Marie-Christine Heinze
The Social Life of Weapons in Yemen
Weapons play an important role in the history of many societies. Since their introduction into our world, they have played a decisive role in the creation of power. They are connected to important cataclysms, both positive and negative, in the history of cultures and societies and therefore very often to the success of one ideology over another. They can also be linked to important power struggles that, whether explicitly or implicitly, can last until today. Equally significant is the observation that weapons as a means to power can help in the construction of social power and social hierarchies (between the sexes as well as between social groups) by creating an alleged sense of continuity and stability and therefore (re-)establishing a certain social order. Changes in the discourse on weapons in society or within a specific social group can therefore be an indicator of social change
Following these considerations, my dissertation project aims at analyzing the disputed and dominant, symbolic and practical, collective and local patterns of interpretation of the social and political order, which manifest themselves in the small arms discourse. Accordingly, I focus on the patterns of interpretation and discourses on Yemeni small arms possession, the different positions towards and the various meanings attributed to weapons in the country. Beyond the analysis of representations, practices and discourses in regard to weapons for the specific case of Yemeni society, the dissertation project therefore also intends to contribute to the still underdeveloped field of sociological research on 'gun cultures'.
The dissertation project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka (Social Anthropology/Bielefeld) and Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann (Near and Middle Eastern Studies/Bonn).
Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
Publications and Presentations (PDF)
