Crown Center for Middle East Studies

Peace, Justice, and Knowledge-Production in Yemen

A Crown Seminar with Stacey Philbrick Yadav in conversation with Yasmeen al-Eryani

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Missed the seminar? The recording is available with closed captioning.

What does it mean to engage in peacebuilding in the context of protracted conflict like the war in Yemen and why does it matter? Drawing on lessons from her new book, Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War, Stacey Philbrick Yadav, in conversation with Yasmeen al-Eryani, will explain why civil actors hearken back to Yemen's failed post-2011 transitional process, and what it means (and does not mean) when they do so. Unlike conflict analysis that focuses on the priorities and practices of the conflict's core antagonists, Philbrick Yadav's work emphasizes the efforts of civil actors engaged in peacebuilding, arguing that their projects constitute practical forms of "justice work" that seek to build the kind of equitable futures such actors imagine. The conversation will also explore peacebuilding research itself as a means through which civil actors narrate the conflict and seek to shape outcomes through non-violent means.

Stacey Philbrick Yadav is a nonresident fellow at the Crown Center. She is an associate professor of international relations at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Since 2019, she has been working with Yemeni colleagues on internationally sponsored projects for everyday peacebuilding in Yemen.

Yasmeen al-Eryani
, moderator, is the director of research at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen. She is a PhD candidate in social anthropology at Tampere University, Finland.

Naghmeh Sohrabi
, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.