Children born of wartime sexual violence and the limits of existence

Bibliographic Data

ID13046699
AuthorsDonna Seto (corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume3
Issue2
Pages171-185
Publication date2015-05-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePeacebuilding (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2164-7259 • E-ISSN: 2164-7267
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21647259.2015.1052631
OpenAlexW1480899947
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Children born of wartime sexual violence are rarely included in post-conflict processes of recovery. Conceived of violence, these children are often marginalised and rejected by their mothers, community and nation. As a consequence, children born of wartime sexual violence are often subjected to infanticide, abandonment and social stigmatisation because they embody the identity of a ‘child of the enemy’ and a reminder to the nation of their suffering. By positioning children born of wartime sexual violence as a point of enquiry, this paper argues that a child born of wartime sexual violence is constructed as a symbol of collective victimhood and a spectacle to discipline a nation damaged by conflict. To reflect this argument, this paper will use Giorgio Agamben's and Judith Butler's work to explore how the recovering nation positions the child as a symbolic tool to construct a stable national identity while reclaiming sovereign power over a population. In doing so, this paper further questions how children born of war rape are able to engage in emancipatory practices within marginalised spaces

Abandonment (legal · Argument (complex analysis · Criminology · Identity (music · Political science · Population · Power (physics · Sexual violence · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Demography · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Medicine · Psychology

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