Why matter matters: Conflict-related sexual violence and the relevance of new materialism

New materialism encompasses a heterogeneous range of perspectives – which share some common themes with Indigenous beliefs and cosmologies – that collectively recognise the vibrancy and affective capabilities of matter. This novel interdisciplinary article makes an important conceptual and empirical contribution to addressing the fact that, to date, scholarship on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has largely overlooked new materialism. It is not seeking to convince readers that a new materialist framework is superior to or better than other frameworks applied in CRSV research. The objective, rather, is to demonstrate that new materialism can further enrich how we approach and study CRSV. It argues, for example, that new materialism challenges us to think in expanded and more creative ways about two concepts that are widely emphasised in extant scholarship on CRSV – structure and agency. It also draws on interviews with victims-/survivors of CRSV in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to practically illustrate the relevance of new materialism and to suggest some potential avenues for future research. The article makes clear that adding a new materialist lens to the study of CRSV is not in any way about diminishing the importance of victims-/survivors, their experiences and narratives. It is about situating them within wider relational and affective assemblages, asking new questions and acknowledging the significance of non-human agencies.