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Okech, Awino (2019) 'Gender and state-building conversations: the discursive production of gender identity in Kenya and Rwanda.' Journal Conflict, Security and Development, 21 (4). pp. 501-515.

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Abstract

This article advances the conceptualisation of conversations on state-building by examining gendered discourses. By focusing on specific historical moments in Rwanda and Kenya, this article analyses how ‘respectable femininities’ and ‘wayward sexualities’ become the ‘sites’ where national and state politics are ritualised and where tensions resulting from non-hegemonic performances of both gender and sexuality are resolved. I argue that by examining sites of gendered cultural production, it is possible to trace how gendered tensions are enacted through localised practices and discursive mechanisms deployed to manage political differences and build solidarity within heterogeneous groups. The ritualisation and creation of ethno-national homogeneity as part of state-building conversations occurs at the expense of greater freedoms for women. Fundamentally this article posits that gendered cultural and traditional norms are essential sites from which to map state-building conversations and should not be cordoned off to the realm of social and therefore excluded from the political.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Gender, state-building, masculinities, femininity, militarism, Kenya, Rwanda
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Interdisciplinary Studies > Centre for Gender Studies
Regional Centres and Institutes
ISSN: 14781174
Copyright Statement: © 2019 King's College London. This article has been accepted for publication in Journal Conflict, Security & Development, published by Taylor & Francis https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2019.1609762.
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2019.1609762
Date Deposited: 16 Jul 2019 15:39
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/31321
Related URLs: https://www.tan ... 02.2019.1609762 (Publisher URL)

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