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- Convenors:
-
Ewa K. Strzelecka
(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Marina de Regt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Marieke Brandt (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Peter Froggatt Centre (PFC), 02/013
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 27 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel will examine changes and challenges related to activism and social movements in the post-Arab Spring era. We invite papers that explore the concepts of oppression and resistance, transformation and change, marginalization and social justice within the Anthropology of the Middle East.
Long Abstract:
The so-called Arab Spring was a wave of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that spread across many of the Middle East and North Africa countries in late 2010 and early 2011. It presented an opportunity for youth, women’s rights activists and other marginalized groups and social movements to speak up and raise the question of discrimination and justice. The uprisings left a mixed legacy. Eleven years after, the lives of most people in the MENA countries have not improved but have gotten worse due to civil wars, the upgrading of authoritarian regimes, repression and violence, sectarian and regional divisions and the coronavirus pandemic. However, recent studies show that civil resistance has not disappeared. It has adapted to the new circumstances and has resurgent in new forms.
This panel will examine changes and challenges related to the emergence and evolution of activism, resistance and social movements in the post-Arab Spring era. We invite papers that discuss marginalization and resilience through ethnographic case studies around gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, and other social stratifications, to explore how different groups have endured growing challenges, articulated demands and engaged in practices for greater civil and political rights, justice and equality. How has social transformation been conceptualized, produced, resisted, negotiated and experienced in different Middle Eastern contexts over the last years? How do ordinary people resist marginalization and mobilize power in times of war and conflict? And how do activists deal with the political, economic, environmental and social predicaments in which they currently find themselves?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 27 July, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
This lecture inquires into the role of the tribes in Yemen’s 2011 uprisings. Many tribes saw the uprisings as an opportunity to rectify their image as a conservative and militaristic force. Yet the trajectory of conflict ultimately betrayed their hopes and further reinforced prevalent stereotypes.
Paper long abstract:
This lecture looks into the contentious role of Yemen’s tribes in times of social and political upheaval, with special consideration of the 2011 "Change Revolution". In 1971, shortly after Yemen’s civil war, Yemeni intellectual Zayd al-Wazir referred to the tribes as “the strongest power [in Yemen] since ancient times”, also pointing out their ambivalent agency in the political history of Yemen by referring to them as “the armor which has protected Yemen against every aggressor and the sword which has sometimes pierced the body of the community.” Despite the role of the tribes in defending the 1960s revolution and moderating the effects of the civil war, they remained the object of suspicion in many quarters.
In 2011, Yemen’s Change Revolution seemed to offer a new opportunity to the tribes to improve their public perception. Masses of tribesmen peacefully demonstrated alongside other groups demanding for greater political rights, justice, and equality. The upheavals were an opportunity for them to rectify their image as a backward, conservative and militaristic force, and to actively participate in building a democratic and civil Yemen. Yet as the revolution became increasingly brutalized, the tribes were pushed back into old patterns and roles, thereby even further reinforcing the tenacious perception that tribalism is a threat to peace and civility and an obstacle to the country’s development.
Paper short abstract:
This paper is about the various ways in which people of mixed Yemeni-African descent in Yemen (the so-called Muwalladin) perceive and experience the war, and the ways in which they negotiate their identities in a context of increased polarization, marginalization and discrimination.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper we present the findings of a qualitative study carried out in 2021 among Yemenis of African descent in Yemen, with particular attention for the social, economic and security challenges they face. As a result of migratory processes between Yemen and the Horn of Africa part of the Yemeni population is of mixed African-Yemeni descent. These Muwalladin, as they are called, have been the target of discriminatory practices for decades because they were, and still are, not considered to be “pure Yemenis”. This has affected, amongst other things, their citizenship rights, their access to education and the labour market, and their social integration. Since the start of the civil war in Yemen, stigmatization and discrimination on the basis of one’s family background has increased. The Houthis, who are occupying a large part of former North Yemen, claim power on the basis of a perceived honorary lineage. How has this affected Muwalladin? What are the regional differences, for example between the North and the South? Which role do gender, age, and social class play in the racial discrimination of Muwalladin? While many of the respondents stated that all Yemenis are suffering equally as a result of the war, our findings show that social inequalities are still persisting and that Muwalladin respond in different ways to the newly encountered challenges.
Paper short abstract:
The war in Yemen led to the escalation of trends that are hostile to women. Despite their decisive role in leading the revolution in 2011, this role faced a strong decline. This paper will present a model that connect between Yemeni woman within civil society and the process of decision-making.
Paper long abstract:
Yemen war gave rise to numerous negative outcomes that incapacitated Yemeni women. Those outcomes revealed the absence of justice in addressing the role of women politically. Although Yemeni woman had played a political role before war through parties and political regimes, the war confirmed that this role was fake and ineffective in reality. This old image of Yemeni woman was promoted in the past under the topic of gender equality and granting political rights to Yemeni women as part of the agenda put forward externally to win the sympathy and support of the international community. The apparent absence of women in the peace negotiations and their marginalization within the various political, military, and economic authorities confirms that the element of equality is completely absent. On the positive side, however, these negativities gave women the power to declare their rights and demand justice specially within the civil society.
This analytical vision will attempt to focus on women's civil society in Yemen and its ability to reorganize its elements at the level of: Agendas, goals, internal community relations, external relations and social mobility especially through youth groups. The aim of the analysis is to reach a workable model that links between Yemeni women's civil society and the decision-making process within Yemen. The model will contribute in reviewing political parties’ ideologies regarding women’s political participation and reformulating new democratic visions within the scope of any political process, whether at the level of local elections, parliamentary elections or presidential elections.
Paper short abstract:
Drawing on interviews with Yemeni female activists exiled to the Netherlands, Germany and Jordan following the war of 2014/2015, this paper explores the dynamics between gender, exile, conflict, political remittances and peace-building in Yemen.
Paper long abstract:
The revolutionary process in Yemen has mobilised masses and led to a significant politicisation and polarisation of Yemeni society, including women. Female political activists participated in Yemen’s uprising (2011-12) and in the National Dialogue Conference (2013-2014). However, they have been largely excluded from decision making in the ongoing war that broke out in 2014/15. Up to now, for example, almost no women have been among the negotiators in the U.N.-sponsored peace talks for Yemen. Yet, women leaders have been active to bring about peace. Many of them fled the country following the war of 2014/2015 to continue political activities in exile. Drawing on interviews with the Yemeni female activists who participated in the Yemeni uprising of 2011 and who are currently exiled in the Netherlands, Germany and Jordan, this research paper examines the relationship between exile, activism, gender, conflict and peace-building. It proposes a deeper and more critical understanding of the role of women’s rights activists and refugees in post-revolutionary conflicts and peace processes. The study addresses the specific questions on how the situation of post-revolutionary violence and ongoing war has shaped women’s political participation, and how Yemeni female activists in exile have contributed to peace-building or, on the contrary, exacerbated conflicts in and outside the country. How do they influence homeland politics and peace processes through political remittances? How do the feminist transnational networks in peace-building emerge and endure?