3 | Militarism, Militarization + Martial Politics

Rainbow Joes Yoga Joes Toys for Grown-Ups

January 23

In this class we examine the intersections of militarism and militarization of the everyday, through a case study of the US and so-called war on terror. How does militarism securitise ‘the other’ to legitimate the use of state violence domestically (policing, detention, detainment, surveillance) and externally (war, foreign intervention, drones, bombs, torture, detention), the environment? The WPS Agenda? What do feminist critiques of militarism offer as a response? We will work towards a better grasp central concepts of militarism, militarization and martial politics by reflecting on how our own lives have been militarized historically, geographically and in the space of the everyday.  

In addition to the readings, bring an object to class that links to militarism every day, in your lives.   

Readings 

  1. 60 words, 20 years later –  Podcast by Radio Lab and This twitter thread by Rozina Ali and First Writing Since, by Suheir Hammad 
  2. Howell, Alison. ‘Forget “militarization”: Race, disability and the “martial politics” of the police and of the university.’ International Feminist Journal of Politics 20.2 (2018): 117-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1447310
  3. Maya Eichler, ‘Gendered Militarism’, in The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Security. Routledge, Edited By Caron E. Gentry, Laura J. Shepherd, Laura Sjoberg, pp 160-170.
  4. Parashar, Swati. “Discursive (in) securities and postcolonial anxiety: Enabling excessive militarism in India.” Security Dialogue 49.1-2 (2018): 123-135. https://doi.org/10.1177/096701061774652

Further Readings 

  1. Natalie Jester, Rosie Walters, Gender Washing War: Arms Manufacturers and the Hijacking of #InternationalWomensDay, International Political Sociology, Volume 18, Issue 3, September 2024, olae021, https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae021 
  2. Janani Rangarajan, Lydia Mikhail and M.V. Ramana. The F-35 aircraft and resistance to Canadian militarism. 2026
  3. Lutz, Catherine. “Making war at home in the United States: Militarization and the current crisis.” American Anthropologist 104.3 (2002): 723-735. https://doi.org/10.1525%2Faa.2002.104.3.723  
  4. Mama, Amina, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. “Militarism, conflict and women’s activism in the global era: Challenges and prospects for women in three West African contexts.” Feminist Review 101.1 (2012): 97-123. 
  5. Satkunanathan, Ambika, ‘Sri Lanka: The Impact of Militarization on Women’, in Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict (2018; online edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Dec. 2017). Pp 579–590. 
  6. Somewhere over the Arabian Sea, The American Life (podcast) 
  7. Gordon, Avery F. “Abu Ghraib: imprisonment and the war on terror.” Race & Class 48.1 (2006): 42-59. 

Presentation | TBD

Jordan Scott, Lanterns over Guantanamo   

Learning Objectives

  1. Reflect on the ways militarism reinforces gendered power relations and colonial state sovereignty and empire building projects 
  2. Question the efficacy of militarism in delivering ‘safety’ and ‘security’—safety and security for whom? 
  3. Recognize the ways in which war, militarism, and colonial violence are felt and lived in the everyday