Emily Clifford
Postgraduate Researcher
Politics
About me:
I am a PhD candidate at the Strategy and Security Institute, currently undertaking an ESRC funded studentship with the South West Doctoral Training Partnership.
Feminist theory has been central to my academic career so far. My undergraduate dissertation was entitled ‘“Open for Business” – at what cost? Maternal Healthcare and Development Practices in Somaliland’, connecting feminism, neoliberalism, human development, and women-centred care to propose that neoliberal development sacrifices Somaliland’s social equity, protections, and caregiving to free-market logic.
I am currently exploring feminist critical military studies, negotiating the connections between militarisation, masculinisation and gender-based violence in conflict zones, with particular focus on the Sahel. I aim to use this base to critically assess French counterterror policies in the region.
I am a south-coaster through and through, first coming to Exeter from Bournemouth in 2014 when I began a four-year BA in International Relations. A year studying abroad at Sciences Po in Paris in 2016-2017 motivated me to begin learning French, sharpened my interest in 'françafrique', and gave me a mild pain au chocolat addiction.
Post PhD, I hope to continue working in the field of sexual violence in conflict, promoting gender-sensitive approaches to peace, conflict and security through academia and advocacy.
Research Project:
The working title of my research is: Killing, Caring, and Counterinsurgency: French Legacy in the Sahel from a Feminist Perspective. I aim to use a feminist lens to critically analyse the gendered formation and legacy of French counterterror operations in the Sahel region of West Africa, assessing French military masculinities and their impact on the nature and composition of the G5 Sahel Force.
Patriarchy, heterosexism, masculinity, and violence outline a system of power relations inherent in military operations, allowing military masculinities to form between ideals of ‘soldiering’ and ‘manliness’. In recent years, military masculinities have evolved to the aims of counterinsurgency, counterterror, stabilisation, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, yet, the ‘reluctant’ French peacekeeper has resisted evolution. France’s Sahelian counterterror Operation Barkhane, grown out of 2013’s Operation Serval in Mali, aims to roll-back Islamist insurgencies and make way for regional stabilisation and political settlement.
Despite boasting tactical success, arguably the character of French missions in Africa has reinforced the very insecurity it professes to fight. Locating French intervention at the intersections of gender, militarism, and post-colonial practices, I aim to reassess the former imperial ruler’s ties to Africa and deconstruct the wider French project of militarised post-colonial influence.
Research Supervisory team:
Dr Sergio Catignani (University of Exeter)
Professor Paul Higate (University of Bath)
Research Wider Research Interests:
Feminism, critical military studies, human rights, human security, masculinities, counterinsurgency, security studies, international development
Education:
January 2018 January 9999
University of Exeter
MRes Security, Conflict and Human Rights
January 2018 January 9999
University of Exeter
South West Doctoral Training Partnership ESRC 1+3 Studentship Award in Security, Conflict and Human Rights
January 2016 January 2017
Sciences Po, Paris
Certificate of Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities
January 2014 January 2018
University of Exeter
BA International Relations (with Study Abroad) 1st class
Dean’s Commendations for Exceptional Performance
