Dr Megan MacKenzie

BACKGROUND

MacKenzie’s research bridges feminist international relations, critical security studies and development studies. Her book, Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone: Sex, Security, and Post-Conflict Development examines women’s participation in the 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone and the challenges and insecurities they faced during the post-conflict reintegration process. MacKenzie is also working on a collaborative project focused on the impacts of transitional justice mechanisms. In particular, the project looks at the long-term effects of the truth and reconciliation commission in Sierra Leone and the extent to which it achieved its lofty objectives.

Before joining the department, MacKenzie was a lecturer of International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. In 2009 she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Belfer Center for International Security and the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

RESEARCH

Research Interests

• Feminist international relations
• International Security
• Critical/Post International Development
• Post-conflict reconstruction
• Transitional Justice

TEACHING

Current Courses

• GOVT2336 - Gender and Human Rights
• GOVT6210 - Special Topics in International Studies
• GOVT6304 - Development and World Politics

PUBLICATIONS

Books Authored and Edited

MacKenzie, M 2012, Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone: Sex, Security, and Post-Conflict Development, New York University Press, New York.

Refereed Journal Articles

MacKenzie, M 2012, "Let Women Fight", Foreign Affairs, vol. 91, no. 6, pp. 32-42.

Bevan, M & MacKenzie, M, 2012, "'Cowboy' Policing versus 'the Softer Stuff'", International Feminist Journal of Politics (Special Issue: Rethinking Masculinity and Practices of Violence in Conflict Settings), vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 508-528.

Ben Josef-Hirsch, M, Sesay, M & MacKenzie, M “Measuring the Impacts of truth and reconciliation commissions: Placing the global ‘success’ of TRCs in local perspective.” Cooperation and Conflict 12:47 p386-403.

MacKenzie, M & Sesay, M 2012, "No Amnesty from/for the International: the Production and Promotion of TRCs as an International Norm in Sierra Leone", International Studies Perspectives, May 2012.

MacKenzie, M 2011, "Their Personal is Political, Not Mine: Feminism and Emotion", International Studies Review, July 2011.

MacKenzie, M 2010, "De-Securitizing Sex: War Rape and the Radicalization of Development in Sierra Leone", International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 12, no. 2.

MacKenzie, M 2010, "Women, Gender and Contemporary Armed Conflict", The International Studies Compendium Project, Summer 2010.

MacKenzie, M 2009, "Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone", Security Studies, vol. 18, no. 2.

MacKenzie, M 2009, "Empowerment Boom or Bust? Assessing Women's Post-Conflict Empowerment Initiatives", Cambridge Review of International Affairs, vol. 22, no 2.

Book Chapters

MacKenzie, M 2010, "Security as the Exceptions: What Women Warriors Experience", in C Sylvester (ed.), Experiencing War, Routledge.

MacKenzie, M 2009, "Securitization and De-Securitization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone", in L Sjoberg (ed.), Gender and International Security, Critical Security Series, Routledge.

Baldi, G & Megan, M 2007, "Silent Identities: Children Born of War in Sierra Leone", in RC Carpenter (ed.), Born of War: Protecting Children Born to Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones, Kumarian Press, San Francisco.

Selected Conference Papers

MacKenzie, M & Parashar, S 2011, "Making Feminist Sense of Political Violence", paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference Montreal, 2011

MacKenzie, M, Hirsch, M & Sesay, M 2010, “Measuring Truth and Reconciliation? Lessons from Sierra Leone", paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference New Orleans, 2010

MacKenzie, M 2009, "Violent Women, War Porn and International Politics: Making the Links", paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference New York, 2009

MacKenzie, M 2008, "Madonnas, Yoobas, Warriors, or Ideal Victims?: The Dismissal of Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone", "The Tyranny of Empowerment: Post-Conflict and the Reconstruction of the Neoliberal Subject", papers presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference San Francisco, 2008

MacKenzie, M 2008, "The Regulation of the Family in Development Discourses", paper presented at Canadian Association of African Studies Conference Edmonton, Canada May 2008

MacKenzie, M 2007, "Gendering Security Studies or Securing Gender Studies", paper presented at International Studies Association Workshop funded by the Security Studies Journal, Chicago, 2007.

MacKenzie, M 2007, "From Soldiers to Citizens or Soldiers to Seamstresses: the Reintegration of Female Soldiers in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone", paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference Chicago, USA 2007.

MacKenzie, M 2006, "More Than Just Saying the Right Words: Gender Policies in Post-Conflict Societies", "The Space Between: Theorizing Gender and International Relations/International Political Economy", paper presented at Conference of the British International Studies Association Bristol, UK, June 2006.

MacKenzie, M 2006, "Afterthoughts: Gender in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone", paper presented at Canadian Association of African Studies Annual Conference, Montreal, 25 April 2006.

MacKenzie, M 2006, "Who are you Calling a Victim?: the Portrayal of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone", paper presented at Middle East and African Studies Inaugural Conference, University of Alberta, March 2006

MacKenzie, M 2006, "Forgotten Warriors: the Reintegration of Girl Soldiers in Sierra Leone", paper presented at The International Studies Association Annual Conference, San Diego, 2006.

Other

MacKenzie, M 2009, "The international politics of rape, sex and the family in Sierra Leone. Individual manuscript", Institute for Security Studies, South Africa, September 2009.

MacKenzie, M 2003, "Human Security: The Key to Unifying the Fragmented Literature on Children and War", War and Children Identity Project Annual Report. Norway: War and Children Identity Project, April 2003 pp. 51-66.

COMMENTARY

Opinion Pieces

MacKenzie, M 2006, "The 'War Babies' of Sierra Leone", Edmonton Journal 30 August 2006. pA:3