War, Sex, and Gender

Why are debates over the gender norms of militaries so contentious? Why do sex and the body so often become weapons or targets of war? This graduate seminar aims to introduce students to the theories and methodologies of gender history and to interrogate how gender might serve as a useful analytic lens for understanding warfare, geopolitics, or violent revolution. Through topics ranging from the Great War to Cold War counterinsurgencies, we will ask why sex and gender norms become such potent terrains for contesting power during periods of armed struggle. We will also extend our conversations into the realm of memory, to understand why gendered experiences of conflict remain sites of public debate.

War and Society in the 20th Century

War is a social activity. War shapes societies – what they value, how they see themselves, and how they interact with other societies. But societies also shape war: ideas about masculinity, gender, race, and class all inform military culture and practice on and off the battlefield. Conflict has indelibly marked societies across the globe. Studying war and its impact can provide new insights into the history of the 20th century.

Beginning with the Great War and continuing through the present day, this course will examine war and society thematically around topics such as masculinity, homecoming, the home front, and more. The course focuses on international conflicts that embroiled Europe, its African and Asian Empires, and the United States, whose military might came to dominate the second half of the century. Alongside these topical histories of war, we will also study the ethics, methods, and practices of oral history. As the semester progresses, we will draw on our knowledge from both aspects of the course to plan and collect oral histories of war with local veterans and other Miami community members who have experienced armed conflict.

World War II: A Global History, 1939-1945

The Second World War was a cataclysm of global proportions that transformed the world. It unleashed untold violence, destroyed entire societies, and ended millions of lives – many through systematic extermination. It mobilized entire nations, fractured empires, and propelled the United States and the Soviet Union to the rank of superpowers. In the process, it profoundly transformed ideas about political rights, gender roles, and national belonging. For better or worse, the Second World War laid the foundations for our contemporary world.

This course will examine the origins, experiences, and legacies of the Second World War. We will examine the war as a global phenomenon: one that crossed national boundaries and whose effects reverberated around the world. We will also examine the war as a site of memory. Because the war had such a profound impact, it remains an important cultural reference point today. Throughout the semester we will compare popular representations of the war (in film, literature, etc.) with the historical record in order to critically evaluate how personal and societal memories of historical events can differ from their reality.

As part of our effort to understand World War Two as a site of memory, we will dive into online historical archives related to the war. Throughout the semester, we will work with archival documents, photographs, and artefacts to build a digital exhibit using ArcGIS StoryMaps. You’ll learn how to interpret the documents you find and how to use them to construct a story that can teach something to the broader public.

Oral history Lab

Over the course of the semester, we will study oral history as a tool for recording and understanding the experiences of wartime. Each Thursday, we will meet for ‘Oral History Lab,’ where we will learn about and practice the methods of oral history. We will learn how to prepare and conduct interviews, and how to operate technologies such as recording and transcription equipment. We will also learn to see oral interviews as a collaborative relationship between interviewer and interviewee. We will also discuss the legal and ethical issues tied to interviewing human subjects as well as the impact of memory on oral histories.

Digital Archive exhibit Project

As part of our effort to put history and popular memory in dialogue in this course, we explore digital archives on the war and use them to build a digital exhibit aimed at the public. Through this project, you will learn how read and interpret archival collections, as well as how to use the information you find to construct a story about the documents for the public. This is a group project, which you will complete in groups of four. To create these digital displays, we will use a piece of software called ArcGIS StoryMaps. The program is fairly intuitive, and students will get training and assistance from the FIU GIS Center. The project involves multiple distinct steps – researching sources, designing, and then building your StoryMap – so we will work on it throughout the semester in the form of several smaller assignments that build on one another.