Gender, Power, and Military Occupations

Book excerpt: Military occupations and interventions have a gendered impact on both those engaged in occupying, and those whose lands have been occupied, yet little has been published about this effect either historically or in contemporary times. This collection redresses this neglect by examining and analyzing the impact of occupation on men and women, both occupied and occupier, in a variety of geographical spaces from Japan to the Philippines to Iraq. The gendered perspectives offered are also intimately tied to analyses of ‘power’: how power is enacted by the occupier; how powerlessness is experienced by the occupied; how power is negotiated, shared, compromised, subverted, reclaimed; institutional power; and contested power in post-conflict societies. This collection covers a variety of geographical and period contexts in the Asia Pacific and Middle East since 1945, offering the reader a comparative view across time and space of post-WWII military occupations and interventions. The term ‘military occupation’ is interpreted broadly to include military interventions, the presence of military bases, and peacekeeping/post-conflict operations, allowing space to demonstrate that the lines between each definition are blurred. Including perspectives from established and emerging scholars, aid workers, and activists from around the world, this volume incorporates voices from those conducting research on and those with direct experience of military occupations and interventions.