Combatants

Unmaking Militarized Masculinity: Veterans and the Project of Military-to-Civilian Transition

Citation:

Bulmer, Sarah, and Maya Eichler. 2017. “Unmaking Militarized Masculinity: Veterans and the Project of Military-to-Civilian Transition.” Critical Military Studies 3 (2): 161-81.

Authors: Sarah Bulmer, Maya Eichler

Abstract:

Feminist scholarship on war and militarization has typically focussed on the making of militarized masculinity. However, in this article, we shed light on the process of ‘unmaking’ militarized masculinity through the experiences of veterans transitioning from military to civilian life. We argue that in the twenty-first century, veterans’ successful reintegration into civilian society is integral to the legitimacy of armed force in Western polities and is therefore a central concern of policymakers, third-sector service providers, and the media. But militarized masculinity is not easily unmade. Veterans often struggle with their transition to civilian life and the negotiation of military and civilian gender norms. They may have an ambivalent relationship with the state and the military. Furthermore, militarized masculinity is embodied and experienced, and has a long and contradictory afterlife in veterans themselves. Attempts to unmake militarized masculinity in the figure of the veteran challenge some of the key concepts currently employed by feminist scholars of war and militarization. In practice, embodied veteran identities refuse a totalizing conception of what militarized masculinity might be, and demonstrate the limits of efforts to exceptionalize the military, as opposed to the civilian, aspects of veteran identity. In turn, the very liminality of this ‘unmaking’ troubles and undoes neat categorizations of military/civilian and their implied masculine/feminine gendering. We suggest that an excessive focus on the making of militarized masculinity has limited our capacity to engage with the dynamic, co-constitutive, and contradictory processes which shape veterans’ post-military lives.

Keywords: militarized masculinity, veterans, experience, Gender, military-to-civilian transitions, militarization

Topics: Combatants, Male Combatants, DDR, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Livelihoods, Militarized Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Peacebuilding

Year: 2017

'I Acted like a Man’: Exploring Female Ex-Insurgents’ Narratives on Nigeria’s Oil Insurgency

Citation:

Oriola, Temitope. 2016. “‘I Acted like a Man’: Exploring Female Ex-Insurgents’ Narratives on Nigeria’s Oil Insurgency.” Review of African Political Economy 43 (149): 451–69. doi:10.1080/03056244.2016.1182013.

Author: Temitope Oriola

Abstract:

English Abstract:
This paper explores how a small sample of female ex-insurgents make sense of their engagement in Nigeria’s oil insurgency. The study is informed by three key questions: How did Delta women join the insurgency? Why did they join? How do they frame their participation? The paper analyses the prevalence of a masculinising rhetoric among participants. The majority of participants view their roles in the insurgency as antithetical to their gender. The implications of these findings are explored. Overall, the paper contributes to the growing body of work on women’s engagement in armed conflict as perpetrators rather than victims of violence.
 
French Abstract:
[« J’ai agi comme un homme » : l’étude des histoires des ex-insurgées sur l’insurrection liée au pétrole au Nigeria.] Cet article examine comment quelques ex-insurgées donnent du sens à leur engagement dans l’insurrection liée au pétrole au Nigéria. Cette étude tente de répondre à trois questions clés : Comment est-ce que les femmes du Delta ont rejoint l’insurrection? Pourquoi l’ont-elles rejoint? Comment est-ce qu’elles formulent leur participation? L’article analyse la prévalence d’une rhétorique masculinisante parmi les participants. La majorité des participants voit son rôle dans l’insurrection comme opposé à son genre. Les implications de ces résultats sont examinées. Dans l’ensemble, l’article contribue à la masse croissante de travail sur l’engagement des femmes dans les conflits armés, où elles sont considérées comme des responsables de la violence plutôt que comme des victimes.

