VCU news

By Joan Tupponce

More than 50 members of the international community working to prevent extremism listened intently in May as Jessica Trisko Darden talked about counterterrorism and women’s participation in political violence.

Trisko Darden, Ph.D., an assistant professor of political science in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University, traveled to Doha, Qatar, to help lead a weeklong training program at the inaugural Behavioral Insights Academy of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism. The academy, held in partnership with Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, offered classes that included representatives from civil society, government institutions and U.N. entities.

“It was a really good experience,” Trisko Darden said of her workshops. “It’s exciting for me to take my academic research on terrorism and successfully offer it to people from many different countries.”

Extremism can be a common challenge in countries, but different cultures can influence the forms that extremism takes. “Even if they are not the same culturally, I think it makes people see there is progress on these issues,” Trisko Darden said, adding her sessions were attended by citizens of countries she was highlighting. “It was great to have them share their experiences with me.”

The participants in her workshops run programs that try to stop people from joining violent extremist groups.

“My goal was to get them to think about how ideas regarding masculinity and femininity could be used to draw people into violence in their country and what they could do to avoid that,” said Trisko Darden, who has co-authored two books on women’s involvement in political violence: “Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars” and “Women as War Criminals: Gender, Agency, and Justice.”

“I believe a woman can have the capacity for harm and a man can have the capacity for good,” Trisko Darden said. “I believe that neither women nor men are inherently violent, but rather that ideas and experiences can draw people into violence. What that violence looks like is often different for men and women.”

Trisko Darden’s interest in women and violence piqued when she was young and heard Reba McEntire’s version of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” a song with a female protagonist about betrayal, revenge and murder.

“That was a powerful woman telling a story to the world that she let the man go down for a crime she intentionally committed,” Trisko Darden said. “In that song she is not a victim like other country songs we hear. She was avenging her brother for his wife cheating.”

One tool to prevent violent extremism is to expose people to different stories than they normally hear, she said.

“For example, a television program like ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ showing people from different ethnic groups getting along, can break down stereotypical views that lead to violence,” Trisko Darden said. “You want to expose people to ideas that break down barriers with the hope that it will reduce violence down the road.”

In her workshops, Trisko Darden didn’t point out anything “that people don’t already know,” she said. “I’m just making them notice what is going on in the world around them. You have to look, open your eyes and see it.”