Mothers of the Military: Support and Politics during Wartime
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Mothers of the Military examines the distinctive kinds of support required during an increasingly privatized war, specifically material, moral and healthcare support. Mothers are a particularly key part of the current support system for service members, and Wendy Christensen follows the mothers of U.S. service members in the War on Terrorism through the stages of recruitment, deployment, and post-deployment. Bringing to light the experiences and stories of women who are largely invisible during war—the mothers of service members. Mothers of the Military, as a whole, asks how the acts of supplying material, moral, and medical support end up so often marginalizing mothers as citizens from the political process and under what conditions do mothers resist?
Praise for Mothers of the Military:Wendy Christensen doesn’t let us slide into simplistic assumptions about either militarization or women as mothers. Her careful listening over a decade reveals American racially diverse women dealing with their government’s pressures, their own expectations, their strategic choices about when to stay silent and when to speak out. This book has taught me a lot.
— Cynthia Enloe, Clark University; author of The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging Persistent Patriarchy Too often the experience of parents is left out of research about military families, despite military members’ financial, psychological, and other reliance on parents, especially mothers, during enlistment, deployment, and their return, especially if injured physically or psychologically. Through an analysis of online message boards, military documents, and email interviews Wendy Christensen examines the gendered civic engagement of military mothers. Norms related to gender and patriotism encourage mothers to identify with and fiercely support the U.S. military, as well as the wars their children are ordered to fight. The rich ethnography deftly portrays the emotions of the homefront and the unpaid labor required to support troops. Mothers of the Military: Support and Politics during Wartime demonstrates how carework is translated into supplying the next generation of soldiers, coopted as support for military missions, and can also compel critiques of the Department of Veterans Affairs. — Lisa Leitz, chair of Peace Studies, associate professor of Sociology at Chapman University; author of Fighting for Peace: Veterans and Military Families in the Anti-Iraq War Movement |