Gender and Conflict since 1914: Historical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Description

The First World War was a turning point for modern globalised warfare. It involved the inclusion of women in 'war efforts', the homefront becoming the warzone, and produced millions of wounded and disabled men. At the same time, it incited an extraordinary arsenal of gendered discourses, practices and beliefs in the service of militarism, power structures and personal agency. This insightful collection of interdisciplinary essays, by a wide-ranging team of experts, draws out critical themes emanating from 1914. Spanning the First and Second World Wars, through to the Vietnam War, the 'War on Terror' and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the volume asks what has changed and what has continued? Ana Carden-Coyne demonstrates adeptly how understanding gender during periods of conflict has ongoing relevance across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

ANA CARDEN-COYNE is co-director of the Centre for the Cultural History of War at the University of Manchester, UK, and co-founder of the Disability History Group, UK/Europe. Her previous publications include Reconstructing the Body: Classicism, Modernism and the First World War (2009).

'Ana Carden-Coyne and her energetic contributors...are our intellectual land mine defusers. If we, their fortunate readers, read their findings slowly, if we pause to mull over their comparisons and causal revelations, we just might make it safely across the minefield of militarized gender politics to draw useful lessons on the other side.' - Cynthia Enloe, Clark University, USA, from the Afterword 'An excellent collection of well balanced articles...a very useful addition to the field.' - Melanie Oppenheimer, University of New England, Australia 'The essays work well together and in juxtaposition...The individual contributions, and the collection as a whole, all shed new light on the topics addressed.' - Corinna Peniston-Bird, Lancaster University, UK