Are we becoming desensitised to violence in developed and developing nation-states? Do we presume men to be the main actors in violent conflicts?  These and other topics will be discussed later this month when leading academics from more than ten countries come together in Bristol.

This international two-day seminar [September 25-26], hosted by Bristol University’s Department of Sociology and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), aims to bring together leading academics, academic-activists and practitioners in the field of global conflict and gender specific violence.

Delegates will debate accounts of gendered violence internationally, nationally, regionally and locally and tackle the imbalance between policy and practice.

The seminar will look at how violence, through various channels such as newspapers and television news, has become part of everyday life.  Delegates will also discuss how the ‘prismatic’ effect of violence often blurs and diffuses the identity of both the perpetrator and victim. Aggressors are not always male and ‘victims’ are not always female.

Dr Suruchi Thapar-Bjorkert, Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, said: ‘Over the two days we are particularly interested in opening up other discussions, such as how “cultures of violence” are nurtured, sustained and defended and how “private” memories can inform public attitudes towards violence.’

The countries participating in the seminar are: India, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Cyprus, Ireland, Uganda, Norway and Hungary

An Inter-Faculty Working Group on Gender and Violence was established at Bristol University in 2001.  The group aims to broaden the debate on gender violence and to draw on a wide range of disciplinary expertise.