Nationalism, Militarism and Gender Politics: Women in the Military
Author(s)
Toktas, Sule
Abstract
This essay problematizes gender politics in processes of nationalism, militarism and modernization. It aims to bring in sight the complexity and disorderliness that the interconnections and crosscuts between gender and modernization imply. The article contracts out this task into four parts. First, it investigates gendered explanations of nation, national identity and nationalism on which masculinity is centralized epistemologically via social discourse. Second, it explores militarism as an extension and manifestation of state sovereignty and national identity with its heterosexual and masculine substantiation. Third, it cross-questions closely the link between nationalism, militarism and patriarchy in the specificity of women’s inclusion to and exclusion from the military. Lastly, the article ends with a critical evaluation of the relationship between militarism, nationalism and patriarchy in the context of modernization.
