Prof. Ayelet Harel-Shalev has been awarded the Ergomas Guiseppe Caforio Book Award for 2021 for her book Breaking the Binaries in Security Studies: A Gendered Analysis of Women in Combat, which she co-authored with Prof. Shir Daphna-Tekoah.
The book focuses on the study of women combat soldiers in the fields of Security Studies and International Relations. It addresses this issue by bringing the soldiers' voices and silences to the forefront of research in these domains and by presenting the women soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces as narrators. The book offers important insights into the larger issues of the links between war and gender, body and gender, trauma and gender, and politics and gender. It also raises methodological considerations about ways of evaluating power relations in conflict situations and patriarchal structures. The award was presented virtually last week at the Ergomas (European Research Group on Military and Society) bi-annual conference in Tartu, Estonia.
On the award, the judging committee wrote: "In critical security studies and Feminist IR, only a limited number of studies investigate the role of women who engage with violence in combat. The impressive book by Harel-Shalev and Daphna-Tekoah scrutinises this topic by presenting 100 women IDF veterans as narrators of war and conflict through their personal accounts. Their distinct reports allow new general insights into the links between combat, diverse forms of (political) violence, trauma, security and gender. The relevant contribution of this book is not only empirical but also lies in the theoretical domain of Feminist IR theory and critical military studies. The research highlights the importance of integrating women's experiences as combatants and violent state actors in war as an important source of analysis when studying violence and security. Based on the empirical data, widely accepted interdisciplinary definitions regarding concepts such as combatants, victims, or beneficiaries of security are rightfully questioned. Furthermore, existing gender inequalities and hidden patriarchal norms are analysed in detail, which are often overlooked in traditional international theory. By deconstructing gender binaries and connecting changing gender roles not only to the military but also to civil society, the authors evaluate power relations in conflict situations in new ways and may therefore instigate a long-needed paradigm shift in (Critical) Security Studies and Conflict Studies."
Prof. Ayelet Harel-Shalev commented on the award, "Both Shir and I are thrilled and honored to receive this award and significant international recognition for our ongoing multidisciplinary research."
Harel-Shalev is Associate Professor in BGU's Conflict Management and Resolution Program, and the Department of Politics and Government.
Her research is at the intersection of Politics, Conflict Studies and Feminist International Relations. Particularly, her research interests and publications focus on Critical Security Studies; Ethnic Conflicts and Democracy; Minority Rights; Religion and Politics; Feminist Theories; and Women in the Military.
She won the 2017 Glatt teaching award for the 10 best professors at BGU and was the recipient of the AIS - Israel Institute Young Scholars A ward. The prize is given jointly by AIS and the Israel Institute to researchers under the age of 45 who have made a unique and significant contribution to Israel Studies.
Prof. Shir Daphna-Tekoah is a graduate of BGU's Jack and Charlotte Spitzer Department of Social Work and is the Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College.
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