Thinking Gender is a public conference highlighting graduate student research on women, sexuality and gender across all disciplines and historical periods. This year’s theme is “Spatial Awareness, Representation, and Gendered Spaces.”

Keynote speaker is Aili Mari Tripp. Her address is titled “Unexpected Consequences: Women and Power in Postconflict Africa” and is based on her recently published book, which looks at a gender-related consequences of the decline of major conflict in 17 countries in Africa over the past 20 years. It explains why postconflict countries in Africa have significantly higher rates of women’s political representation compared with countries that have not undergone major conflict. It also looks at why these countries tend to have been more open to passing legislation and making constitutional changes relating to women’s rights. It shows how and why the postconflict countries have adopted a distinct trajectory compared with non-postconflict countries, recognizing that from the point of view of activists, this trajectory is still too slow and fraught. The talk is based on comparative research across Africa as well as fieldwork in Uganda, Liberia, and Angola.

Aili Mari Tripp is a professor of Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She is currently a visiting Fulbright scholar at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Women’s Empowerment at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco.  She is conducting research on women and legal reform in North Africa. Her past research has focused on women and politics in Africa, women’s movements in Africa, transnational feminism, African politics (with particular reference to Uganda and Tanzania), and on the informal economy in Africa. 

REGISTER TODAY!

General Registration (FREE) includes access to the keynote speech, paper and film panels, and poster session: https://uclacsw.submittable.com/submit/54090