Description
In recent decades, international feminist activism and research has had significant success in pushing gender issues onto the international agenda and into global governance institutions and processes. A significant but understudied outcome has been the development of specialized knowledge about gender relations, the packaging of this knowledge as expertise, and the formation of cadres of gender experts around the world. This paper presents early findings from a new research project exploring the politics and effects of gender expertise in peacebuilding in the case of transitional Myanmar. Through interviews with gender experts working for international organizations, donor agencies and NGOs and with activists within the Burmese women's movement, the project analyses the content of gender expertise; the practices and strategies used by gender experts; and the power effects that are generated by the application of international gender expertise in processes of peacebuilding in Myanmar. In particular, the relationship between international gender expertise and local women's movements and political agendas is examined. Addressing these questions, the project seeks to advance knowledge about the content and practices of international gender expertise in peacebuilding, and about its political effects in relation to local conflict dynamics and relations of power.
