United States of America

Coming Back Across the Fence: Masculinity and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture*

Citation:

Peter, Gregory, Michael Mayerfeld Bell, Susan Jarnagin, and Donna Bauer. 2000. “Coming Back Across the Fence: Masculinity and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture*.” Rural Sociology 65 (2): 215–33.

Authors: Gregory Peter, Michael Mayerfeld Bell, Susan Jarnagin, Donna Bauer

Abstract:

In this paper we explore the social construction of agricultural masculinity and its role in the transition to sustainable agriculture. We draw our evidence from a participatory qualitative study comparing members of the sustainable agriculture group Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) with their non-PFI neighbors. On the non-PFI farms, men more often rep- resented what we call monologic masculinity, a conventional masculinity with rigid and polarized gender expectations and strictly negotiated performances that make a clear distinction between men's and women's activities. The male farmers belonging to PFI, on the other hand, more often represented what we call dialogic masculinity, characterized by different measures for work and success than in monologic masculinity, less need for control over nature, and greater social openness. Although both are present to some extent in all male participants, we argue that acceptance of a more dialogic masculinity helps promote the transition to sustainable agriculture.

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2000

Masculinity, Work, and the Industrial Forest in the US Pacific Northwest

Citation:

Loomis, Erik. 2017. “Masculinity, Work, and the Industrial Forest in the US Pacific Northwest.” RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, no. 4, 37–44.

Author: Erik Loomis

Annotation:

Summary: 
In this paper, Erik Loomis explores the connections between natural resource workers, industrialized nature, and masculinity as constructed by the logger working class in the US Pacific Northwest. In the industrial forest, different ideas of masculinity and nature were formed and performed. Loomis argues that the working class histories of natural resource workers need to be included in sustainable economies and environmental history. This way, environmental activists can develop more sophisticated strategies for creating coalitions with natural resource workers. (Summary from Environment & Society Portal)

Topics: Economies, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Man-of-Action Heroes: The Pursuit of Heroic Masculinity in Everyday Consumption

Citation:

Holt, Douglas B., and Craig J. Thompson. 2004. “Man-of-Action Heroes: The Pursuit of Heroic Masculinity in Everyday Consumption.” Journal of Consumer Research 31 (2): 425–40.

Authors: Douglas B. Holt, Craig J. Thompson

Abstract:

We develop a model describing how certain American men, those men who have been described as emasculated by recent socioeconomic changes, construct themselves as masculine through their everyday consumption. We find that American mass culture idealizes the man‐of‐action hero—an idealized model of manhood that resolves the inherent weaknesses in two other prominent models (the breadwinner and the rebel). The men we studied drew from this three‐part discourse—what we call the ideology of heroic masculinity—to construct themselves in dramatic fashion as man‐of‐action heroes. In addition, we show that these men pursue heroic masculinity in very different ways, depending on their social class positions.

Topics: Class, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2004

Imperial Democracies, Militarised Zones, Feminist Engagements

Citation:

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 2011. “Imperial Democracies, Militarised Zones, Feminist Engagements.” Economic and Political Weekly 46 (13): 76–84.

Author: Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Annotation:

Summary:
The post-11 September 2001 consolidation of imperial democracies and securitised regimes in the United States, Israel, and India mobilise anatomies of violence anchored in colonial legacies and capitalist profitmaking. These regimes utilise specific and connected racial and gendered ideologies and practices at their social and territorial borders - in the US-Mexico borderlands, the West Bank and Gaza, and the Kashmir Valley. They exercise militarised and masculinised forms of control, surveillance and dispossession that illuminate the contours of national political subjectivities and the uneven construction of citizenship. These imperial democracies militarise all domains of social life, and discipline or imprison not just abandoned and criminalised communities, but all state subjects. The essay suggests that an alternative vision of connectivity and solidarity requires building ethical, cross-border feminist solidarities that confront neoliberal militarisation globally. (Summary from original source) 

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Economies, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Nationalism, Violence Regions: MENA, Americas, North America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: India, Israel, United States of America

Year: 2011

Asian Fury: Gender, Orientalism and the Indo-Pakistani Nuclear ‘Threat’ in US Foreign Policy Discourse, 1998 – 2009

Citation:

Vaughan, Tom. 2013. “Asian Fury: Gender, Orientalism and the Indo-Pakistani Nuclear ‘Threat’ in US Foreign Policy Discourse, 1998 – 2009.” Working Paper No. 09-13, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.

