Soldiers, Masculinities, and Violence

Abstract

In this paper I examine how male soldiers perpetrate political violence against civilian men and women, at home in Zimbabwe and at the war front in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Zimbabwe it is widely believed that men are generally more aggressive than women, and that when trained as soldiers, men become more violent, particularly in the context of political violence and war. In this paper I assert that the “making” of soldiers is deliberately aimed at enhancing their masculine ability and skills to be violent against perceived enemies and also civilians. I raise the question whether political violence and war make men more violent or unleash a “natural” male violence. The paper argues that when soldiers are deployed to do the work of political violence and armed conflict, they develop a sense of pleasure when killing, a practice that is ingrained, promoted, and perpetuated by “military ideology” and “military mentality.” I assert that soldiers practice and consequently become imbued with a killer mindset at home, which they subsequently use or employ to the war front. I use ethnographic material: I was a soldier in the military, at home and in war. Data were drawn from former Zimbabwean soldiers and civilians, victims of political violence.