1st Edition
War, Violence and Women’s Agency in Pakistan The Case of Swat
War, Violence and Women’s Agency in Pakistan investigates the prominent features of gender ideology in the Swat region, Pakistan and how they influence the norms and forms of women’s agency during conflict.
After 9/11, the War on Terror brought a new wave of anarchy, extremism and violence to the valley of Swat. This book investigates the socio-political structures in the region and examines their impact on women’s political behaviour. The author asks how these patriarchal socio-political structures have contributed to the formation of women’s subjectivities and their ability to subvert and resist patriarchal regimes of oppression. She examines how women experienced militancy, what led them to support or resist the Taliban and how they coped with everyday violence, displacement and resettlement in the period from 2005 to 2010. Multidisciplinary in its approach, the book analyses the norms and forms of women’s agency under the postmodern structure and agency framework of feminist political theory, which views structure and agency as co-constituted and mutually dependent.
Focusing on women’s narratives and the norms and forms of their behaviour from a woman’s perspective, this book is a welcome addition to the analysis of the violence in the Swat region, Pakistan. It will be of interest to scholars of Gender Studies, War and Conflict Studies and South Asian Studies.
1 Women’s Agency in Conflict: A Description of Theory and Methodology
2 An (Un)Gendered Political History of the Swat Region: The Arrival of the Yousafzais, Religion, State-Building and the Rise of the Taliban
3 The Social Structure of the Swat Region: The Intersection of Religion, Ethnicity, Class and Gender with Women’s Agency
4 The Women of Swat in Conflict: In Between Victimhood and Agency (2005–2007)
5 Women’s Sufferings, Resistance and Resilience
Epilogue
Index
Biography
Rehana Wagha is currently a visiting lecturer at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. She has been an active member of the South Asia Feminist Alliance (SAFA for ESCR) and Women’s Action for Better Workplaces (WAction) and worked as a consultant with the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW). Her teaching and research interests include war, violence and women’s agency, gendered dimensions of reconstruction and reconciliation, countering gender stereotypes and violent extremism, forced displacements, gender and society, and women’s empowerment.
“This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of what happened in Swat, especially to women there, leading up to the takeover by the Pakistan Taliban in 2008–09. It is especially relevant today with the resurgence of the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan.”
Professor Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon, USA
“This book discusses the agency of Swat women during one of the most regressive phases of the Swat history when Taliban ruled this beautiful valley from 2005–2010. Moreover, it tells a fascinating story of how Swati women coped with the structural violence, were able to negotiate and use their agency which was ultimately manipulated by the militants as well.”
Dr. Saeed Ahmed Rid, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
