Aims and Assessment

Aims

By the end of this module students will:

Understand the multiple ways in which sex and sexuality - understood as a field of human behaviour, as gender identity, and as orientation - have structured US military service in the years since World War II
Critically assess how sex and sexuality have given rise to debates within and beyond the US armed forces over who is permitted to serve and on what terms
Historicize contemporary US debates about the military with reference to several decades’ past experience
Appreciate the ways in which class, race, gender, and sexuality intersect to complicate different individuals’ and groups’ wartime expectations and experiences
Make robust arguments, orally and on paper, using evidence to sustain an analytic interpretation
Carefully analyse a range of both secondary and primary source materials, including sources produced by active duty personnel and veterans
Develop skills writing in different genres with distinct audiences in mind

Assessment

seminar participation (20%). This will be cumulatively assessed based on your contribution to weekly seminars and other evidence of active engagement with the module content, including email exchanges and meetings to discuss module content and/or the assignment. I am happy to schedule appointments during my office hours and at other mutually convenient times. Please email me to book meetings.
1 x 3,000 word policy position paper (80%)

Assignment Instructions

Policy position paper

Length: 3000 words

Deadline: see Tabula

This assignment requires you to think yourself into, and articulate, the mind-set of a stake-holder in one of the policy debates that has roiled the US military since World War II over issues of gender, sex and sexuality in the armed forces.

The task has two parts. First, you should select one of the scenarios below and decide whose viewpoint you wish to articulate. This could be the vantage-point of senior army officers; enlisted men or women and/or veterans with a particular stake in the issue; a civilian advocacy group (e.g. feminist and/or LGBTQ activists; faith-based social conservatives; civil rights lawyers). You will write a 2000-word long position paper to be submitted to the Department of Defense on the controversial topic at stake.

Your paper must include ALL the following elements, clearly sub-headed:

a definition of the problem as your interest group sees it
a brief historical account of how this problem has taken shape
a series of DETAILED recommendations for tackling the situation/introducing policy changes [the single most important element of the paper]
discussion of the implications: including, where appropriate, budgetary implications; likely opposition that will be encountered if your recommendations are followed; suggestions as to how the DOD best defuse hostility
a brief executive summary of your report

The 2000-word policy paper should be written "in character." In other words, you are ventriloquizing the point of view of the individual or group who is addressing the DOD in this paper. Although you should read recent scholarship to help inform your appreciation of the complexity of the situation, your paper should draw-- to the greatest degree possible--from sources/evidence that were available at the historical moment in question. Be sure to consult the "Bibliography" page of the module website which includes links to many useful databases and websites. Lecture PowerPoint slides (especially for weeks 7-10) also include links to relevant organisations' websites.

The second element of this assignment is self-reflective: a 1000-word discussion of the process by which you researched your report; a brief survey of the academic (or other non-scholarly) literature you drew on; and an appraisal of the challenges of inhabiting and articulating an historical actor's viewpoint, with which you yourself may not agree.

Please double-space both elements, use footnotes where appropriate, and include a full alphabetized bibliography, listing primary and then secondary sources. All three components should form part of a single Word document or pdf when you upload this assignment to Tabula.

For a guide to footnoting and bibliographies, please consult these PowerPoint slidesLink opens in a new window. You can either look at the slides or, by click "play slide show" to listen to my narration.

Scenario #1: 1946

The DoD is investigating the issue of service personnel overseas entering into relationships with non-US nationals, fathering children, and wanting to marry local women.

Scenario #2: 1968

The DoD is investigating the exponential growth of prostitution, and also soaring rates of sexually transmitted diseases, in south Vietnam.

Scenario #3: 1992

The DoD is reconsidering the long-standing ban on gay and lesbian personnel serving in the armed forces.

Scenario #4: 2003

The DoD is considering whether to allow female personnel to serve in all combat related occupational specialties.

Scenario #5: 2012

After a string of highly publicized stories of sexual assault and rape within the armed forces, the DoD is conducting a review of policy with a view to tackling this 'epidemic'.

Scenario #6: 2021

As Biden enters the White House, the DOD is reviewing Trump's 'transgender ban'.

What I'm looking for as I mark these assignments:

(1) Depth of research, primary and secondary, into the topic; (2) a sophisticated appreciation of the issues at stake; (3) persuasive articulation of an authorial viewpoint that rings true (with the organisation's remit; for the particular time period); (4) a carefully elaborated set of recommendations; (5) a compelling prose style and use of evidence calculated to make the most persuasive case; (6) a candid self-reflection, revealing not only your research process but other choices and challenges you confronted in undertaking this assignment; (7) a polished, proof-read submission, with all the sections outlined above and a full bibliography, correctly formatted.