Author: Tom Vaughan

Abstract:

Since India and Pakistan each carried out their second tests of nuclear weapons in 1998, US foreign policy discourse and Western media has often taken as fact the 'threat' of nuclear conflict in the region. This dissertation argues that a critical constructivist approach is required when studying Indo-Pakistani nuclear relations, given the inadequacies of structural realism and its unhelpful assumptions about the 'nature' of international politics. Since realist accounts make up the majority of recent literature on the subject, this dissertation aims to provide an alternative account, examining how US foreign policy discourse constructs the condition of threat through representations of the US, India and Pakistan. Using a discourse analysis methodology, I investigate the gendered and orientalist constructions of India and Pakistan which contribute to the mainstream perception of nuclear threat on the South Asian subcontinent. In a two-part analysis, I examine the effect that the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks have had on the US discourse around Indo-Pakistani nuclear behaviour. I find that the US discourse changes significantly over time. From the 1998 tests onwards, a direct and imminent nuclear threat to international security is constructed. After 9/11, this threat is increasingly negated. Across both periods, the US discourse constitently feminises and orientalises India and Pakistan in relation to a dominant US masculinity – practices which are instrumental in the representation of threat – although the uses and effects of these representational practices shift over time. The discursive changes observed demonstrate how 'radical breaks' in history can change knowledge about international politics, and illustrate how US foreign policy discourse reconfigures the US's global identity after 9/11.

Keywords: United States, India, Pakistan, nuclear, non-proliferation, Foucault, discourse, Gender, orientalism

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Nationalism, Security, Weapons /Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, South Asia Countries: India, Pakistan, United States of America

Year: 2013

An Ethos of Responsibility and Indigenous Women Water Protectors in the #NoDAPL Movement

Citation:

Privott, Meredith. 2019. “An Ethos of Responsibility and Indigenous Women Water Protectors in the #NoDAPL Movement.” American Indian Quarterly 43 (1): 74–100.

Author: Meredith Privott

Abstract:

This work builds upon Elizabeth Archuleta's (Yaqui) term “ethos of responsibility” by contextualizing it within the #NoDAPL movement and applies a cultural rhetorics methodology to constellate an understanding of an ethos of responsibility utilized by Indigenous women water protectors in the #NoDAPL movement, as seen in video-recorded interviews selected from the #NoDAPL digital archive. This study attempts to understand the rhetoric of Indigenous women water protectors through the lens of Indigenous feminism(s), Indigenous rhetoric(s), and Dakota/Lakota/Nakota history and worldviews. When speaking from an ethos of responsibility, the water protectors featured in this study locate agency in traditional teachings and in the experience of Indigenous women, including responsive care in/to the interconnectedness of life, the special role of women in the care of water, and the collective survival of Indigenous women in colonial and patriarchal violence.

Keywords: indigenous women, Indigenous feminisms, cultural rhetorics, water protection, Standing Rock, activism, decolonization, ethos, sexual violence, #NoDAPL

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Rights, Indigenous Rights Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019

The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy

Citation:

Hudson, Valerie M., and Patricia Leidl. 2015. The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy. New York: Columbia University Press. 

Authors: Valerie M. Hudson, Patricia Leidl

Annotation:

Summary:
Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first Secretary of State to declare the subjugation of women worldwide a serious threat to U.S. national security. Known as the Hillary Doctrine, her stance was the impetus behind the 2010 Quadrennial Diplomatic and Development Review of U.S. foreign policy, formally committing America to the proposition that the empowerment of women is a stabilizing force for domestic and international peace.
 
