared beginning and end to conflict) has eclipsed necessary investigations into the complex and lasting impacts of war. I argue that- particularly for women- violence against the body, and regulation of the body and the self, along with silence and fear, continued in Sierra Leone long after the official end to the war. In addition, I reveal the liberal nature of development programs and how this has manifested into policies that reproduce and restrict the nuclear family. I contend that non-governmental organizations and development institutions act as governing bodies, which institute and enforce specific gender norms and hierarchies. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Discipline and Development: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Post-Conflict Development in Sierra Leone 36 Chapter 2: Sex and Conflict in Sierra Leone .66 Chapter 3: Madonnas, Yoobas, Warriors, or Ideal Victims?: The Dismissal of Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone 112 Chapter 4: Ordained Empowerment: Reconstruction, Self-policing and Neoliberal Redemption 155 Chapter 5: Loving Your Enemy: Rape, Sex, Childbirth and Politics in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone 204 Conclusion 242 Appendix 1: Structured Interview Questions Asked During Field Research in Sierra Leone 254 Appendix 2: Development and Empowerment Issue Network 255 Appendix 3: Women's Empowerment Network 256 Appendix 4: Men's Empowerment Network 257 Appendix 5: List of Interviewees in Sierra Leone (excluding female soldiers) 258 Introduction: Disciplining Development: Sex, Power, and the (Re)Construction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone One of the most illustrative signifiers of Sierra Leone's 11-year civil conflict is an image of a boy, about 12 years old, wearing ratty clothing and a tough expression holding and AK-47. Variations of this image have been used on countless pamphlets and posters to "raise awareness" about child soldiers, to solicit donations for war-torn African countries, and in advertising the need for research in the areas of peace and post-conflict.1 The young boy soldier is used to represent Africa but, ironically, it has become representative of the collage of cliche identities associated with Sierra Leone: disenfranchised youth, impoverished citizen, boy soldier, and uneducated child. (Kaplan 1994, Knight 2004) It was after I travelled to Sierra Leone in October of 2005 that began to realize more fully how this image of the boy soldier had masked, and somehow eclipsed, many other identities, including educated youth, leader, a rich ruling elite, and female soldier. I was most concerned with female soldiers as an often unexplored and underrepresented category of "war affected" citizens. The original objective of my field research in Sierra Leone was to monitor reintegration programs and to evaluate the extent to which they included female soldiers. In the first stages of my research I anticipated the dissertation would focus primarily on government and institutional 1 For examples of such images go to .worldvision.com.au/..VS2_4_Rights.jpg, www.gendercide.org/case_conscription.html, news.bbc.co.uk/2M/africa/2994096.stmor www.mylearningspace.net.au/.../34/Figure-14.jpg. In fact the image found at users.otenet.gr/~tzelepisk/yc/cs.htm of a 12 year old boy soldier can be seen on multiple cites and campaign posters including the Children and War: Impact project at the University of Alberta. For more detailed analysis of the economic elite in African countries and the corporate benefits of war see Collier (2000); Sawyer (2004); and Reno (1997). 1 policy in the post-conflict context. However, this focus changed significantly in the field. (Clark 2006) As I began to ask local social and aid workers in Freetown and in Makeni, Sierra Leone about female soldiers, I realized the gross underestimation within reports and literature I had previously read of both the numbers of female soldiers and the extent to which they participated in the conflict. What I was confronted with was two vastly disparate versions of the same story. One story was reflected in the country reports, international non-governmental organization (INGO) and non-governmental organization (NGO) documents and proposals, as well as within the dominant literature on the civil conflict. It told a story of male rebels and militants dominating a chaotic war. A competing narrative was presented by the local organizations, aid workers, and social workers, whose story complicated the nature of the problem because they told a much more complex tale- complete with female soldiers. The significance of these two versions of the same story of conflict and post-conflict in Sierra Leone is that the former narrative is dominant in mainstream literature on conflict, as well as in the corporate media. (Smith 2005) I began to wonder why, if female soldiers existed, and in some case dominated military groups and operations, had I read so little about them? Why were they were not represented in post-conflict programs? And what were the experiences of girls and women in conflict and the so-called post-conflict era?3 My research objective shifted to an exploration of this lacuna: the aim was to find and interview as many female soldiers as I could in order to listen to their experiences during and after the war and hear how they understood these experiences. 3 Whenever I use the term post-conflict, I am referring to the generally understood definition of post- conflict as the period of time following the formal cessation of fighting; however, throughout this dissertation I critique the notion of post-conflict and try, where possible, to highlight it as a non-fixed, questionable concept. 2 The central questions driving this analysis in large part were inspired by the interviews I conducted with two groups of female soldiers in Sierra Leone. The stories, dreams, complaints, and desires told to me over the course of a two month stay in Sierra Leone forced me to reconsider what