Keywords: Niger Women, women and political violence, oil insurgency, Nigeria

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Female Perpetrators Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2016

Demobilized Women in Colombia: Embodiment, Performativity and Social Reconciliation

Citation:

Anctil Avoine, Priscyll, and Rachel Tillman. 2015. “Demobilized Women in Colombia: Embodiment, Performativity and Social Reconciliation.” In Female Combatants in Conflict and Peace, edited by Seema Shekhawat, 216–31. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Authors: Priscyll Anctil Avoine, Rachel Tillman

Abstract:

Colombia has been divided by armed conflict for over half a century. While still confronting multiple forms of violence, since the beginning of the peace talks in 2012 public attention in Colombia has shifted to social reconciliation. In June 2014, Colombians re-elected Juan Manuel Santos as president, his campaign having made peace the centre of attention. The peace negotiations in Havana have been widely recognized as promising by the national and international community, and an agreement with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP)1 is closer than ever. Women have been considerably marginalized in this peace process, however, especially those who played an active role in the armed conflict. These women experience a double alienation: not only has their participation in the perpetration of violence been largely invisible, but this failure to recognize their presence in the conflict means that they are also being overlooked in the peace-building process. Furthermore, their non-traditional performance of their own gender will make it very difficult for them as women to carve out a place in a post-conflict society. (Abstract from Springer)

Annotation:

"This chapter draws on Judith Butler’s work on gender performativity to articulate a framework of analysis for understanding the possible role of demobilized women in the Colombian peace process. We analyze from the perspective of embodied gender performativity a bibliography of narrative accounts of demobilized women in various regions of Colombia gathered by the Centro National de Memoria Histórica. We also conducted semi-structured interviews of key actors within the demobilization process, specifically with people who have had direct and sustained contact with women ex-combatants. Although these sources are not necessarily statistically representative of the wide range of women involved in combat in Colombia, they nonetheless allow us to build a preliminary panorama of the relationship between gender performativity and the lives of women combatants before, during and after the conflict" (Avoine & Tillman, 2015, p. 216-17). 
 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, DDR, Gender, Women, Peace Processes Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2015

Disarming, Demobilising and Reintegrating Whom? Accounting for Diversity Among Ex-Combatants in Colombian DDR

Citation:

Schöb, Mia. 2016. “Disarming, Demobilising and Reintegrating Whom? Accounting for Diversity Among Ex-Combatants in Colombian DDR.” Peace, Conflict & Development: An Interdisciplinary Journal, no. 22, 117–78.

Author: Mia Schöb

Abstract:

This paper contributes to understanding how the Colombian Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process accounts for a highly diverse ex-combatant population, whose composition will become even more diverse following the prospective peace agreement with the FARC. Analysing Colombian DDR discourse and practices through a gender and diversity-sensitive securitisation lens, I enquire how policymakers, academics, and practitioners understand diversity among ex-combatants, and how this understanding translates into reintegration practices. The analysis unpacks general de securitisation of all ex-combatants, however with different discursive logics along the lines of diversity. Revealing a nuanced strategy of male desecuritisation in Colombian DDR discourse, the findings contrast with previous studies on gender and DDR. At the same time, this work demonstrates the added value of a more holistic approach to diversity for understanding patterns of inclusion and exclusion in Colombian DDR. In a more policy-oriented discussion, it further points to inter and intra-institutional dynamics that undermine an effective implementation of existing programmatic approaches to gender and diversity in DDR.

Keywords: DDR, reintegration, armed groups, Colombia, Securitization, Gender, diversity, discourse, analysis

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, DDR, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2016

Untapped Resources for Peace: A Comparative Study of Women’s Organizations of Guerrilla Ex-Combatants in Colombia and El Salvador

Citation:

Dietrich Ortega, Luisa Maria. 2015. “Untapped Resources for Peace: A Comparative Study of Women’s Organizations of Guerrilla Ex-Combatants in Colombia and El Salvador.” In Female Combatants in Conflict and Peace, edited by Seema Shekhawat, 232–49. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Author: Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega

Abstract:

Over the past decades, the international community has increased efforts to enhance spaces of women’s meaningful participation in all spheres of conflict to post-conflict transition. The acknowledgement of women as essential actors for sustainable peace has prompted advocacy activities to include women in planning, implementing and monitoring of peace-building efforts. Despite significant advances in the field, the challenge remains to overcome stereotypical notions that associate women as passive bystanders or only as bearers of the violent consequences of armed conflicts, while ignoring the role women play as political actors. A step towards a more inclusive and holistic transition consists of exploring contributions the female actors in armed conflict can bring to peace-building. Female ex-combatants have played active political and military roles in insurgent organizations. Besides their first-hand experience in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes, some of them maintain connections with former insurgent groups and may influence processes from within. In that sense, organizations of female ex-combatants constitute an untapped resource for the promotion of gender-responsive transitions. (Abstract from Springer)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, DDR, Gender, Women, Peacebuilding, Political Participation, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Colombia, El Salvador

Year: 2015

Reintegración y emprendimiento, análisis del programa de educación para el trabajo de la ACR para mujeres excombatientes

