Military Forces & Armed Groups

Female Fighters: Why Rebel Groups Recruit Women for War

Citation:

Wood, Reed M. 2019. Female Fighters: Why Rebel Groups Recruit Women for War. New York: Columbia University Press.

Author: Reed M. Wood

Annotation:

Summary:
The presence of women combatants on the battlefield-especially in large numbers-strikes many observers as a notable departure from the historical norm. Yet women have played a significant active role in many contemporary armed rebellions. Over recent decades, numerous resistance movements in many regions of the globe have deployed thousands of female fighters in combat. In Female Fighters, Reed M. Wood explains why some rebel groups deploy women in combat while others exclude women from their ranks, and the strategic implications of this decision. Examining a vast original dataset on female fighters in over 250 rebel organizations, Wood argues rebel groups can gain considerable strategic advantages by including women fighters. Drawing on women increases the pool of available recruits and helps ameliorate resource constraints. Furthermore, the visible presence of female fighters often becomes an important propaganda tool for domestic and international audiences. Images of women combatants help raise a group's visibility, boost local recruitment, and aid the group's efforts to solicit support from transnational actors and diaspora communities. However, Wood finds that, regardless of the wartime resource challenges they face, religious fundamentalist rebels consistently resist utilizing female fighters. A rich, data-driven study, Female Fighters presents a systematic, comprehensive analysis of the impact women's participation has on organized political violence in the modern era. (Summary from Columbia University Press)

Table of Contents:
Introduction

1. Why Rebels Mobilize Women for War

2. The Strategic Implications of Female Fighters

3. Female Combatants in Three Civil Wars

4. Empirical Evaluation of Female Combatant Prevalence

5. Empirical Evaluation of the Effects of Female Combatants

Conclusion: Understanding Women's Participation in Armed Resistance

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Female Combatants, Media, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Religion, Violence

Year: 2019

The Political Economy of Conflict and Violence against Women: Towards Feminist Framings from the South

Citation:

Samuel, Kumudini, Claire Slatter, and Vagisha Gunasekara, eds. 2019. The Political Economy of Conflict and Violence against Women: Towards Feminist Framings from the South. Zed Books.

Authors: Kumudini Samuel, Claire Slatter, Vagisha Gunasekara

Annotation:

Summary:
The Political Economy of Conflict and Violence against Women shows how political, economic, social and ideological processes intersect to shape conflict related gender-based violence against women. Through feminist interrogations of the politics of economies, struggles for political power and the gender order, this collection reveals how sexual orders and regimes are linked to spaces of production. Crucially it argues that these spaces are themselves firmly anchored in overlapping patriarchies which are sustained and reproduced during and after war through violence that is physical as well as structural.
 
Through an analysis of legal regimes and structures of social arrangements, this book frames militarization as a political economic dynamic, developing a radical critique of liberal peace building and peace making that does not challenge patriarchy, or modes of production and accumulation. 
 
This book brings together the work of a group of feminists from the global South. The authors are diverse in their backgrounds, experience, and academic and disciplinary orientations. They work in different political, economic, social and cultural contexts and some have approached writing about the political economies of violence against women in their own countries as much (or more) from lived experience and experiential insights as from formal or scholarly research, which we consider entirely valid and in keeping with feminist epistemology. (Summary from DAWN)
 
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Framing a South Feminist Analysis of War, Conflict and Violence against Women: The Value of a Political Economy Lens 
Kumudini Samuel and Vagisha Gunasekara
 
The Construction of the ‘Responsible Woman’: Structural Violence in Sri Lanka’s Post-war Development Strategy
Vagisha Gunasekara and Vijay K. Nagaraj
 
Ending Violence against Women in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands Region: The Role of the State, Local Civil Society and Extractive Industries by Elizabeth
 
Box 6.1 Lessons from the Bougainville Experience
Michelle Kopi
 
Rural Women in Colombia: From Victims to Actors
Cecilia López Montaño and MaríA-Claudia Holstine
 
Contesting Territoriality: Patriarchy, Accumulation and Dispossession. “Entrenched Peripherality”: Women, Political Economy and the Myth of Peacebuilding in North East India
Roshmi Goswami
 
