The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National Identities in Conflict

By Cynthia Cockburn

Book Overview

Even in places of deadly national enmity, some very ordinary people are routinely doing peace. In this highly original study, Cynthia Cockburn deepens our understanding of the processes sustaining conflict in Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and Bosnia/Hercegovina by means of a close involvement with three remarkable women's projects that have chosen co-operation. How, she asks, do they fill the dangerous space between them with words instead of bullets? How do they make democracy out of difference?

The book brings fresh insight to theories of the self in relation to collective identities, and of gender in nationalist thought and practice. Observing, in words and photographs, how these women's alliances create a safe space in which to work together, we learn more about the dangers of essentialism and the problematic relationship between identity and democracy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 185649618X
• ISBN13: 9781856496186
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Zed Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An insightful and inspiration account...

This sensitively researched account of how everyday women in conflict affected societies work to effect positive peace, remains one of my favourite books on this topic. It presents three case studies drawing from women's experiences in Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and Bosinia/Hercegovina. These case studies are important because they form part of a small (but growing) body of literature that portrays women's particular views on both war and peace. Also it presents cross-cultural perspectives- Cockburn does not fall into the trap of conflating these women's experiences and views into one "feminine" experience/voice. Instead, under the theme of "women and peace", the author explores the diversity and commonality which forms these women's approaches to peace in societies that often do not include women in formal peace processes. For anyone interested in the efforts of civil society to effect peace and social justice, or anyone with an interest in women's roles in war and peace, this is an excellent book.