Dr. Debali Mookerjea-Leonard 3 credits

How are women affected by war? Is political nationalism good for women? Are women “naturally” peaceful? Why is the production of “patriotic” mothers integral to the modern national war mobilization? Women have been described within some strands of feminist thought as “different” and often characterized as nurturing and generally pacifist; however, such an approach eclipses the fact that war continues to find wide sympathy among women. Women frequently cooperate in, and support, war efforts despite the possibility of personal misfortune—the loss of family members, destitution and displacement, as well as women’s bodies being used as “particular targets of war, victims of rape, sexual humiliation, radical social dislocation, permanent injury and murder” (Ruddick).
Through a study of literary and feminist-theoretical and critical writings, and films on recent political upheaval in South Asia and the Middle East, this course explores women’s relationship to war, peace, the state, politics, and processes of cultural production.

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