The Curious Feminist

In this collection of lively essays, Cynthia Enloe makes better sense of globalization and international politics by taking a deep and personal look into the daily realities in a range of women's lives. She proposes a distinctively feminist curiosity that begins with taking women seriously, especially during this era of unprecedented American influence. This means listening carefully, digging deep, challenging assumptions, and welcoming surprises. Listening to women in Asian sneaker factories, Enloe reveals, enables us to bring down to earth the often abstract discussions of the global economy. Paying close attention to Iraqi women's organizing efforts under military occupation exposes the false global promises made by officials. Enloe also turns the beam of her inquiry inward. In a series of four candid interviews and a new set of autobiographical pieces, she reflects on the gradual development of her own feminist curiosity. Describing her wartime suburban girlhood and her years at Berkeley, she maps the everyday obstacles placed on the path to feminist consciousness—and suggests how those obstacles can be identified and overcome.

The Curious Feminist shows how taking women seriously also challenges the common assumption that masculinities are trivial factors in today's international affairs. Enloe explores the workings of masculinity inside organizations as diverse as the American military, a Serbian militia, the UN, and Oxfam. A feminist curiosity finds all women worth thinking about, Enloe claims. She suggests that we pay thoughtful attention to women who appear complicit in violence or in the oppression of others, or too cozily wrapped up in their relative privilege to inspire praise or compassion. Enloe's vitality, passion, and incisive wit illuminate each essay.The Curious Feminist is an original and timely invitation to look at global politics in an entirely different way.

In this collection of lively essays, Cynthia Enloe makes better sense of globalization and international politics by taking a deep and personal look into the daily realities in a range of women's lives. She proposes a distinctively feminist curiosity that begins with taking women seriously, especially during this era of unprecedented American influence. This means listening carefully, digging deep, challenging assumptions, and welcoming surprises. Listening to women in Asian sneaker factories, Enloe reveals, enables us to bring down to earth the often abstract discussions of the global economy. Paying close attention to Iraqi women's organizing efforts under military occupation exposes the false global promises made by officials. Enloe also turns the beam of her inquiry inward. In a series of four candid interviews and a new set of autobiographical pieces, she reflects on the gradual development of her own feminist curiosity. Describing her wartime suburban girlhood and her years at Berkeley, she maps the everyday obstacles placed on the path to feminist consciousness—and suggests how those obstacles can be identified and overcome.

The Curious Feminist shows how taking women seriously also challenges the common assumption that masculinities are trivial factors in today's international affairs. Enloe explores the workings of masculinity inside organizations as diverse as the American military, a Serbian militia, the UN, and Oxfam. A feminist curiosity finds all women worth thinking about, Enloe claims. She suggests that we pay thoughtful attention to women who appear complicit in violence or in the oppression of others, or too cozily wrapped up in their relative privilege to inspire praise or compassion. Enloe's vitality, passion, and incisive wit illuminate each essay.The Curious Feminist is an original and timely invitation to look at global politics in an entirely different way.

Introduction: Being Curious about Our Lack of Feminist Curiosity

Part 1. Sneakers, Silences, and Surprises

1. The Surprised Feminist
2. Margins, Silences, and Bottom Rungs: How to Overcome the Underestimation of Power in the Study of International Relations
3. The Globetrotting Sneaker
4. Daughters and Generals int he Politics of the Globalized Sneaker
5. Whom Do You Take Seriously?
6. Feminist Theorizing fromBananas toManeuvers: A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe and Marysia Zalewski

Part 2. Wars Are Never "Over There"

7. All the Men Are in the Militias, All the Women Are Victims: The Politics of Masculinity and Femininity in Nationalist Wars
8. Spoils of War
9. Masculinity as a Foreign Policy Issue
10. "What If They Gave a War . . . ": A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe, Vivian Stromberg, and the Editors ofMs. Magazine
11. Sneak Attack: The Militarization of U.S. Culture
12. War-Planners Rely on Women: Thoughts from Tokyo
13. Feminists Keep Their Eyes on Militarized Masculinity: Wondering How Americans See Their Male Presidents
14. Becoming a Feminist: Cynthia Enloe in Conversation with Three British International Relations Scholars

Part 3. Feminists after Wars--It’s Not Over Til It’s Over

15. Women after Wars: Puzzles and Warnings from Vietnam
16. Demilitarization--Or More of the Same? Feminist Questions to Ask in the Postwar Moment
17. A Feminist Map of the Blocks on the Road to Institutional Accountability
18. When Feminists Look at Masculinity and the Men Who Wage War: A Conversation between Cynthia Enloe and Carol Cohn
19. Updating the Gendered Empire: Where Are the Women in Occupied Afghanistan and Iraq?

Part 4. Six Pieces for a Work in Progress: Playing Checkers with the Troops

20. War without White Hats
21. Playing Guns
22. Hitler Is a Jerk
23. Leaden Soldiers
24. Gurkhas Wear Wool
25. The Cigarette

Notes
Index