Special ‘Seminar’ issue on “Women and Peace”

The March 2011 issue of Seminar was devoted to the theme, “Women and Peace.” As the opening statement says:

“DESPITE the voluminous literature on war and conflict, both its causes as also the frameworks underlying various peace accords and post-conflict resolution and reconstruction strategies, there appears significant reluctance to factor in women’s specific experiences, as also their orientations, capacities and skills in facilitating a transition towards a more just and durable peace. Not only is it rare to come across women playing a significant role in peace parleys and accord-making, their concerns and suggestions too are usually relegated to the margins. The episodic nod to the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security notwithstanding, analysis of peace accords and subsequent processes reveals, globally, that this arena remains a male preserve and little has changed on the ground.”

Each Seminar issue is a symposium of perspectives on a chosen theme. This one too brings together several diverse voices from Devaki Jain to Rita Manchanda, diplomats to development consultants.

Do take a look: Seminar, “Women and Peace,” Number 619, March 2011.  

 

Introducing: A new review series, Niharika’s Bookshelf

Niharika M., a student of literature at Stella Maris College, Chennai, will be writing a regular book review series for The PSW Weblog, starting this week. “Niharika’s Bookshelf” holds biographies, autobiographies, memoirs and fiction by women that tells life-stories or historical stories.

At Prajnya, we believe that stories–historical or fictional–hold the key to understanding the lives and work of women across the centuries. This series brings to light stories we may or may not have heard of,  and lives worthy of remembering. The first book featured says exactly what we want to:  They are all lives less ordinary, and all extraordinary journeys, and that is why women’s stories are worth documenting and remembering.

Niharika will be the anchor-reviewer of this series, but we invite you to submit reviews as well and to engage with her reviews on a regular basis. As long as the reviews are thematically relevant to our interests and well-written, we will gladly publish them on the blog.