Identity, Gender, and Power in Conflict

Abstract: This symposium examines how regional, local, and gendered identities shape political action, negotiation, and meaning-making in contexts of conflict, with a focus on the Israeli–Palestinian case. Bringing together six studies, the symposium explores how identity, power, and affect operate as strategic resources in moments of crisis, escalation, and attempted transformation. Across diverse sites-including radical settler activism, elite political negotiations, media representations of women captives, maternal activism around hostage negotiations, women’s peace movements, and ideological–strategic dynamics—the papers examine how actors mobilize identities to advance political goals, contest legitimacy, and influence negotiation processes. Using ethnographic research, qualitative interviews, document analysis, visual analysis, and historical and political analysis, the studies illuminate how identities are performed, framed, and leveraged in both formal and informal arenas of conflict. Taken together, the contributions highlight the central role of affect, morality, and symbolic power in conflict and negotiation. They show how prefigurative performances challenge state authority, how secrecy and transparency shape negotiation outcomes, how gendered representations function as communicative and political tools during wartime, and how maternal identities are mobilized to reframe conflict priorities and moral obligations. By integrating perspectives from different disciplines and approaches, the symposium advances understanding of identity-based strategies in conflict and negotiation and offers insights into the dynamics of power, legitimacy, and transformation in protracted conflicts.

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