Research
Current and Recent Research
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Human Development, Economic Empowerment, and Discourses of Women's Security
book manuscript in progress
This project dissects the UN Security Council's Women, Peace, and Security agenda's implementation in three francophone West African countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Mali. I demonstrate that the agenda's implementation is shaped by a number of factors, in particular a tension between "security," "peacebuilding," and "development" projects for women, not only in rhetoric but also in the programs designed to implement the agenda. Further tensions arise in the conflicting priorities of local women's organizations, national governments, and the international and transnational policy communities. The effects of these tensions are revealed through interviews with local NGO, government, and United Nations representatives as well as participant observation over nearly two years in West Africa. With insights from African feminism, my findings call into question the assumptions about women's roles in international security policies and the interrelation of actors in policy implementation.
Gender and Conflict
textbook proposal in progress
A textbook for upper-level undergraduate class on Gender and Conflict. Full description to come.
Women, Peace, and Security
Reiling, Carrie. 2024. "How West African Women 'Save' the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda." In Who Gives to Whom? Reframing Africa in the Humanitarian Imarginary, Cilas Kemedjio and Cecelia Lynch, eds. Palgrave Macmillan Press. 10.1007/978-3-031-46553-6_7
Reiling, Carrie. 2017. "Pragmatic Scepticism in Implementing the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda." Global Affairs 3(4–5): 469–481. 10.1080/23340460.2017.1440803
Reiling, Carrie. Revise and resubmit. "Does Gender Inclusion Equal Security Sector Reform? Implementing UNSCR 1325 in Côte dʼIvoire"
Feminist and Interpretive Methodologies
Schwarz, Tanya, and Carrie Reiling. "Preparing an Interpretive Research Design." In Doing Good Qualitative Research, Jen Cyr and Sara Goodman, eds., forthcoming, Oxford University Press.
Reiling, Carrie. 2020. "The Planning and Practice of Feminist Fieldwork Methodologies in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts." In SAGE Research Methods Cases. SAGE Publications Ltd. 10.4135/9781529722727
Genealogies of Women's Environmental Activism
I am developing a genealogy of women’s environmental activism, using two West African countries, Guinea and Senegal, to understand how and when women’s activism on environmental issues is successful and when it is instrumentalized. In other words, when is an international focus on the environment not a response to the environmental problems themselves but is instead used as a tool to achieve other goals? This project develops a theory of how the environment, like women’s issues, is simultaneously important and yet not central to the production and practices of international relations.
Commentary
My Generation – WCTR Radio, 3 October 2021
How West African women reclaim international discourses – The Gender and War Project, 17 January 2019
On Geographies, Borders, and Seams of Expertise – Progress in Political Economy, 30 October 2017
Track Changes: Countering a Limited Perspective on Mental Illness – The Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa Blog, 4 April 2016
6 things you need to know about Côte d'Ivoire in the wake of Sunday's attack – with Justine Davis, Monkey Cage blog, The Washington Post, 15 March 2016
Local Reclamation of Transnational Activism: Bettering Advocacy in Conflict – The Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa Blog, 16 December 2015
Track Changes: Reports of Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers Meets "Romantic Rights" – with Jolene McCall, The Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa Blog, 12 August 2015
The Cure-all of Online Organizing – The Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa Blog, 23 March 2015
Jubilee 2000: Churches on the Frontlines – Foreign Service Journal, January 2001