Re-Imagining Subversion: Agency and Women’s Peace Activism in Northern Uganda
Yaliwe Clarke and Constance O’Brien
 
The Prism of Marginalisation: Political Economy of Violence against Women in Sudan and South Sudan
Fahima Hashim

 

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Political Economies, Peacebuilding, Violence

Year: 2019

The Art of Being Unseen: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Alienation as Told through the Lived Experiences of LGBTQ U.S. Military Service Members Who Served before and during the DADT Repeal

Citation:

Walker, Shnecia Lenise. 2019. “The Art of Being Unseen: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Alienation as Told through the Lived Experiences of LGBTQ U.S. Military Service Members Who Served before and during the DADT Repeal.” EdD diss., Drexel University.

Author: Shnecia Lenise Walker

Abstract:

For many years, mastering the art of being unseen been a practice for countless LGBTQ military personnel in order to avoid harassment, violence, and expulsion from the U.S. Armed Forces. Prior research on LGBTQ military personnel who served both before and after the repeal of DADT has documented their multifaceted experiences (Alford & Lee, 2016; Allsep, 2013; Gatson, 2015; Goldbach & Castro, 2016; Mondragon, 2013; Parco, Levy, & Spears, 2014; Quam, 2015; Spinks, 2015; Vaughn, 2014). While several studies identified the participants’ experiences of alienation, these studies were largely exploratory and did not investigate or interrogate alienation with any depth or rigor. Drawing on Seeman’s (1975) six variants of alienation, this dissertation explores the phenomenon of alienation as experienced by LGBTQ military personnel. Understanding their experiences of alienation may help to inform and improve military policies and procedures intended to ensure their full integration into the U.S. Armed Forces. This research study utilized a phenomenological approach to explore alienation as lived and experienced by five LGBTQ military personnel during both the enactment and repeal of DADT. Participants were recruited from private and closed military and veteran LGBTQ partnering support groups and organizations located online. Of the five participants, three identified as lesbian, one identified as gay and/or homosexual and the fifth participant identified as queer. Analysis of the data resulted in three themes: 1) experiences with coming out; 2) a climate of oppression; and 3) alienation. This research study includes four major findings: 1) three of the five participants identified themselves as being in the identity acceptance stage the first time that they disclosed their sexual orientation; 2) participants described military culture as oppressive to LGBTQ military personnel both before and after the repeal of DADT; 3) of Seeman’s six variants of alienation, cultural estrangement was the most prominent variant described by the participants; and 4) in addition to Seeman’s six variants of alienation, participants exhibited a resilient variant of alienation in the form of self-preservation. Findings from this study inform both practice and future research. In addition, the study identifies the need for further exploration of the lived experiences of transgender military persons.

Keywords: alienation, diversity, Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), isolation, LGBTQ, military

Topics: Gender, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019

The Body Weaponized: War, Sexual Violence and the Uncanny

Citation:

Kirby, Paul. 2020. "The Body Weaponized: War, Sexual Violence and the Uncanny." Security Dialogue 51 (2-3): 211-30.

Author: Paul Kirby

Abstract:

It is today common to argue that rape is a weapon, tool or instrument of warfare. One implication is that armed groups marshal body parts for tactical and strategic ends. In this article, I interrogate this discourse of embodied mobilization to explore how body weaponry has been made intelligible as a medium for sexual violence. First, I show that, despite wide rejection of essentialist models, the penis and penis substitutes continue to occupy a constitutive role in discussions of sexual violence in both political and academic fora, where they are often said to be like weapons, a tendency I term ‘weapon talk’. Second, I trace the image of the body weapon in key threads of feminist theorizing and commentary, to show how the penis has appeared as a ‘basic weapon of force’ in various permutations. Third, I explore the weaponization of the body as it appears in military thought and in the cultural circulation of ideas about the soldiering body in which sexual pleasure and violence are frequently conflated. Building on this foundation, I propose that these literatures collectively describe an uncanny weapon object, and I draw out the significance of this term for feminist security studies and martial empiricism. In short, the uncanny haunts accounts of sexual violence in the collision of sexuality and machinery in the image of a body weapon, in the unsettling designation of sexuality as itself both familiar and dangerous, and in the strange movement of violent bodies across the boundary between wartime and peacetime. A concluding discussion draws out implications and challenges for thinking about embodied violence, advocating renewed attention to the history of weaponization as a fallible and confounding process.

