
Professor Jelke Boesten
Vice Dean (Research), interim, SSPP
- Professor in Gender and Development
Research interests
- Equality
- International development
- Policy
- Politics
Contact details
Biography
Jelke has an MA in History and a PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Amsterdam. Prior to joining King’s, she held a research position at the University of Bradford, Departments of International Development (2004-06) and Peace Studies (2006-07), and a lectureship at the University of Leeds in Politics and International Studies (2007-2013).
In 2011-12, she held a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowship at the US Institute of Peace, Washington DC. She was offered an Alberto Flores Galindo Visiting Professorship, Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Perú, for 2021, and a Visiting Fellowship at the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA) in Amsterdam.
Over the years, Jelke has looked at different aspects of violence against women in war and in peace, social policy and transitional justice, and persistent intersecting inequalities, particularly in Peru.
At King’s, she founded and convenes the Gender Studies Network as well as co-convenes the Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM) network. The most recent project coming out of VEM is the exploratory and collaborative arts-based research project called Imaging Social Justice.
Research
Jelke’s current research focuses on transformative gender justice in post conflict societies – the idea that interventions to address gendered injustice, such as violence against women and girls, should aim to transform the social, political and economic relations that underpin the possibility of violence.
She worked on a collaborative project exploring the transformative potential of memorial arts and symbolic reparation.
Currently, she is working on a research project with Peruvian veterans of the Internal Armed Conflict (1980-2000). The project seeks to understand veterans’ perspectives on perpetrating gendered violence in and beyond armed conflict, funded by the British Academy. The project has co-produced some extraordinary images -paintings that reflect the narratives of ex-combatants.
Teaching
PhD supervision
Jelke is interested in supervising students focusing on the following research areas:
- Gender and social policy
- Gender based violence in war and/or the everyday
- Intersecting inequalities
- Gender and transformative justice
- Social development and emancipatory processes
See the full list of Jelke's current and existing PhD students
Further details
Research

Gender Studies at King's
Bringing together like-minded scholars and students from across King's to examine the influence of gender relations..
Status not set
Social Justice research group
Identifying the societal impacts of rapid economic and technological change, as well as the societal impacts of intensified engagement in global networks and mobilities.
Status not set
Visual Embodied Methodologies Network
Creating spaces of knowledge-exchange and research excellence around visual, embodied and art-based methodologies within, across and beyond Social Sciences.
Status not set
Intersectional Gendered Violence
The project looks at sexual harassment against and among young people, resistance & activism among migrant women and conflict-related gendered trauma and pain.
Project status: Ongoing
News
ESRC Methods grant for innovative projects analysing the experience of gendered violence
The Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM) Network at King’s has secured funding for projects on sexual harassment, conflict-related gendered trauma,...

New book throws light on military culture that enabled sexual violence in Peru
The book, co-authored by Professor Jelke Boesten, explores the experiences of army veterans during the internal conflict in Peru.

New book explores women's inspirational strategies for tackling growing gender-based violence
Cathy McIlwaine, Vice Dean Research, SSPP and Professor of Geography, and Jelke Boesten, Associate Dean (Doctoral Studies) SSPP and Professor in Gender and...

Women Resisting Violence – King's launches new podcast series
King’s academics, in collaboration with the Latin America Bureau, launch a new three-part podcast series which hears the extraordinary experiences of women...

Visualising the margins through visual, embodied and arts-based methodologies
The recent 'Visualising the margins' exhibition saw the launch of the Visual, Embodied, and Arts-based Methodologies (VEM) network.

Events

Looking for common grounds to understand and address obstetric violence from health practitioners and women´s perspective
Focussing upon Peru, this seminar will identify contexts and practices that health professionals recognize as problematic or questionable, and therefore...
Please note: this event has passed.

Iran Protests 2022: a feminist uprising?
Experts discuss the protests in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody over "improper dress".
Please note: this event has passed.

Women Resisting Violence Book Launch
Authors and collaborators on the new book will discuss women's widespread creative responses to gender-based violence.
Please note: this event has passed.

Black Box: the myth of the 'mysterious' female (reproductive) body
Sally King, Global Health and Social Medicine PhD candidate, discusses her research into biomedical, critical (feminist) and patient descriptions of PMS.
Please note: this event has passed.

Book launch: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback
Laurie Penny presents her new book: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, coming out this year with Bloomsbury.
Please note: this event has passed.

Vernacular rights cultures: The politics of origins, human rights and gendered struggle for justice
Join us for this talk about the book 'Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice' with author,...
Please note: this event has passed.

