TY - JOUR
T1 - Intersectionality and rehabilitation
T2 - how gendered, racial and religious assumptions structure the rehabilitation and reintegration of women returnees
AU - Stenger, Helen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Women associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are returning to their home countries from camps in northern Syria and require prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration. Yet, as feminist security and terrorism scholars have demonstrated, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes are mostly focused on men and neglect women’s experiences. The absence of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes designed for women is influenced by gender stereotypes around women’s peacefulness and their lack of agency. Alongside gender, further intersecting Islamophobic dynamics also shape these practices through, for instance, racial profiling or the trope of associating Islam with “terrorism”. This paper, thus, explores to what extent rehabilitation and reintegration programmes are influenced by underlying assumptions. I build upon feminist security and terrorism scholarship and draw from interviews with practitioners and policy- makers who have worked with ISIS women returnees across juris- dictions and countries. I argue that intersecting gendered, racial and religious assumptions influence the rehabilitation and reintegration practices of women returnees. This analysis is illustrated with three themes: 1) vocational training in rehabilitation programmes, 2) the freedom in the expression of religion and 3) the stigmatisation of returnees.
AB - Women associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are returning to their home countries from camps in northern Syria and require prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration. Yet, as feminist security and terrorism scholars have demonstrated, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes are mostly focused on men and neglect women’s experiences. The absence of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes designed for women is influenced by gender stereotypes around women’s peacefulness and their lack of agency. Alongside gender, further intersecting Islamophobic dynamics also shape these practices through, for instance, racial profiling or the trope of associating Islam with “terrorism”. This paper, thus, explores to what extent rehabilitation and reintegration programmes are influenced by underlying assumptions. I build upon feminist security and terrorism scholarship and draw from interviews with practitioners and policy- makers who have worked with ISIS women returnees across juris- dictions and countries. I argue that intersecting gendered, racial and religious assumptions influence the rehabilitation and reintegration practices of women returnees. This analysis is illustrated with three themes: 1) vocational training in rehabilitation programmes, 2) the freedom in the expression of religion and 3) the stigmatisation of returnees.
KW - intersectionality
KW - ISIS
KW - Rehabilitation and reintegration
KW - women returnees
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185913770&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17539153.2024.2319718
DO - 10.1080/17539153.2024.2319718
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85185913770
SN - 1753-9153
VL - 17
SP - 248
EP - 274
JO - Critical Studies on Terrorism
JF - Critical Studies on Terrorism
IS - 2
ER -