Redefinition of gender roles as a result of armed conflict and forced displacement: Sinjari Yazidis after the genocide of 2014

Abstract

The paper focuses on changing gender roles and gender relations as a consequence of armed conflict, forced displacement, and genocide. It is a case study of Iraqi Yazidis that have been attacked by the so called Islamic State in summer 2014. The paper is based on a field research conducted on the territory of northern Iraq in Spring 2016. It uncovers challenges to the traditional gender roles while tracing the dialectics between a crisis of traditional Yazidi masculinity and an emancipation of Yazidi women. The study offers theoretical interpretation of particular social mechanisms of redefining gender relations. It builds on a theory of cumulative causality and especially on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of male domination and different forms of capital in this respect.