Update from the War and Peace Studies Caucus
David Kieran
Hello ASA War and Peace Studies Caucus!
I hope that all of you have had restful winter breaks and that the new semester is beginning well. I am writing, perhaps a few weeks belatedly, to give my annual update on the caucus’ activities and outline some of the potential panel ideas that we developed for ASA 2014.
Caucus Leadership
I have decided that, after five years of running the caucus, it’s time for me to make way for new leadership. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of many of you who share the sense that the issues that we care about deserve a stronger voice in the Association, and I’m grateful for the effort that so many of you have put into organizing panels, attending caucus meetings, and so on.
We have also been very successful. Five years ago, several of us came together at ASA in Albuquerque with the idea that there should be more serious, substantive discussions of war within the ASA; the next year, we had a standing-room roundtable on the topic of what it meant to study war within the ASA. In the years that have followed, our growth has been solid and our presence has become stronger. Whereas before the caucus was formed it was sometimes difficult to find war-related panels at ASA, this past fall we spent the Saturday of ASA attending a full slate of caucus activities and war-related panels, as well as several others on other days. We’ve made great strides, but the caucus will best capitalize on its momentum by transitioning to a new chair with new ideas.
If you are interested in taking a leadership role in the caucus, please email me. My succession plan, if it is agreeable to all, is that if only one person volunteers, that person will take over. If two people volunteer, I propose that those two people become co-chairs. If three people volunteer, we’ll figure out some sort of election process.
ASA 2014
The meeting theme for the 2014 ASA is “The Fun and the Fury: New Dialectics of Pleasure and Pain In the Post-American Century,” and the deadline for the ASA 2014 is 11:59 PM (Pacific) on January 26, 2014. In the past, we have not hewed too closely to the meeting theme, on the theory that strong panels stand the best chance of being accepted, but I would also encourage us to think about how our interest might align with that theme. You can read the CFP and instructions for submitting a proposal here: http://www.theasa.net/submit_a_proposal
At our caucus meeting at the 2013 ASA, we developed a set of potential topics, which I will briefly describe here. If you are interested in organizing a panel on any of them, please email me or use the Google group/Caucus Blog to solicit panel members:
· Militarism and the Pacific World: The Obama administration’s 2011 assertion that "The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay" requires historical and analytical work by American Studies scholars. In what ways has American miltiarism engaged with the Pacific World, and how have those intersections been important? What issues are central to thinking about the role of the United States military and the pacific within the context of U.S. empire?
· The American West and American Militarism: A second panel that would be interesting, given the conference location, would examine how the American west has been militarized. From the Mexican-American War through the Indian Wars and afterwards, the west has been a space in which the United States has used military power. As well, it has become a space central to the construction of military bases, the rise of the defense industry and the development of nuclear weapons, drones, and other technologies. The west is also the primary landscape on which Japanese internment occurred and a crucial space for contemporary military recruitment. We invite papers that explore these and other issues related to American militarism and the west.
· The Limits of American Power: We propose a roundtable that examines the role and representation of U.S. military power at the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. How are Americans thinking about what military power can and cannot accomplish? About what U.S. interests are and how they should be achieved? What role does the United States and its military play in the world in the present moment? How has this debate transpired in cultural spaces, and what histories inform that debate?
· Dialectics of Pain and Pleaseure in Militarism: We seek to examine the production and operation of dialectics of pain and pleasure in war and militarism. While most would agree that war is inhumane, traumatic, and “hell” indeed, specific sites and experiences of fun and pleasure have also been produced through and alongside mass destruction and violence. In fact, the sites of pleasure and violence often coexist alongside one another and sometimes occupy the same space. For example, sites of military occupation and past warfare—such as Hawai’i, Philippines, Guam—now serve as destinations for tourism and rest and recuperation for military personnel. U.S. military bases abroad (in South Korea, Okinawa and elsewhere) are often surrounded by bars and brothels that have been implicitly sanctioned by the military and civilian officials. Enduring popularity of war films war-themed video games (such as the Call of Duty series, Medal of Honor, etc.) also attest to the militarization of entertainment in our popular culture. As we investigate the varied sites of pleasure and violence, we seek to be mindful of the uneven production and distribution of “fun”: how have war and militarism produced and defined fun/pleasure for some while generating violence for others? Who gets to experience pleasure? Under what condition and at cost to what or whom? (Contact Ji-Young Um (Ji-Yo...@williams.edu) and Rebecca Adelman (Ade...@umbc.edu) for information)
· Tourism and War: How do tourist practices, in all of their dimensions, intersect with American wars and the aftermath of American Wars? Topics might include tourism during war, consumption, tourist photography and souvenir collecting as well as post-war travel by veterans, refugees, and others.
· Grieveable Bodies: This panel would asses the impact of Judith Butler’s theorizing about bodies at war in contemporary scholarship on war and society in U.S. culture. How has this theorizing shaped the way scholars do their work? What possibilities and limitations does it create? What other ways of thinking about bodies, pain, and affect might be more useful? This panel is intended to start an annual series in which the caucus will take up a major theorist whose work intersects with our own concerns and evaluate the role of that work in the contemporary field.
· Playing War: What is at stake in Americans “playing” war? From childhood play and toys to video games and reenactment, there are many ways in which play and fantasy have been central to American conceptions of war.
These are, of course, only a few possibilities, and we encourage other suggestions. As always, we encourage members to use our Google Group and the caucus blog at the ASA webpage (http://www.theasa.net/caucus_war_and_peace_studies/) to share calls for papers and other announcements.
Best,
Dave Kieran
Rebecca Adelman
Reconsidering “R and R”: Dialectics of Violence and Pleasure in Militarism
While most would agree that war is inhumane, traumatic—“hell” indeed— specific sites of fun and experiences of pleasure have also been produced alongside and even through mass destruction and violence. In fact, locations of pleasure and violence often coexist alongside one another and sometimes occupy the same space, simultaneously or consecutively. For example, sites of military occupation and past warfare (such as Hawai’i, the Philippines, and Guam) now serve as destinations for tourism and, moreover, rest and recuperation (“R and R”)for military personnel. U.S. military bases abroad (in South Korea, Okinawa and elsewhere) are often surrounded by bars and brothels that have been implicitly sanctioned by the military and civilian officials. The enduring popularity of war films and war-themed video games (like the Call of Duty series, Medal of Honor, and Full Spectrum Warrior) also attests to the militarization of entertainment in our popular culture. This panel, sponsored by the War and Peace Studies Caucus, seeks to examine the production and operation of dialectics of violence and pleasure in war and militarism. As we investigate the varied sites of pleasure and violence, we will be mindful of the uneven production and distribution of “fun”: how have war and militarism produced and defined fun/pleasure for some while perpetuating violence for others? What kinds of happiness are possible in such environments? What are the specific contours of pleasure in wartime? Who gets to experience it ? Under what conditions?? To the benefit or cost of whom? What types of conduct are abetted by the idea of ‘fun’? How, ultimately, is play embedded in the structures that perpetuate militarism?
Please send 250-word abstracts to Ji-Young Um (Ji-Yo...@williams.edu) and Rebecca A. Adelman (ade...@umbc.edu) by January 21, 2014. We will notify panelists on January 23, 2014.
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