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(Jean Chapman is a graduate from
McGill University, JNU, and the Department
of Peace Studies, University of Bradford,
West Yorkshire, U.K. She was awarded a
Ph.D. in 2008. Her dissertation is entitled
“A gender perspective on landmine
management: a case study from Ou Chheu Kroam,
Krong Pailin, Kampuchea”. She is a Research
Associate at the Simone de Beauvoir
Institute, Concordia University, Montreal,
and the Vice President of Paul F Wilkinson &
Associates, Inc. a Montreal-based
environmental and social science consulting
company).
Abstract
The gender-neutral narrative on
landmines in Kampuchea has a long history
spanning half a century. The geography of
landmines is now localized to the
northwestern border with Thailand in what
was the K5 mine belt planted with millions
of landmines initially by the Vietnamese
when they occupied Kampuchea, and re-laid
thereafter by all warring factions.
The existence and perceived existence of
landmines has deleterious effects on human
security and act as a barrier to development
affecting a broad range of sectors that
include agriculture, health, education,
water and electricity infrastructure,
industrial and commercial development,
domestic and foreign investment.
It will be argued here that landmines act as
a trigger for changes in gender relations.
The discourse is framed within feminist
epistemology, ethnographic material gathered
in 2005 and 2007 from a minefield in
northwestern Kampuchea, and gender-sensitive
methods that include interviews, focus
groups, a case study, overt observation, and
life stories.
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