Keywords: critical war studies, embodiment, feminism, phenomenology, uncanny, wartime sexual violence

Topics: Feminisms, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Security, Sexual Violence, Rape, Violence, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2020

Scottish Soldier-Heroes and Patriotic War Heroines: The Gendered Politics of World War I Commemoration

Citation:

Danilova, Nataliya, and Emma Dolan. 2020. "Scottish Soldier-Heroes and Patriotic War Heroines: The Gendered Politics of World War I Commemoration." Gender, Place & Culture 27 (2): 239-60.

Authors: Nataliya Danilova, Emma Dolan

Abstract:

This paper explores the (re)production of embodied gendered and racialised identities as part of commemorations devised by the Scottish government to mark the Centenary of WWI, 2014–18. In particular, we demonstrate how the Centenary has re-established Scotland’s key contribution to British military power instead of providing a platform for a broader discussion of British wars and Scotland’s role therein. Our analysis posits that this reframing was achieved through the (re)production of a gendered polarisation between white ‘dead’ soldier-heroes, ‘local lads’ and bearers of a ‘proud Scottish military tradition’; and women as embodiments of patriotic motherhood. We further explore the deployment of specific discursive and performative means to transform Dr Elsie Inglis, the only woman whose contribution was singled out by WW100 Scotland, into a patriotic war heroine. This was achieved by the militarisation of her work; the obscuring of identity, class- and race-based hierarchies within women’s war-work; and, finally, through the subversion of feminist ideas and practices in Inglis’ work for the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. Lastly, we reflect on the gendered legacy of the Centenary, emphasising the necessity for critical engagement with Britain’s wars and Scotland’s role therein.
 

Keywords: Britain, commemoration, Gender, militarisation, performance

Topics: Class, Feminisms, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Race Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2020

Militarized Nationalism as a Platform for Feminist Mobilization? The Case of the Exiled Burmese Women's Movement

Citation:

Olivius, Elisabeth, and Jenny Hedström. 2019. "Militarized Nationalism as a Platform for Feminist Mobilization? The Case of the Exiled Burmese Women's Movement." Women's Studies International Forum 76.

Authors: Elisabeth Olivius, Jenny Hedström

Abstract:

Feminist scholars have convincingly demonstrated how militarism and nationalism rely on the (re)production of gendered hierarchies. As a result, feminism is often assumed to be at odds with these political projects. In this article, we demonstrate that this is not always and not necessarily the case: in contrast, militarized nationalism may even constitute fertile ground for the mobilization of feminist organization and activism. We make this argument drawing on an in-depth case study of the emergence and evolution of an exiled Burmese women's movement from within armed ethno-nationalist struggles in the borderlands of Myanmar. Drawing on interviews with women activists, we examine when and how militarized nationalism can provide a space from which feminist agendas can be articulated and successfully pursued. This case demonstrates that militarized nationalism does not only have the potential to mobilize women's participation, but can provide a platform for feminist organization and activism that transcends, challenges, and eventually reshapes militarized nationalist projects in ways that advance women's rights and equality. These findings call into question generalized assumptions about the conflictual relationship between feminism, militarism and nationalism, and contributes to advance feminist debates about women's mobilization in contexts of armed conflicts and nationalist struggles.

Keywords: feminism, militarism, nationalism, women's activism, Myanmar, armed conflict

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Nationalism, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Myanmar

Year: 2019

Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus

Citation:

Efthymiou, Stratis Andreas. 2019. Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Stratis Andreas Efthymiou

Annotation:

Summary:
This book uses empirical research to introduce the relationship between nationalism, militarism and masculinity. The co-constitution between these three factors is susceptible to change and hinders reconciliation, according to the author. Drawing on the case of Cyprus, a country in conflict with Turkey, Efthymiou reveals how nationalism, militarism and masculinity were constructed after the war, and re-adapted following the opening of internal borders and European Union accession.
 
Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus draws on rich field-research, with soldiers and officers in army barracks, politicians such as former President of Republic of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides, leaders of radical far-right movements and the Greek Cypriot public. The book offers invaluable insight into the application of nationalism, militarism and masculinity in governmental policy including by the Cyprus Defence Ministry, and will be of interest to students and scholars in sociology, gender studies, peace studies, security studies, politics and international relations, as well as governments and NGOs. (Summary from Palgrave Macmillan)
 
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Becoming a Man in a Post-conflict Society
 
Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity After the Construction of the Border
 
Nationalism After the Opening of the Border
 
Militarism After the Opening of the Border
 
Masculinity After the Opening of the Border
 
Radical Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity After the Opening of the Border
 
Cypriot Energy: Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity on the Maritime Boundaries
 
Conclusion: A Journey Through the Juncture of Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Cyprus

Year: 2019

Liberia’s Women Veterans: War, Roles and Reintegration

Citation:

Vastapuu, Leena. 2018. Liberia's Women Veterans: War, Roles and Reintegration. London: Zed Books.

Author: Leena Vastapuu

Annotation:

Summary:
The Liberian civil wars of the 1990s and 2000s were notorious for their atrocities, and for the widespread use of child soldiers by both sides. Young girls accounted for up to forty percent of these combatants, but their unique perspective and experiences have largely been excluded from accounts of the conflict.
 
In Liberia’s Woman Veterans, Leena Vastapuu uses an innovative “auto-photographic” methodology to tell the story of two of Africa’s most brutal civil wars through the eyes of 133 former female child soldiers. It allows the book to provide a palpable account of these women’s experiences of trauma and stigma. It also illustrates the challenges of reintegration into postwar society, as well as the women’s hopes and aspirations for the future. Vastapuu argues that these women, too often perceived merely as passive victims of the conflict, can in fact play an important role in postwar reconciliation and peace building. In the process, the work overturns gendered perceptions of warfare and militarism, and provides an exceptional take on postconflict societies. (Summary from Zed Books)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Child Soldiers, DDR, Gender, Girls, Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2018

Feminism in the Humanitarian Machine. Introduction to the Special Section on ‘The Politics of Intervention Against (Conflict-Related) Sexual and Gender-based Violence’

Citation:

Veit, Alex. 2019. "Feminism in the Humanitarian Machine. Introduction to the Special Section on ‘The Politics of Intervention Against (Conflict-Related) Sexual and Gender-based Violence.’" Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 13 (4): 401-17.

Author: Alex Veit

Abstract:

The prevention and mitigation of sexual and gender-based violence in (post-) conflict societies has become an important humanitarian activity. This introductory article examines the analytical discourses on these interventions, the institutionalization of SGBV expertise in international politics, and the emancipatory potential of anti-SGBV practices. It argues that the confluence of feminist professional activism and militarized humanitarian interventionism produced specific international activities against SGBV. As part of the institutionalization of gender themes in international politics, feminist emancipatory claims have been taken up by humanitarian organizations. The normal operating state of the humanitarian machine, however, undercuts its potential contribution to social transformation towards larger gender equality in (post-) conflict societies.

Keywords: conflict-related sexual violence, humanitarian intervention, post-conflict, liberalism, feminism, governance

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence

Year: 2019

Jinn, Floods, and Resistant Ecological Imaginaries in Kashmir

Citation:

Bhan, Mona. 2018. “Jinn, Floods, and Resistant Ecological Imaginaries in Kashmir.” Economic and Political Weekly 53 (47): 67-75.

Author: Mona Bhan

Annotation:

Summary:
How Kashmiri women experience and narrate questions of resource sovereignty and dispossession within the context of Kashmir's long-drawn-out military occupation, and India's investments in mega hydroelectric dams on Kashmir's rivers have been discussed. The devastating floods in 2014 led Kashmiris to increasingly challenge perceptions of nature or natural disasters as apolitical. Dams are an integral part of border-making processes, and gender, space, and borders are continually co-produced through militarised infrastructures. Women's resistant imaginaries, which combine political and ecological metaphors, and rely on conceptions of jinn and other non- human agency, offer a way to rethink Kashmir beyond its securitised geographies. (Summary from Economic & Political Weekly)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Occupation, Resource Conflict, Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2018

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