Women, the State, and War: A Comparative Perspective on Citizenship and Nationalism
Author(s): Joyce P. Kaufman (Author), Kristen P. Williams
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication Date: December 28, 2007
Language: English
Print length: 248 pages
ISBN-10: 0739112031
ISBN-13: 9780739112038
Book Description
Women, the State, and War looks at the intersection of gender, citizenship, and nationalism; marriage, intermarriage, and how states gender that relationship; and the ways in which women are used as symbols to reinforce or further nationalistic goals. Women have long struggled with issues of citizenship, identity, and the challenge of being recognized as equal members of the community. Governments use feminine imagery (e.g., mother country) to create a national identity, while simultaneously minimizing the role that women play as productive contributors to the society. Authors Joyce P. Kaufman and Kristen P. Williams examine the relationship of government and women in four different countries: the United States, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, and Northern Ireland. In each case, numerous similarities appear: conflict plays a significant role in the definition of citizenship for women; women’s movements have worked in contradiction to the state; and citizenship and marriage are gendered undertakings.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“In this timely and accessible book, Kaufman and Williams merge mainstream questions and feminist frameworks to advance the insights of both. Their comparative study deepens our knowledge of citizenship and nationalism as gendered, and demonstrates the political salience of feminist inquiry.” ―V. Spike Peterson, University of Arizona
“Recommended.” ―Choice Reviews
“The analytical work itself is largely both compelling and convincing. For students of gender, violence and the State, this text offers an accessible overview of feminist literature on nationalism.” ―International Feminist Journal of Politics
“Kaufman and Williams rightly observe that with the rise of nationalism, protection for women’s rights declined….I would recommend the book as very informative and for bringing attention to women’s continuous struggles for equal rights….Kaufman and Williams also succeed in establishing the role of women’s activism in the context of war and open conficts.” ―Women’s Studies Quarterly
“I would recommend this book as very informative and for bringing attention to women’s continuous struggles for equal rights…. Kaufman and Williams also succeed in establishing the role of women’s activism even in the context of war and open conflicts.” ―WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly
“With their superb combining of IR theory and careful case studies, Kaufman and Williams reveal how state elites have relied on the manipulations of “mixed marriages” to exclude certain women from nationalist-defined citizenship – and how so many women have organized to resist that exclusion and the militarism that it foments.” ―Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link
About the Author
Joyce P. Kaufman is professor emerita of political science at Whittier College. Her books include Introduction to International Relations: Theory and Practice; Women at War, Women Building Peace: Challenging Gender Norms; Women and War: Gender Identity and Activism in Times of Conflict; Women, the State, and War: A Comparative Perspective on Citizenship and Nationalism; Providing for National Security: A Comparative Analysis; and The Future of Transatlantic Relations: Perceptions, Policy, and Practice.
Kristen P. Williams (PhD, UCLA) is professor of political science at Clark University. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books, chapters, and journal articles on women/gender and war, nationalism and ethnic conflict, and hegemony and international relations. Williams is the sole author of Despite Nationalist Conflicts: Theory and Practice of Maintaining World Peace (Praeger, 2001). With Neal G. Jesse, she co-authored Identity and Institutions: Conflict Reduction in Divided Societies (SUNY, 2005) and Ethnic Conflict A Systematic Approach to Conflict (CQ Press, 2011). She co-edited Beyond Great Powers and Hegemons: Why Secondary States Support, Follow or Challenge, (Stanford University Press, 2012). Her academic articles have been published in journals, including Political Psychology, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Journal of Research in Gender Studies, and International Politics, and Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations. Her most recent publication is a chapter in the edited volume, the Oxford Handbook of Gender, War and the Western World since 1600(Oxford University Press, 2020).
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