Module overview:

This is a feminist and anti-racist module that will require students to explore the complex relationship between gender, war and militarism in global politics. Students will be required to critically engage with these three key concepts and question what is assumed to be ‘known’ or ‘commonsensical’ about their practices. The relationship between gender, war and militarism will be further complicated through an analysis of other multiple intersecting axes of identity and oppression – race and sexuality in particular – with these shown to be central to practices of militarism and the waging of war in global politics.

Global in focus, the module will explore practices of gender, war and militarism across the world and explore empirically diverse sites: the module will move from the battlefield to the military household to peace movements to popular culture, and investigate figures as diverse as soldiers, anti-war protestors, cyborgs, military wives and sex workers, and service women beauty queens. Examples of questions students will be expected to critically engage with include:

• Who does war?
• Who is militarised?
• Where are war and militarism taking place?
• How are war and militarism gendered, racialised and sexualised?
• What possibilities are there for resisting gender, war and militarism?

Topics covered:

• What is gender?
• War, militarism or martial politics?
• What is the relationship between gender, war and militarism?
• War, women and femininity
• Queer(ing) war and militarism
• Experiences of gender, war and militarism
• Violent bodies, violated bodies
• Gender, race, violence
• Crippin’ the military?
• Bodies of technology
• Feeling war, feeling militarism
• Gendered representations: war and popular culture
• Gender, war and militarism at home
• Military households
• Militarism and the everyday
• (Un)doing militarism
• Resisting war, resisting militarism
• Feminist futures: ‘after’ gender, war and militarism?

Learning objectives:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the complex interrelationship between gender, war and militarism, as well as how other intersecting axes of identity and oppression are central to their constitution and practice
• Demonstrate theoretical understanding of feminist approaches to war and militarism
• Evaluate different interpretations of the complex relationship between the three core concepts
• Construct their own conceptualisations of, and relationship between, gender, war and militarism
• Outline and discuss the significance of gender and feminist approaches to understandings of global politics
• Fluency in verbal and written communication and argumentation
• Gather, organise and deploy analytical evidence, data and information from a variety of secondary and primary sources
• Collaboration with others through group work and class discussion
• Critical appraisal of concepts and information
• Use information and communication technology for the retrieval and presentation of information