Decolonising the Research Agenda on the Continuum of Violence against Women in Latin America: Network of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies

CONTEXT Latin America is a region marked by conflict and violence. Historically it has been the scene of military dictatorships, revolutions, and armed conflicts. Although most armed conflicts have now formally been resolved, violence continues to be widespread. In Guatemala, for instance, political violence turned into criminal violence, characterised by the rise of new armed actors, while drug trafficking, paramilitary and guerrilla groups continue to cause insecurity in Colombia. Authoritarian regimes have destabilised countries like Brazil, while large numbers of migrants try to escape extreme poverty and criminal violence, especially in Central America. Large-scale agro-industrial projects have caused environmental devastation and social conflicts throughout the continent. All these forms of violence affect the development and security of entire communities. However, they have a differentiated impact on women because they are often in more vulnerable and subordinated positions, which are exacerbated by political and armed violence. In addition, there are forms of violence that specifically target women. Sexual violence, for instance, has systematically been used against women in the armed conflicts of Guatemala and Colombia, while the present-day phenomenon of feminicide in countries like Mexico is also often accompanied by sexual violence. This evidences a continuum of violence against women, referring to how violence flows across public and private spaces, from peace to conflict, and through social, economic and political arenas (Cockburn 2004). At the same time, there is a tendency to portray women mainly as victims of such violence, reinforcing representations of women as a passive group in need of protection, and neglecting their stories of resistance and agency. Although it is increasingly recognised that women are important actors in peacebuilding, for example through the United Nations Women, Peace and Security Agenda, such arguments are often based on essentialisms about women¿s inherent peacefulness, associated with their role as mothers with natural caring and nurturing capacities. This prevents a more nuanced analysis of women¿s roles as socio-economic and political actors, recognising their strategies of survival and resistance as well as their capacity of choice, dissent and disruption before, during, and after political and armed violence. The contribution of Latin American academics working on these crucial issues is restricted by their subordinated position within colonised academic agendas and their limited access to international scholarly networks, which is reinforced by the historical focus on the African continent in UK academia. This is evidenced in the under-representation of South-based feminist scholars in international journals on women, gender and politics (Medie and Kang 2018). WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES This workshop will foster a collaborative network that will position perspectives from the Global South in international research publications and allow early career researchers (ECRs) from Latin America to influence and decolonise research agendas on gender, peacebuilding and security. It will enable ECRs to build international academic networks with scholars based in the UK, Colombia and the USA, and support them to publish in high impact journals in the humanities and social sciences, enhancing their career development. The workshop has three objectives: 1. The creation of an academic network of Latin American ECRs and mid-career and senior academics based in Colombia, the UK and USA with experience in international publishing and editing, whose work addresses the various ways in which intertwined forms of violence in the region impact women, and how women have endured, resisted, and transformed those experiences. 2. Support Latin American ECRs in publishing their research in high impact journals through mentoring and training on publication skills, resulting in a special issue in one of the international peer-reviewed journals whose editor participates in the workshop. 3. Foster collaboration with and among Latin American ECRs towards decolonising international scholarly debates on the conceptualisation of and responses to the continuum of violence against women in Latin America. PARTICIPANTS AND ACTIVITIES This two-day workshop is the result of a long-term collaboration between the two co-applicants (one from the Global South based in Colombia and one from the Global North based in the UK). The workshop will take place in Bogota, Colombia at Javeriana University and will bring together ECRs from four Latin American countries (15-20), UK and US-based scholars with journal editor roles (5), Colombia-based scholars with experience publishing in English in international journals (5), and advisors on international grant applications (4). ECRs will represent a range of academic disciplines within the humanities and social sciences whose work addresses violence against women in Latin America. Prioritised countries for this workshop, based on their complex and multi-layered experiences of violence against women in past and present are Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil. Prior to the workshop, and with the intention to establish a mentoring scheme, the organisers will pair ECRs with mentors, who will be Colombia-based scholars with ample experience publishing in international journals, and UK and US-based scholars with journal editor roles from different high impact peer-reviewed journals, covering the areas of gender studies, human rights and conflict, and Latin American studies. Journal editors who have provisionally confirmed participation in the workshop are listed in the section `Other participants¿. Crucially, ECRs will have a rough draft of an article, which will be circulated in advance to their mentors. Workshop sessions will be co-designed with the journal editors and Colombian scholars, which intend to roughly cover the following: Day one will focus on creating synergies between participants, through the presentation and discussion of their research. This will encourage future collaboration in terms of publication and funding applications. Following an introduction from the organisers, ECRs will present their work in panel methodology to the whole group. Based on the abstracts of the articles submitted in advance, workshop organisers will organise the panels. Colombian, UK and US-based scholars will discuss the papers and offer general feedback on the pathways to successful publication in high-impact journals. In order to facilitate mentoring and networking from the start of the workshop, ECRs will meet their mentors and have lunch together. Each mentor will work with a group of between 2 to 3 ECRs. In the afternoon, journal editors will deliver the session `What does a successful journal article look like.¿ Based on their experience of publishing and participating in the editorial process of a journal, they will address topics such as targeting the right journal, guaranteeing significance, originality and rigour (connected to information about the UK¿s REF framework), strategies for co-authoring, how to plan for a successful application process, and the submission and review process. Day one will finish with a social dinner. Day two will begin with the session `The pot of gold at the rainbow¿s end: How to find funding for your research,¿ led by representatives of UK and international funding bodies, including representatives from the British Council, the Newton Caldas Fund, and the British Embassy in Bogota. This session will also inform participants of the UK¿s aid strategy for Latin America, the Global Challenges Research Fund, and what sort of research projects are of interest to policymakers, in light of the UK¿s research impact agenda. In this session, research funders will share their advice on what makes a good funding application in terms of topic, partners, outputs, etc. Workshop organisers, Colombian, UK and US scholars will also share their experiences in grant writing. After this session, Colombian scholars who have successfully published their research in international journals and who work on issues related to human rights, violence, conflict and gender will lead the session `From the Global South with love: How to successfully publish in high impact journals.¿ They will provide crucial insights into how researchers from the Global South can play a leading role in decolonising academic debates through publishing in international journals, as well as wider advice on how to build a successful academic and professional international network. The afternoon will start with parallel sessions in which mentors will meet with ECRs. In those groups, mentors will provide feedback on the draft articles. Based on this feedback and active conversation within the group, ECRs will strengthen their work for publication. These parallel sessions will finish with participants sharing with the whole group some of the key aspects discussed. In the second part of the afternoon, the workshop organisers will lead a session entitled `Together we are stronger: Towards a special issue.¿ Based on the work developed throughout the workshop, participants will define a focus for the special issue and discuss possibilities and interest with the participating journals. The timeline and process for article submission will be agreed, the logistics of which will be led by the workshop organisers in collaboration with one or two ECRs. Strategies and roles for the Latin American ECR network will be defined as well. Day two will finish with a networking dinner. Outcomes: As an immediate result of the workshop, the group will work towards a special issue of articles authored or co-authored by workshop participants. This special issue, whose proposal will be coproduced during the workshop, will be published by one of the high-impact international journals represented at the works