Gender and cultural violence: feminist perspectives on Islamic State's heritage destruction

Abstract The mass destruction of heritage sites by Islamic State (IS) led to significant advances in the legal and normative frameworks governing global responses to heritage destruction in conflict. However, despite the scale and intensity of these efforts, the overwhelming majority of mandates and resolutions on heritage destruction are gender-blind. By applying a feminist International Relations perspective, we seek to answer the following research questions: how, and to what extent, do gender and heritage destruction intersect in conflict, and what explains the omission of gender in multilateral responses to heritage destruction? To answer these questions, we analyse the responses of key global agencies to the destruction carried out by IS and juxtapose them against results from in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with a diverse group of Syrian and Iraqi women, all of whom were directly affected by attacks on their heritage. In doing so, we demonstrate the complex ways that women experience heritage destruction in conflict, thereby highlighting the systemic failures of the international community to grasp the gendered implications of such destruction. We also demonstrate how the absence of gender in institutionalized responses to heritage destruction is indicative of the relegation of feminized identities and experiences in contemporary accounts of war.