Listening to Women Resisting Violence
At this online roundtable discussion, we present the Women Resisting Violence podcast project. The roundtable will specifically focus on the podcast as a...
Please note: this event has passed.

Ethics and Creative Research Methods
A Visual Embodied Methodologies workshop series event with Jelke Boesten, Rachel Kerr, Cathy McIlwaine and Svetlana Sequeira Costa
Please note: this event has passed.

Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development
'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.
Please note: this event has passed.

Visualising the Margins: Gendered Perspectives exhibition
This exhibition presents the (audio)visual work of seven women academics at different stages of their career at King’s College London.
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
What does the use of rape in Ukraine tell us about sexual violence in wartime and in peace?
JELKE BOESTEN: Sexual violence is widespread in society and exists in a continuum between war and peace.

Rethinking Home
The Pandemic has forced a re-examination of the home as a ‘safe place’.

Research

Gender Studies at King's
Bringing together like-minded scholars and students from across King's to examine the influence of gender relations..
Status not set
Social Justice research group
Identifying the societal impacts of rapid economic and technological change, as well as the societal impacts of intensified engagement in global networks and mobilities.
Status not set
Visual Embodied Methodologies Network
Creating spaces of knowledge-exchange and research excellence around visual, embodied and art-based methodologies within, across and beyond Social Sciences.
Status not set
Intersectional Gendered Violence
The project looks at sexual harassment against and among young people, resistance & activism among migrant women and conflict-related gendered trauma and pain.
Project status: Ongoing
News
ESRC Methods grant for innovative projects analysing the experience of gendered violence
The Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM) Network at King’s has secured funding for projects on sexual harassment, conflict-related gendered trauma,...

New book throws light on military culture that enabled sexual violence in Peru
The book, co-authored by Professor Jelke Boesten, explores the experiences of army veterans during the internal conflict in Peru.

New book explores women's inspirational strategies for tackling growing gender-based violence
Cathy McIlwaine, Vice Dean Research, SSPP and Professor of Geography, and Jelke Boesten, Associate Dean (Doctoral Studies) SSPP and Professor in Gender and...

Women Resisting Violence – King's launches new podcast series
King’s academics, in collaboration with the Latin America Bureau, launch a new three-part podcast series which hears the extraordinary experiences of women...

Visualising the margins through visual, embodied and arts-based methodologies
The recent 'Visualising the margins' exhibition saw the launch of the Visual, Embodied, and Arts-based Methodologies (VEM) network.

Events

Looking for common grounds to understand and address obstetric violence from health practitioners and women´s perspective
Focussing upon Peru, this seminar will identify contexts and practices that health professionals recognize as problematic or questionable, and therefore...
Please note: this event has passed.

Iran Protests 2022: a feminist uprising?
Experts discuss the protests in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody over "improper dress".
Please note: this event has passed.

Women Resisting Violence Book Launch
Authors and collaborators on the new book will discuss women's widespread creative responses to gender-based violence.
Please note: this event has passed.

Black Box: the myth of the 'mysterious' female (reproductive) body
Sally King, Global Health and Social Medicine PhD candidate, discusses her research into biomedical, critical (feminist) and patient descriptions of PMS.
Please note: this event has passed.

Book launch: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback
Laurie Penny presents her new book: Sexual Revolution. Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, coming out this year with Bloomsbury.
Please note: this event has passed.

Vernacular rights cultures: The politics of origins, human rights and gendered struggle for justice
Join us for this talk about the book 'Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggle for Justice' with author,...
Please note: this event has passed.

Listening to Women Resisting Violence
At this online roundtable discussion, we present the Women Resisting Violence podcast project. The roundtable will specifically focus on the podcast as a...
Please note: this event has passed.

Ethics and Creative Research Methods
A Visual Embodied Methodologies workshop series event with Jelke Boesten, Rachel Kerr, Cathy McIlwaine and Svetlana Sequeira Costa
Please note: this event has passed.

Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development
'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.
Please note: this event has passed.

Visualising the Margins: Gendered Perspectives exhibition
This exhibition presents the (audio)visual work of seven women academics at different stages of their career at King’s College London.
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
What does the use of rape in Ukraine tell us about sexual violence in wartime and in peace?
JELKE BOESTEN: Sexual violence is widespread in society and exists in a continuum between war and peace.

Rethinking Home
The Pandemic has forced a re-examination of the home as a ‘safe place’.
