Abstract

Women across the globe are being dramatically affected by war as currently waged by the USA. But there has been little public space for dialogue about the complex relationship between feminism, women, and war. The editors of Feminism and War have brought together a diverse set of leading theorists and activists who examine the questions raised by ongoing American military initiatives, such as: What are the implications of an imperial nation/state laying claim to women's liberation? What is the relation between this claim and resulting American foreign policy and military action? Did American intervention and invasion in fact result in liberation for women in Afghanistan and Iraq? What multiple concepts are embedded in the phrase "women’s liberation"? How are these connected to the specifics of religion, culture, history, economics, and nation within current conflicts? What is the relation between the lives of Afghan and Iraqi women before and after invasion, and that of women living in the US? How do women who define themselves as feminists resist or acquiesce to this nation/state claim in current theory and organizing? Feminism and War reveals and critically analyzes the complicated ways in which America uses gender, race, class, nationalism, imperialism to justify, legitimate, and continue war. Each chapter builds on the next to develop an anti-racist, feminist politics that places imperialist power, and forms of resistance to it, central to its comprehensive analysis.
Robin Riley is Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Syracuse University. She is co-editor of Interrogating Imperialism: Conversations on Gender, Race & War (2006). Robin is currently working on a project on how US college students think and talk about the war on Iraq. Chandra Talpade Mohanty is Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Mohanty is author of Feminism Without Borders (2003), co-editor of Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (1991), and Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (1997).She works with two grassroots community organizations, Grassroots Leadership of North Carolina, and the Center for Immigrant Families in New York City. Minnie Bruce Pratt is Professor of Women's & Gender Studies and Writing at Syracuse University, and a member of the editorial board of Feminist Studies. Her essay, Identity: Skin, Blood, Heart has become a feminist classic. She is the author of six books of poetry, including Walking Back Up Depot Street (1999) and The Dirt She Ate (2004); and the recipient of many awards, including the Lamont Poetry Selection by the Academy of American Poets, the American Library Association's Stonewall Award, and a Lambda Literary Award. Her book of creative nonfiction, S/HE explores the interconnections between women's liberation and transgender lives. Since coming out as a lesbian in 1975, Pratt has been active in women's issues, anti-racist work, and anti-imperialist initiatives.
'A cogent, passionate and damning anti-racist feminist exposè and dissection of the politics of contemporary US warmongering and its devastating impacts. An essential reference point for all those committed to mobilising against imperialist capitalism, war and globalisation.' Ailbhe Smyth, Women's Studies