Citation:

Matiz Cortés, Stefanie. 2016. “Reintegración y emprendimiento, análisis del programa de educación para el trabajo de la ACR para mujeres excombatientes.” Master’s Thesis, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

Author: Stefanie Matiz Cortés

Abstract:

Spanish abstract:

En esta investigación se hizo un análisis del programa de formación para el trabajo, que hace parte de la ruta de Reintegración Económica de la ACR, con el propósito de determinar si dicho programa lograba dar respuesta a las necesidades y expectativas sobre actividades productivas de las mujeres desmovilizadas de grupos armados. Para ello se realizó un estudio de tipo etnográfico – colaborativo que permitió comprender con las excombatientes, cómo y bajo qué condiciones se está desarrollando la dimensión productiva. Propone la profundización en el enfoque de género que tiene actualmente la Ruta de Reintegración con el fin de lograr que las exintegrantes de grupos armados logren reintegrarse en condiciones ajustadas a su realidad, sus intereses y sus posibilidades. En este sentido se rescata como elemento esencial las narrativas de las mujeres entrevistadas, ya que analizando sus necesidades, es indispensable que no se anule esa experiencia femenina dentro de la dinámica de la guerra y las transformaciones que experimenta en la sociedad. Por último se establece que es poco adecuado que los programas de emprendimiento sean considerados como un mecanismo de salida a la pobreza o una solución para impulsar el retorno de la población desmovilizada a la legalidad de forma autosostenible. Sencillamente porque el programa está planteado desde una perspectiva de emprendimiento por necesidad y no de emprendimiento por oportunidad, lo que va en contra de la naturaleza del emprendimiento y lleva la política al fracaso, pues lo que deberían ser empresas resultantes de aptitudes emprendedoras resultan siendo nada más que mecanismos simples de autoempleo (Abstract from original source​).

English abstract:

The purpose of this research was to analyze and look at the work of “the job training program”, as part of the economic reintegration path of the Colombian Agency for Reintegration, whose main objective was to determine if such program could give an answer to the needs and expectations of productive activities of armed group demobilized women .To do this, a collaborative-ethnographic study was conducted to better understand with the ex combats how and under what conditions productive dimensions have been developed. This research highlights the gender approach that the reintegration path currently has, in order to ensure that the former members of armed groups can reintegrate in fair conditions according to their reality, interests and possibilities. In this sense it is highlighted as an essential element the stories and narratives of interviewed women, as analyzing their needs is indispensable not to eliminate this feminine experience within the dynamics of the war and the transformations it faces in the society. Finally, it is stated that it is not appropriate that entrepreneurial programs can be considered as a mechanism to get out of the poverty trap or a solution to foster the comeback of demobilized population to legality in a self-sustainable way. Simply because the program is stated from the perspective of entrepreneurship due to necessities but entrepreneurship for opportunities, what goes against the nature of entrepreneurship and leads the initiative to failure, so what it should be seen as companies resulting in entrepreneurial attitudes it ends up as simple mechanisms of self employment (Translation from original source​).

 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Male Combatants, DDR Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2016

Coming out in camouflage: A Queer Theory Perspective on the Strength, Resilience, and Resistance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Service Members and Veterans

Citation:

Ramirez, M. Heliana, and Paul R. Sterzing. 2017. “Coming out in Camouflage: A Queer Theory Perspective on the Strength, Resilience, and Resistance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Service Members and Veterans.” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services 29 (1): 68–86. 

Authors: M. Heliana Ramirez, Paul R. Sterzing

Abstract:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) service members have made profound contributions to the U. S. military despite serving under anti-LGBT military policies. Little is known about their everyday acts of strength and resistance, which is vital information for developing strengths-based services. This article utilizes a queer theory framework to (a) discuss LGBT military contributions and anti-LGBT military policies, (b) explore three LGBT-specific military minority stressors, and (c) identify four strategies of strength and resistance used to manage an antiLGBT military environment. Clinical suggestions are proposed for integrating military and LGBT identities and designing interventions that blend military and LGBT cultures.

Keywords: LGBT, military, veteran, strengths-based, resilience, queer theory

Topics: Combatants, Gender, Health, HIV/AIDS, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Aging LGBT Military Service Members and Veterans

Citation:

Mankowski, Mariann. 2017. “Aging LGBT Military Service Members and Veterans.” Annual Review of Gerontology & Geriatrics 37 (1): 111–25. 

