Annelise Ebbe and Ila Pathak, Whither Women’s Rights? A Report from Kandhamal, WISCOMP (2009)Navanita Sinha, Democracies in Transition: Opportunities and Challenges for Nepal- A Report, WISCOMP (2010)
A
significant milestone in WISCOMP’s effort towards engendering
security is the South Asian collaborative research project
titled Transcending Conflict: Gender and Non Traditional Security.
This initiative facilitateS research, published as monographs,
by scholars from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan,
and India on areas of conflict within the country of their
residence. It has significantly contributed to the growing
literature on non-traditional security approaches. The WISCOMP
program is essentially an exploration of the relationship
between gender and security and the research process has involved
commissioning a series of monographs across South Asia that
are both stand alone studies and also part of a series on
engendering security.
The
WISCOMP Roundtable series on Engendering Security has been conceptualized
to generate informed discussions around some of the seminal ideas
emerging from the South Asian research and writing project on Gender
and Non-traditional Formulations of Security.
The
roundtables are seen as a crucial component of the project design that
aims among other things, to provide that crucial interface between researchers,
reviewers, activists, and practitioners so that a synergy is built between
research and practice. The roundtable discussions intend to:
Provide a context for subject specialists to provide critical feedback
to the core research team on work in progress so that this informs
subsequent revisions of the manuscripts.
Provide
a context for younger scholars to engage with a team of senior and
mid career scholars working in the emerging field of non-traditional
security formulations so that they are introduced to the new terms
of discourse and alternative ways of thinking about security.
Provide
inputs to policy makers so that non-traditional security approaches
do not remain confined to the academia but also helps shape the
thinking of policy makers.
Keeping
in mind these multiple goals, WISCOMP tries to ensure that the discussions
are typically attended by a representative group of researchers, practitioners,
policy makers and reviewers. The idea is to engage people from diverse
backgrounds, different ways of thinking about security, and various
political and ideological persuasions in dialogue. The richness and
diversity of views that are tabled in the process is expected to form
the crucial alphabets that will fashion an alternative discourse on
security – one that interrogates the apparent contradictions
between the so-called “traditional” and non-traditional
and seeks instead to map the intersections between the two.
Wiscomp
was established as part of the efforts of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility
to build a culture of coexistence and nonviolence that is gender-sensitive
and inclusive. A not-for-profit, non-sectarian, non-denominational organization,
the Foundation promotes universal responsibility in a manner that celebrates
a diversity of beleifs and practices, and that contributes to a global ethic
of nonviolence, coexistence and gender equity. The work of the Foundation
is global in its reach and transcends nationalist political agendas.
