ABSTRACT

Northern Ireland’s conflict transformation failed to extend the core concepts of conflict transformation, which include equality, democracy, justice and recognition on to the terrain of gender and sexuality. Older gender and sexual narratives shaped the institutional structures and semantic field of peacebuilding, which meant that peacebuilding processes and narratives failed to tackle outstanding forms of gender and sexual inequalities. In response, activists built ‘counter-publics’, narrative spaces that challenged dominant conceptions of peacebuilding. These ‘counter-publics’ have kept issues of gender and sexuality on the peacebuilding agenda and they have shaped counter-hegemonic blocs both inside and outside of the region.