Author: Mariann Mankowski

Abstract:

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the experiences and needs of aging sexual and gender minority (SGM) veterans. Significant demographic changes in the composition of aging military veterans have taken place. Most notice- ably since the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" attention has been drawn to this population of older veterans and their specific mental, physical, and psycho-social health care needs. Recent policy, program, and research initiatives have begun to address the significant health disparities of this population of older adults. SGM veterans are more likely to report higher rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault, and are more vulnerable to homelessness and unemployment when compared to the general population of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults. Aging SGM veterans may also carry a heavy burden as a result of their experiences as service members and may be reticent to disclose their sexual identity with formal veteran service programs. Access to and utilization of social care networks and social support for SGM aging veterans is a serious concern. Isolation, poorer health outcomes, and increased chronic health conditions may exacerbate the marginalization this older adult population has experienced. A majority of SGM veterans will utilize community-based services, and it is essential that all health care professionals understand the unique needs of this cohort of older adults. Future directions for research, policy, education, and service delivery are explored.

Topics: Age, Combatants, Health, Mental Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Mental Health of Transgender Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts Who Experienced Military Sexual Trauma: MST and Mental Health of Transgender Veterans

Citation:

Lindsay, Jan A., Colt Keo-Meier, Sonora Hudson, Annette Walder, Lindsey A. Martin, and Michael R. Kauth. 2016. “Mental Health of Transgender Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts Who Experienced Military Sexual Trauma: MST and Mental Health of Transgender Veterans.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 29 (6): 563–67.

Authors: Jan A. Lindsay, Colt Keo-Meier, Sonora Hudson, Annette Walder, Lindsey A. Martin, Michael R. Kauth

Abstract:

Little is known about military sexual trauma (MST) in transgender veterans. To address this gap, we examined archival data regarding transgender veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. There were 332 transgender veterans treated at the Veterans Health Administration between 2000 and 2013 (78 men, 254 women; mean age 33.86 years), with most being non-Hispanic White. Transgender status and mental health conditions were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9; World Health Organization, 1980) codes and chart review. Men and women were analyzed separately, using contingency tables and χ2 testing for categorical variables and t tests for continuous variables. Likelihood of having a mental health condition and MST were examined using logistic regression. Among the 15% of participants who experienced MST, MST was associated with the likelihood of posttraumatic stress disorder, adjusted OR = 6.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.22, 30.44] and personality disorder, OR = 3.86, 95% CI [1.05, 14.22] for men and with depressive, OR = 3.33, 95% CI [1.12, 9.93], bipolar, OR = 2.87, 95% CI [1.12, 7.44], posttraumatic stress, OR = 2.42, [1.11, 5.24], and personality disorder, OR = 4.61, 95% CI [2.02, 10.52] for women. Implications include that medical forms should include gender identity and biological gender and that MST treatment should be culturally competent.

Topics: Combatants, Gender, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence Regions: MENA, Americas, North America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, United States of America

Year: 2016

The Psychologist's Role in Transgender-Specific Care with U.S. Veterans

Citation:

Johnson, Laura, Jillian Shipherd, and Heather M. Walton. 2016. “The Psychologist’s Role in Transgender-Specific Care with U.S. Veterans.” Psychological Services 13 (1): 69–76.

Authors: Laura Johnson, Jillian Shipherd, Heather M. Walton

Abstract:

Psychologists are integral to the care of transgender individuals. This article details the many roles for psychologists in transgender-specific care, including diagnosing and treating gender dysphoria; providing treatment for comorbid conditions; referring to medical services such as gender confirmation surgeries, voice modification, and cross-sex hormone therapies; serving as consultants within health care systems; and advocating for addressing barriers in systems in which transgender individuals live and work. Transgender veterans have unique experiences and vulnerabilities related to their military service that are detailed from a review of the literature, and we make the case that Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and community psychologists are well-positioned to provide care to transgender veterans (trans-vets). In this article, the authors describe the experiences that many trans-vets have faced, identify the importance of treatment for gender dysphoria (and draw the distinction between gender identity disorder and gender dysphoria) as well as psychologists’ roles, and clarify which transgender-related services are available to eligible veterans though VHA per policy and how VHA providers have access to training to provide that care. In addition, we describe how veterans can connect to the VHA, even if they have (and want to continue working with) non-VHA psychologists or other community providers.

Topics: Combatants, Health, Mental Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2016

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