Civil Discourse & Social Change

Teaching Commons: Militarism

army marchingREADINGS

Reading for Militarism 1 -Visual Occupation in Israel/Palestine:

Visual Occupations by Gil Z. Hochberg

MILITARISM AS A CAUSE OF WORLD WAR 1

https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/militarism/
Explains militarism in the context of World War 1 with some valuable key points
Problem is that it teaches militarism is a thing of the past---not on going
“Militarism is a philosophy or system that places great importance on military power”
“Militarism affected more than policy; it also shaped culture, the media and public opinion”
“Militarism is the incorporation of military personnel and ideas into civilian government – and the belief that military power is essential for national strength.”

The Feminization of the Military? Military Masculinity and Militarised Masculinity 

https://www.academia.edu/16151105/The_Feminisation_of_the_Military_Military_Masculinity_and_Militarised_Masculinity
This study is an investigation into the relation between masculinity and the military. The gender politics of war and the military in the west has greatly changed in the past decades.

What is Militarism? -A Maoist Internationalist Movement Perspective -simple

 https://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/milit.html

ON THE MILITARIZATION OF BORDERS AND THE JURIDICAL RIGHT TO EXCLUDE - more complex and looking at the intersections of xenophobia and militarization, borders

https://www.academia.edu/19567052/On_the_Militarization_of_Borders_and_the_Juridical_Right_to_Exclude

Militarization and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police

https://www.academia.edu/18915183/Militarization_and_Policing_Its_Relevance_to_21st_Century_Police
This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century

Militarized spaces and open range: Piñon Canyon and (counter)cartographies of rural resistance

https://www.academia.edu/14130615/Militarized_spaces_and_open_range_Pi%C3%B1on_Canyon_and_counter_cartographies_of_rural_resistance
This paper examines how rural communities in Colorado have confronted military expansion. Against the backdrop of a series of base realignments and closures during the past three decades that have streamlined US military holdings nationwide, the US Army base at Fort Carson, Colorado, has been growing. In 1983 Fort Carson expanded into a 95 500-hectare training area in southeastern Colorado known as the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS). In 2006 the Army announced plans to expand the PCMS by 169 000 hectares. Under the Army’s proposal, a significant portion of southeastern Colorado would be transformed into the largest Army training ground in the US. This prospect galvanized a diverse coalition of rural residents to oppose the Piñon Canyon expansion. Our research critically considers how the principal actors in this case—the US Army and a rural citizen opposition coalition—mobilized different narrative and political strategies based substantially upon contrasting cartographic representations to shape the debate and construct contested geographies of this space as military training ground versus open range. As of 2014, the expansion of PCMS is on hold, although there is no guarantee that base or military area expansion will not proceed in the future.

Foucault “Society’s Must Be Defended”

http://rebels-library.org/files/foucault_society_must_be_defended.pdf
A series of lectures on militarization

The Martial Imagination: Cultural Aspects of American Warfare

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1010&context=ethj 
This anthology canvasses the American war experience from the Revolution to the War on Terror, examining how it infuses legitimacy and conformity with an urgency that contorts ideas of citizenship, nationhood, gender, and other pliable categories. The multidisciplinary scholarship in this volume represents the varied perspectives of cultural history, American studies, literary criticism, war and society, media studies, and public culture analysis, illustrating the rich dialogues that epitomize the cultural history of American warfare

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239

War is the Health of the State:Reflections on the American Imperial Adventure - 1991

https://www.academia.edu/10492229/_War_is_the_Health_of_the_State_Reflections_on_the_American_Imperial_Adventure_
Accessible and in-depth look at how Americans are conditioned into miltarist and imperialist mentalities

Sowing Seeds: The Militarisation of Youth and How to Counter It (2013)

https://www.academia.edu/10287186/Sowing_Seeds_The_Militarisation_of_Youth_and_How_to_Counter_It_2013_ 
Comprehensive full book----very accessible, variety of sections: how militarism is a part of everyday lives, militarism and education, gendered and queer perspectives on militarism, resistance

Militarizing the Enemy's Home, Israel/Palestine: a Photo Essay (Critical Planning)

https://www.academia.edu/10268591/Militarizing_the_Enemys_Home_Israel_Palestine_a_Photo_Essay_Critical_Planning_
Photo Essay of Israel Palestine Conflict 

VIDEOS

Militainment - Militarism and Pop Culture - 2 hours and 2 minutes

https://www.veoh.com:443/watch/v193682214BnwyD4a

Offers a fascinating, disturbing, and timely glimpse into the militarization of American popular culture, examining how U.S. news coverage has come to resemble Hollywood film, video games, and "reality television" in its glamorization of war. Mobilizing an astonishing range of media examples - from news anchors' idolatry of military machinery to the impact of government propaganda on war reporting - the film asks: How has war taken its place in the culture as an entertainment spectacle?

Good introductory video: Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism - funny, not comprehensive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_E0Ji8tkvw

Andrew Bacevich: "The New American Militarism" | explains his book. Talks At Google

Complicated language at times, explains how anti-Militarism isn’t anti-American and those intersections - but I would advise watching it as a professor and pulling parts that stand out or fit course objective. Synopsis: In this provocative book, Andrew Bacevich warns of a dangerous dual obsession that has taken hold of Americans, conservatives, and liberals alike. It is a marriage of militarism and utopian ideology--of unprecedented military might wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values. This mindset, the author warns, invites endless war and the ever-deepening militarization of U.S. policy. It promises not to perfect but to pervert American ideals and to accelerate the hollowing out of American democracy. As it alienates others, it will leave the United States increasingly isolated. It will end in bankruptcy, moral as well as economic, and in abject failure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoMnIfEG9zY

Accessible

Feminist Dialogue on Militarism and Military Intervention for the 16 Days Campaign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAbp5iDwmYk
The Center for Women's Global Leadership, along with the Global Fund for Women and Ipas, organized a Feminist Dialogue on Militarism and Military Intervention on November 29, 2010 for the 16 Days Campaign. The discussion highlights different feminist perspectives on militarism and notes some important questions that need to be examined regarding how militarism impacts women's rights and promotes various forms of violence and discrimination against women.

Days of Revolt: The Militarism of U.S. Diplomacy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNjoy0kSV0