Presenting at the ECPR conference in Prag was an important step for Kirsty Campbell, as it enabled her to discuss her research from the perspective of political science. Thus far, she has largely been able to share her work in the context of conferences with a specific focus on feminist or historical approaches. She took this opportunity to present part of her theoretical claims and first empirical analyses, arguing that women must be more actively included in our understanding of the category of “settler” and thus also as involved in so-called “settler violence.” As her presentation was within the section “Statehood, Sovereignty and Conflict: Past, Present and Future,” the questions posed by fellow political scientists opened up enriching avenues of further reflection on the nature of women settlers and state powers within colonial settings and the implications of this for her PhD work.

Kirsty Campbell is Research associate at the Institute for Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Affairs.

In her PhD, supervised by Professor Dr. Timothy Williams, who holds the Junior Professorship of Insecurity and Social Order, Ms. Campbell is analysing the role of German women in colonial violence in the context of German South-West Africa.