On the necessity of critical race feminism for women, peace and security

This intervention is concerned with whiteness as central to the operation of women/gender, peace and security in academic settings. That is, G/WPS in universities is founded on white authority and expertise and consistently orients itself from the privileged viewpoint of the global north. Through two brief examples, I show how the generation of research on G/WPS consistently centres and relies on white starting points, in order to convey the ‘necessity’ of G/WPS in the university and to government funders. In doing so, the use of critical race theories and Black feminist concepts, as well as the presence of Black scholars, remains marginal.