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Ann Towns

@anntowns.bsky.social
1.4K followers 366 following 1 posts

I am Professor of pol sci and Director of the GenDip Program on the gender of diplomacy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. My research pivots around diplomacy, gender, global hierarchies and global historical IR.

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Reposted by Ann Towns
Global Society @globalsociety.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Our final monthly pick for December is the #OpenAccess article, "WAW, No Women? Foucault’s Reverse Discourse and Gendered Subjects in Diplomatic Networks" by @anntowns.bsky.social (@ University of Gothenburg). Be sure to give it a read! #Diplomacy #Gender #Women www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
This study has two aims. Empirically, it examines women ambassador networks, hitherto overlooked in diplomacy scholarship. Such women-only networks are fascinating, as they cut across state-based alignments that typically shape diplomatic networks. Using Women Ambassadors of Warsaw (WAW) as a case, the analysis is based on interviews with its members in 2020. Theoretically, the aim is to draw on Michel Foucault’s notion of “reverse discourse” to build upon but trouble prior attempts to theorise the place of women and femininities in diplomacy. Rather than coherent scripts or stable roles, I argue, “women” are better conceived as a discursive subject position that is unstable, contradictory and reversing. Indeed, the members of WAW articulate surprisingly shifting and contradictory claims about women and the rationales of a women-only diplomatic network. Reverse discourse provides leverage for understanding these shifts, the article contends, but the analysis also shows the difficulties in reversing fragmented discourse.
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Reposted by Ann Towns
𝙅𝙖𝙘🍩𝙗 𝙉𝙮𝙧𝙪𝙥 @jacobnyrup.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
University of Oslo is hiring 2-4(!) Associate Professors in Political Science. The call is open to candidates from all subfields. Deadline is February 3rd. It comes with amazing colleagues, great work conditions, and lots of snow. Brown cheese, salmon, and cross-country skis can be supplementary.
jobbnorge.no
2-4 Associate Professors in Political Science (271034) | University of Oslo
Job title: 2-4 Associate Professors in Political Science (271034), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, February 3, 2025
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