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De-centering dichotomies in wartime labor: trajectories of gender, coercion, and agency in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (1964-2016).
- Source :
-
Labor History . Jun2023, Vol. 64 Issue 3, p269-286. 18p. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Labor history and international relations (IR) each offer insights regarding the extent to which women contribute to non-state armed groups and the value of their labor. Yet questions remain about how agency in joining armed movements – and, conversely, the forced participation of women – are operationalized and even fetishized by observers. Positivist empirical work in IR has operationalized agency and coercion as a dichotomy in gendered wartime labor, implying that where women's labor is coerced it may have a lesser impact on the conduct of conflict or conflict outcomes. This paper challenges the existence of an agency-coercion binary, drawing on the case of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Analyzing archival sources in a manner informed by both feminist international relations and labor history scholarship, I show the complex interplay of agency and coercion in women's lived experience within a non-state armed group. I further reflect on how a temporal understanding of labor relations, examining coercion and choice at the moments of entry, work, and exit, contributes to a more complete understanding of the gender dynamics of wartime labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *ARMED Forces
*DIPLOMATIC history
*ARCHIVAL resources
*GENDER
*AGENT (Philosophy)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0023656X
- Volume :
- 64
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Labor History
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 164492748
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2023.2187765