Spaces for Peace: Women’s Agency in Mitrovica, Kosovo

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores and develops the notion of spaces for peace in the context of women’s cooperation in post-conflict Mitrovica. It argues that understanding women’s cooperative activities as spaces for peace highlights women’s voices and agency in the constrained context of Mitrovica—a divided city where, since the end of the Kosovo conflict, ethnic/national boundaries and patriarchy have had a profound effect on everyday life. The chapter focuses on three particular actions—learning/training together, working together and travelling together—which are viewed as women’s responses to Mitrovica’s constrained context, and explores how these actions contribute to peace and peacebuilding in the city. It concludes by suggesting that viewing women’s cooperative activities as spaces for peace can be the first step to transforming the ways in which women’s empowerment initiatives are viewed, conceptualised and delivered in post-conflict contexts around the world.