Leading scholar discusses Gandhi, Fanon, and the Language of War
Dr. Kimberly Hutchings delivers 2015 Elaine Stavro Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Theory, Politics & Gender lecture
Concepts of gender matter for radical politics. That was the message conveyed by Dr. Kimberly Hutchings, a leading scholar in international relations theory, as she delivered the fifth annual Elaine Stavro Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Theory, Politics & Gender lecture, on November 24, 2015.
An assembly of students, faculty, and community members packed Traill College's Bagnani Hall to hear the presentation by Dr. Hutchings, who is a professor of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. The lecture was followed by an extended period of thoughtful and probing questions from the audience.
Entitled Gendered Rhetorics in the Justification of Violence and Non-Violence: Gandhi and Fanon,
Dr. Hutchings' paper compared the writings of Mahatma Gandhi and Frantz Fanon and suggested that, while Gandhi represents non-violent resistance and Fanon represents violent resistance, both relied on a traditional European concept of binary gender that undermined their radical political goals.
"It seems unlikely that one could radically shift assumptions about, for instance, the importance of warrior virtues, without a much more fundamental transformation about thinking about gender then we find in either Gandhi or Fanon," she argued. "The kinds of discourses that reinforced their understanding of themselves and what independence meant often reproduced precisely the qualities of nation states that people like Gandhi and Fanon had wanted to get away from and I suggest that gender is part of that story."
Dr. Hutchings said the topic is relevant today "because the world is still governed by notions of national identity and militarism that are essentially centered around a particular concept of gender."
"Breaking the discussion of war down to the finer aspects of gender, and how gender was used to mobilize towards resistance and towards political change is a really interesting concept," observed Elizabeth Boulet, a fourth year Gender Studies student who attended the lecture to broaden her classroom education. "A lot of people I interact with are around my age and we all think similarly, but at these lectures there's a wide variance in the population, so you get a broader experience from people who are attending and you learn about topics that you don't talk about in class," Ms. Boulet said.
Annette Pedlar, a third-year Political Science and Indigenous Studies student, agreed, adding "I like to attend these events to hear what Trent's faculty asks and what they are interested in. It's a chance to socialize and speak with profs who might not otherwise be accessible."
Alluding to the interdisciplinarity of the event, Ms. Pedlar said: "I came because I think the intersection between different disciplines like political science and gender isn't studied enough."
The Elaine Stavro Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Theory, Politics & Gender Studies was created to foster and facilitate discussion between the humanities and the social sciences. Since 2011, students, faculty, and members of the Peterborough community have been stimulated by eminent scholars engaged in theory, politics and gender studies.