“The titles and programs of the Institute of Women’s Studies last two annual conferences (2011 and 2012) speaking tellingly of scholars and activists seeking to understand the complicated trajectory of law and gender justice in Palestine (and elsewhere) in a Palestine under colonial control, in an imperial globe, and in a rapidly shifting region. The 2011 conference, entitled “Re-thinking Gender and Governance in an Age of Empire,” opened with two keynotes that provided two productive and stimulating, but quite different, paradigms, one creatively deploying contemporary political theory and the other developmental and rights-based discourses. Rema Hammami, a faculty member at the Institute, gave a compelling portrait of the “politics of life and death” in Palestine and argued for its global significance. In this issue of the Review, we feature a brief intervention by Hammami, based on her presentation, that asks “Governance or Governmentality?” and compellingly argues for the latter as she reflects on the Palestinian Authority. We hope “Interventions” will be a regular feature of the Review and invite contributions.
Aruna Rao, in her 2011 keynote address on “Gender and Governance, Claiming Rights in Post-Colonial Contexts,” shares Hammami’s concern that discourses and practices of “governance” need to be unpacked (and are certainly not “gender-neutral”) and colonial legacies and post-colonial realities taken into account. Nonetheless, she takes gender and governance as a starting point to argue for an integrated approach to institutional change, providing working models from her long experience in gender and development. Rao and another keynote speaker, Kalyani Menon, brought a welcome lens on gender scholarship and activism from India and Southeast Asia to Palestine, and further exchanges and discussions are very much on the agenda. A slightly shortened version of Menon’s dissection of the Indian economic project – “Shining India” – and her examination of an accompanying rise in violence against women, throws light on the consequences of a key neoliberal project in today’s globalized economies.”