Law and History Review: Archives of Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones

We are delighted to announce that VOICES’s PI, Professor Jane Ohlmeyer’s article, Archives of Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, co-authored with Rosemary Byrne and Stephanie McCurry has been published in Law and History Review, along with her contribution on ‘Women and Sexual Violence in the “1641 Depositions”‘.

You can view the articles here: 

https://resolve.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-history-review/article/women-and-sexual-violence-in-the-1641-depositions/3C095F74E34E9C28A96A93DA255A1D47

and

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-history-review/article/archives-of-sexual-violence-in-conflict-zones/146D57E4E12F6CB3D9146743C762BE75

 Professor Ohlmeyer said, this is of particular significance as the articles illuminate the persistent problem of evidence in cases of sexual violence in conflict zones by investigating the relationship between archival practices and processes of legal redress. This special issue consists of six essays, with contributors drawn from the disciplines of history and law. In temporal terms, the cases range from the seventeenth century to the late twentieth century; spatially, they address conflicts in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. The case studies each offer an overview of “their archive”, explain its creation and limitations, and address its political logic and uses.  As we interrogate archives, where evidence of sexual violence is located, it is critical that we note three things. First, to understand the nature and political construction of the archive.  Second, to use this insight to interpret and assess the nexus of power relations within which historical and contemporary actors operate. Finally, to remember the inescapable limits of the evidence which shape the pursuit of justice, past or present.

And it is especially timely for the VOICES project since Professor Ohlmeyer’s case study focuses on the lived experiences of women and the “1641 Depositions“, an extraordinary archive, now housed in Trinity College Dublin and published online.  It explores how sexual violence was reported in the depositions and then politicised.  Though testimony that related sexual violence was rarely used in the court room, Protestant propagandists–from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries–manipulated these accounts to instil fear and justify retribution.