Event Date: April 2, 2014 - 11:30 am

HENRI MYRTTINEN, International Alert.

Presented by CIPS and the Fragile States Research Network.

Free. In English. Registration is not required. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

If the fears of violence and instability of the Global North (and of southern elites) were to be given a face, it would most probably be a young, hard, dark-skinned face of a lower-class male, most probably sporting shades, possibly some western sports gear or some local attire, or a mix of both. Whether its young islamists, members of urban gangs, angry anti-government demonstrators, juvenile or child soldiers, or the feared flood of unwanted migrants, the demographic that comes to mind is the same, regardless of the socio-cultural or political context. Henri Myrttinen will focus on some of the gendered dynamics of power and identity, especially the interplay of their local and global articulations, and unpack some of the stated and unstated assumptions which are projected onto these groups and their individual members. The focus will be mostly on members of ex-combatants and urban gangs – or those perceived to be such – drawing on Myrttinen’s field research in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Henri Myrttinen is a senior research officer on gender in peacebuilding at International Alert, London. He has been working and publishing on issues of gender, peace and security with a special focus on masculinities and violence for the past decade and holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His thesis examined masculinities and violence in the context of East Timorese militias, gangs and martial arts groups.