Abstract
Might the voices of women veterans cast a new light on the realities, ravages and aftermath of war? At a time when we have an increasing number of women in active combat, what would it mean to see war through their eyes? What might their writings and reflections have to teach us? During the Iraq War, American women made history insofar as they participated in combat on an unprecedented scale. Yet, public discourse rarely spotlighted or celebrated this achievement. The Iraq War is groundbreaking in both historical and literary terms: first, women not only served but also fought openly as women for the first time in a full-scale war waged by the United States; second, authors have begun to feature openly female combatants as the centerpieces of war narratives. This special issue of <em>The Journal of Veterans Studies</em> focuses on the double bind that females face as both women and service members within a hyper-masculine U.S. military culture that often casts this dual position as an inflexible binary, and asked its contributors to reflect on the ways that the Iraq War has produced a body of literature in both fiction and first-person memoir that portrays women as active combatants and participants instead of spectators or victims.
Highlights
Special Issue on Women and Operation Iraqi FreedomMEGHAN BUCKLEY ROGER THOMPSONSPECIAL COLLECTION: WOMEN OF THE IRAQ WAR RESEARCH ABSTRACTMight the voices of women veterans cast a new light on the realities, ravages and aftermath of war? At a time when we have an increasing number of women in active combat, what would it mean to see war through their eyes? What might their writings and reflections have to teach us? During the Iraq War, American women made history insofar as they participated in combat on an unprecedented scale
While we as editors did not make our selection of contributors based on gender, our hope is that the contributors’ voices will, to some extent, reclaim subjectivity and provide a counterpoint to the way that military discourse and analytic methods not infrequently continue to objectify the female experience even though it is central to the subject of the militarization of American culture
The pieces include analyses of “gender neutral” and “integrative” political policies geared toward female service members in the wake of the military’s rescinding the female ground combat exclusion policy, the role and representation of female veterans in contemporary United States (US) politics and policymaking, the possibility for resiliency and growth amongst female service members following instances of military sexual trauma and/or assault, pedagogical reflections on the needs of female student veterans on college campuses, and the Iraq War’s impact on family structures through the lens of contemporary military fiction and drama written by US military veterans
Summary
Each contributor to this special issue identifies as female, and two of the contributing authors are female veterans of the Iraq War. While we as editors did not make our selection of contributors based on gender, our hope is that the contributors’ voices will, to some extent, reclaim subjectivity and provide a counterpoint to the way that military discourse and analytic methods not infrequently continue to objectify the female experience even though it is central to the subject of the militarization of American culture.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
