The genocides of modern history-Rwanda, Armenia, Guatemala, the Holocaust, and countless others-and their effects have been well documented, but how do the experiences of female victims and perpetrators differ from those of men? In Women and Genocide, human rights advocates and scholars come together to argue that the memory of trauma is gendered and that women's voices and perspectives are key to our understanding of the dynamics that emerge in the context of genocidal violence. The contributors of this volume examine how women consistently are targets for the sexualized violence that serves as an instrument of ethnic cleansing, how female perpetrators take advantage of the new power structures, and how women are involved in the struggle for justice in post-genocidal contexts. By placing women at center stage, Women and Genocide helps us to better understand the nexus existing between misogyny and violence in societies where genocide erupts.

About the Author

Elissa Bemporad is the Jerry and William Ungar Chair in East European Jewish History and the Holocaust, and Associate Professor of History at Queens College of the City University of New York and at The CUNY Graduate Center. She is author of Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk.

Joyce W. Warren is Professor of English and Director of Women and Gender Studies at Queens College of the City University of New York. She is the author of a number of works including most recently Women, Money, and the Law: Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Gender, and the Courts and editor of Feminism and Multiculturalism: How Do They/We Work Together?

Reviews

Women and Genocide is an immense scholarly accomplishment that has the potential to fund creative advances in each of the scholarly disciplines it engages, as well as human rights, peace, and anti-violence programs of advocacy.

* Reading Religion *

This book is a must, not only for classes on gender and sexuality, war and genocide, and feminist studies, but also approachable for anyone interested in war, genocide, or gender as it explores an uncommon, yet crucial, aspect of genocide.

-- Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal * Religious Studies Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253033819
Author Elissa Bemporad
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press