Blending history, fieldwork, theory, and policy analysis while incorporating perspectives from officials and activists on the front lines of implementation, this book is the first to thoroughly investigate the Hillary Doctrine in principle and practice. Does the insecurity of women make nations less secure? How has the doctrine changed the foreign policy of the United States and altered its relationship with other countries such as China and Saudi Arabia? With studies focusing on Guatemala, Afghanistan, and Yemen, this invaluable policy text closes the gap between rhetoric and reality, confronting head-on what the future of fighting such an entrenched enemy entails. The research reports directly on the work being done by U.S. government agencies, including the Office of Global Women's Issues, established by Clinton during her tenure at the State Department, and explores the complexity and pitfalls of attempting to improve the lives of women while safeguarding the national interest. (Summary from Columbia University Press) 
 
Table of Contents:
1. How Sex Came to Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy
2. Should Sex Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy?
3. Guatemala: A Case Study
4. A Conspicuous Silence: U.S. Foreign Policy, Women, and Saudi Arabia
5. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Implementing the Hillary Doctrine
6. Afghanistan: The Litmus Test for the Hillary Doctrine
7. The Future of the Hillary Doctrine: Realpolitik and Fempolitik

Topics: Gender, Governance, Security Regions: MENA, Americas, Central America, North America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, United States of America

Year: 2015

When Are States Hypermasculine?

Citation:

Maruska, Jennifer Heeg. 2010. “When Are States Hypermasculine?” In Gender and International Security: Feminist Perspectives, edited by Laura Sjoberg, 235-55. Oxon: Routledge.

Author: Jennifer Heeg Maruska

Annotation:

Summary: 
"By using gender as a theoretical tool, I will demonstrate how American hegemonic masculinity—or a significant subsection of it—became hypermasculine in the days, months, and years following September 11, 2001. This development is key to understanding how the war Iraq was sold to and bought by the American people. The consequences of this hypermasculinity include popular support for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq as well as the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004. In this chapter, I will elaborate the concepts of hegemonic masculinity and hypermasculinity, based on previous theorizing (largely by R. W. Connell and Charlotte Hooper). I will then apply these principles to the post-9/11 era, suggesting that both the Bush administration (the agent) and American mainstream culture itself (the structure) contributed to the invasion of Iraq. By applying a gender-sensitive lens, and putting hypermasculinity into a historical context, both the decision to invade Iraq and the popular support such an idea received will be made much clearer" (Maruska 2010, 236).

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Security Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq, United States of America

Year: 2010

Tales of the Shield: A Feminist Reading of Ballistic Missile Defence

Citation:

Masters, Cristina. 2003. “Tales of the Shield: A Feminist Reading of Ballistic Missile Defence.” YCISS Working Paper 23, York Centre for International and Security Studies, York University, Ontario.

Author: Cristina Masters

Annotation:

Summary: 
“Prior to September 11th – the date by which we now frame discussions – debates around missile defence, whether national or transnational, were framed around two central points: what I call the ‘can it work’ and ‘should we or should we not do it’ debates. In regards to the first debate, the questions have been around the technological feasibility of a ballistic missile defence system. With one side arguing that it can in fact work if the commitment of time and money is put in, and the other side arguing that not only will the cost be prohibitive, but more importantly, the technological capabilities are not available even if the budget commitments are. Moreover, the time frame of putting in place even a limited ballistic missile defence system – a minimum of ten years but most likely in the 20-25 year range – undermines the stated urgency of the program (Folger 2001; Sirak 2001). The second debate, while concerned with the technological feasibility of missile defence, has been more focussed on the ‘politics’ of ballistic missile defence with the central questions being whether or not the threat of missile attack by ‘rogue’ states is indeed real or sufficient enough to warrant the construction of a defence shield (Harvey 2000; Mutimer 2001). This debate has also raised questions concerning what the effects will be as a consequence of proceeding to a missile defence program, with the potential of setting off an international arms race with China and Russia at the forefront” (Masters 2003, 1).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Weapons /Arms Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2003

Gender and States

Syllabus: 
AttachmentSize
File Hill_-_Gender_and_States_.docx920.43 KB
Year course was taught: 
2017

Pages

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