Motherwork and gender justice in Peace Huts: a feminist view from Liberia

Erica S. Lawson and Vaiba K. Flomo

Third World Quarterly, 2020, vol. 41, issue 11, 1863-1880

Abstract: At the end of their country’s 14-year civil war (1989–2003), Liberian women established Peace Huts to provide conflict resolution and mediation services to disputing community members. Peace Huts are modeled on the centuries-old Palava Hut system used to address disputes, but the latter are largely run by men. This article examines how Liberian women have adopted the Palava Hut system to suit their needs in the interest of advancing transitional justice. We document and analyse what women do at Peace Hut sites and how their pursuit of peace and gender justice is related to motherwork, understood in feminist scholarship as the exercise of political agency through maternal activism. Based on a year-long study with women who provide social labour in Peace Huts, this article seeks to provide insight into how women participate in post-conflict initiatives amid infrastructural challenges, structural violence and tensions between the best legal approaches to gender justice and human rights.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2020.1793663

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