Beyond instrumentalisation: gender and agency in the prevention of extreme violence in Kenya

Gender; agency; violent extremism; counterterrorism, Kenya, CHRIPS.

the article will first analyse the gendered and racialised constructions of agency that underwrite the calls for women’s empowerment, arguing that such constructions are also present in the critiques of instrumentalisation. The following section explores how feminist peace activists and WPS actors articulate the necessity of engaging with P/CVE, arguing that such engagement is not reducible to instrumentalisation or empowerment, but rather is better defined as strategic negotiation enacted to harness the funding and power available within the P/CVE space. The final section analyzes the role of mothers and mothering.