Gendering Military Sacrifice

Cecilia Åse is Professor of Gender Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden.Maria Wendt is Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Stockholm University, Sweden.

"Gendering Military Sacrifice provides rigorous and analytically rich insights into all the work that goes into making the death of soldiers politically intelligible and meaningful. Deftly weaving together practices of meaning making around military sacrifice, this volume has much to tell readers about the specific narratives and practices deployed in different European countries and how military sacrifice can be read as an increasingly globalised phenomenon."-- Victoria Basham, Cardiff University, UK"This exciting volume offers original research regarding the meaning assigned to war deaths. The comparative analysis brings forth silences and absences within and across national divides in ways hardly ever done before, and opens windows to new understandings of contemporary war-making. For those among us looking for alternative voices in these times of war and threats of war, this book is an inspiration."-- Berit von der Lippe, Norwegian Business School, Norway"Cecilia Åse, Maria Wendt and their smart co-authors have pulled back the curtain on the costs of the long Afghanistan war. They shine a feminist spotlight on the gendered rituals governments craft to justify their failed militarized policies."-- Cynthia Enloe, author of The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging Persistent Patriarchy

• 1. Introduction: Gender, War and Military Sacrifice Cecilia Åse 2. Comparisons as Feminist Method: Denaturalising Gender and Nation Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt 3. The Politics of War Rituals: Military Scarifice and Gendered Meaning-making Maria Wendt 4. The New National War Monuments: Interrogating Gendered Narratives in Commemorative Sculpture Vron Ware 5. Artistic Interventions: Gender and Nation in Contemporary War Art Redi Koobak 6. Debating Deaths: The Possibility of Dissent in the Face of Military Sacrifice Hanne Martinek 7. Gendered Grief: Mourners’ Politicisation of Military Death Cecilia Åse, Monica Quirico, and Maria Wendt 8. Conclusion: The Gendered Politics of Contemporary Military Sacrifice Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt