Biography

Hello, my name is Luna K C; I’m an Assistant Professor in Global International Studies at the Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities. Prior to my current role, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security, the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies at McGill University, Montreal. I earned my Ph.D. (2019) and master’s degree (2011), both in International Development Studies (with a focus on conflict, security, disaster, and public policy), from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. My work is interdisciplinary and transnational and sits at the nexus of gender, armed conflict, women, peace and security (WPS), disaster, and policy studies. I’m interested in understanding how gender and intersectional factors matter in conflict, peace, security, and disaster and are shaped and reshaped by changing gender norms, gender roles, and systematic (in)equalities and how this influences policy and practice. I
have area specialties in South Asia.

Further, I have also worked for 6+ years in various development and women’s organizations, including Plan International, Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women-Ottawa, Women Transforming Cities-Vancouver, and in various Asian Development Bank’s projects on issues such as gender and conflict, gender-based analysis+, intersectionality, poverty and inequality, COVID-19, gender-based violence, involuntary resettlement, disasters, and livelihoods security. I bring both academic and practical experience to my research and teaching. I love reading, hiking, and cooking my favourite dishes when not working.

Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone. (2022). “Rethinking women, peace, and security through the localization of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 & National Action Plans: A study of Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Women's Studies International Forum (Vol. 92, p. 102575). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102575

Crystal Whetstone and Luna K.C. (2023) “Disrupting the Saviour Politics in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Global South: Grassroots Women Creating Gender Norms in Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/23477970231152027

Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone. (2022). “Women, Peace and Security and Increasing Gendered Risk in the Era of COVID-19: Insights from Nepal and Sri Lanka”. Global Studies Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksac036

Luna K C and Dorothea Hilhorst. (2022). "Gendered experience of disaster: Women's account of evacuation, relief and recovery in Nepal." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 72: 102840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102840

Luna K C. (2019). “Everyday Realities of Reintegration: Experiences of Maoist ‘Verified’ Women Ex-Combatants in the Aftermath of War in Nepal.” Conflict, Security & Development. 19 (5): 453-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2019.1658969

Luna K C and Gemma Van Der Haar. (2018). “Living Gender Ideology: Experiences of Women Ex-Combatants in Nepal.” International Feminist Journal of Politics: 1–36). https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1521296

Luna K C, Gemma Van Der Haar, and Dorothea Hilhorst. (2017). “Changing Gender Role: Women’s Livelihoods, Conflict and Post-Conflict Security in Nepal.” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 4 (2): 175–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347797017710743

Book chapter

Luna K C. (2018). “Securing Livelihoods Experiences of the Mother Ex-Combatants in Post Conflict Nepal.” In Gender and History, editor Rekha Pandey, 197–219. Rawat Publications.

Public scholarship

Luna K.C. (2022). Armed conflict, reintegration, and gender roles. Civil War Paths, University of Sheffield.

Luna K C (2022). No women, peace and security without addressing Gendered Risk Eroded COVID-19: Perspective from Canada.

Podcast (February 9, 2022): Feminist lens on Alt-right Ideology, Canadian Women’s Foundation.

Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone (2022). War, Peace and Security: The Pandemic’s Impact on women and girls in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The Conversation.

Luna K C and Priscyll A. Avoine (2021). Anniversary of peace deals in Nepal and Colombia: Views on female ex-soldiers need to be challenged. The Conversation.

Anwar Mhajne, Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone (2021). A call for feminist analysis in cybersecurity: highlighting the relevance of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.

Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone (2021). Making the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda ‘Local’? McGill University.

Luna K C (2021). Violence Against Women in Canada & COVID-19 Pandemic. CRIAW.

Luna K C (2021). Women, COVID-19, and Care Economy. CRIAW.

Luna K C, Jackie Neapole and Miriam Edelson ( 2021) The Rise of the Alt-Right in Canada: A feminist analysis (2021). CRIAW.

Luna K C (2021). Racialized Women & COVID-19 Challenges in Canada. CRIAW.

Alig, Mélissa, Neapole Jackie, Kyla Piccin, and Luna K C (2021). A Guide to Building Feminist Intersectional Solidarity. CRIAW.

Luna K C (2020), How COVID-19 Worsens Gender Inequality in Nepal, The Diplomat.

Luna K C (2019). Female Combatants’ Struggles for Gender Equality and Empowerment in Nepal. International Feminist Journal of Politics, Blog.

Forthcoming publications

Luna K C and Crystal Whetstone. “Changing Gender Roles and Gender-Based Violence in Postwar Era”, Research Handbook on the Sociology of Gender, editors Gayle Kaufman, Michael Stambolis & Steven Roberts. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Crystal Whetstone and Luna K C. “A Call for Feminist Insights in Cybersecurity: Implementing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Cyberspace”. Feminism and Cyber Security Volume. Editors Anwar Mhajne and Alexis Henshaw, Oxford University Press.