Bodies of Antithesis

Gender power relations in conflict and militarized environments

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

Andria Charilaou Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

Verena Elisabeth Balz Spatial Planning and Strategy - Architecture and the Built Environment (supervisor 1)
L.P.J. van den Burg Urban Design - Architecture and the Built Environment (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2023 Andria Charilaou
Conflict Military Gender Inequality Militarism Gender power relations Institutionalized perspectives Visual Ethnography
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Published Date

26-06-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

The thesis aims to unveil and challenge institutionalized gender hierarchical relations between the military and women in conflict environments. It critically examines the military as an institution inherently intertwined with conflict in periods of war and during periods of conflict. The thesis argues that the military plays a significant role in shaping and maintaining gender power structures, through institutional perceptions and spatial practices. It explores the relationship between the military and women and how institutionalized gender perceptions contribute to the widening gap between them, using Cyprus as a case study. Through the use of visual ethnography as a primary methodology, the thesis seeks to shed light and challenge the oppressive prescript narratives and power dynamics imposed on women by the military.
Using Nicosia and Pyla as a case study, conflict environments where inhabitants have normalized the experiences of living with the constant presence of the military, the thesis spatializes its theoretical framework. It utilizes tools and insights gained from theoretical and artistic analyses, to make visible and challenge the gender institutional perceptions, fixed gender roles, and spatialities that feed gender hierarchical structures. The ultimate goal is to expose this issue in various existing and ongoing conflict environments.