Weaponized women in Contemporary Visual Culture: representing Female Soldiers in the War on Terror

Financiador

Organização

Publicações

Weaponized Women in Contemporary Visual Culture : Representing Military Women in the ‘War on Terror’

Publication . Alves, Ana Raquel Romão; Araújo, Susana Isabel Arsénio Nunes Costa; Neroni, Hilary; Soares, Luísa Suzete Afonso

This thesis examines representations of military women in contemporary Western visual culture during the ‘War on Terror’ (2001-present). Through the comparison of cultural productions that center on military women (e.g. films, TV series, etc.), I assess the current perpetuation of representational patterns established by a long tradition of the military/war genre. Moreover, I attempt to identify new patterns and tropes, and also categorize any divergences to pre-established patterns. With this study I intend to explore the hypothesis that military women are subjected to systematic stereotyping when featured in fictional narratives as protagonists, which I understand to be a signal of a larger problem, concerning the instrumentalization of military women by military/political forces. Drawing from the works of Cynthia Enloe, Barbara Ehrenreich, Yvonne Tasker, among other critics who theorized on this subject, I attempt to expand on what was already written, adding original material relating exclusively to the period of the ‘War on Terror’. Through the comparison and analysis of intermedia artworks from the US and European countries (UK, and France), I offer a wide cultural study on the fictionalization of military women. By focusing on US and European cultural representations of servicewomen I aim to verify the existence of similarities which may suggest a transatlantic cohesion in regard to not only representational tropes, but also military/political interests. The thesis is divided into three parts, each corresponding to an important stage in military life. Therefore, chronologically, the first part is dedicated to ‘Boot Camp’, the second to ‘Deployment’, and the last to ‘Discharge’. This structure is intended to compartmentalize stages that introduce different sets of challenges to women in the military. Through this approach, I am able to direct my focus towards each segment as a whole, exploring correspondent cultural products that encompass dominant representations in each stage of military life. The final objective of this research is to acknowledge how fictional depictions of military women can help us achieve a clearer image of a collective Western understanding of what it means to be a female and a soldier. Additionally, I aim to identify how those depictions are used to convey specific ideological messages pertaining to (trans)national interests during the ‘War on Terror’. Furthermore, through this cultural analysis I intend to contribute to an expanding field concerned with gender equality in Western armed forces.

2021-06-02Tese de doutoramento

Acesso aberto

Ver mais

Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Número da atribuição

PD/BD/128073/2016