New Books in Critical Theory

Jennifer Greenburg, "At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War" (Cornell UP, 2023)

Jan 11, 2025

Jennifer Greenburg, a political geographer and lecturer at the University of Sheffield, discusses her book, which examines the intersection of military humanitarianism and feminist discourse post-9/11. She reveals how U.S. military strategies transformed to incorporate women in combat roles, raising questions about imperial feminism. Greenburg critiques the romanticized narratives around women's rights in warfare and highlights the conflicting dynamics between gender, military training, and humanitarian efforts, emphasizing the need to reconsider traditional feminist perspectives.

46:05

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Jennifer Greenburg

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Quick takeaways

Dr. Jennifer Greenburg critiques the role of imperial feminism in justifying military interventions, revealing its impact on gender dynamics and military strategies.

The podcast discusses how the U.S. military leveraged humanitarian efforts in counterinsurgency, challenging traditional narratives of women's rights and role in combat.

Deep dives

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Intro

3min

Military Humanitarianism and Feminism

7min

Contradictions in Military Training: Gender, Imperialism, and Humanitarianism

4min

Historical Lessons in Military Counterinsurgency Training

5min

Women in Warfare: Gender, Power, and Imperialism

23min

At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War (Cornell University Press, 2023) by Jennifer Greenburg reveals how post-9/11 politics of gender and development have transformed US military power. In the mid-2000s, the US military used development as a weapon as it revived counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military assembled all-female teams to reach households and wage war through development projects in the battle for "hearts and minds." Despite women technically being banned from ground combat units, the all-female teams were drawn into combat nonetheless. Based on ethnographic fieldwork observing military trainings, this book challenges liberal feminist narratives that justified the Afghanistan War in the name of women's rights and celebrated women's integration into combat as a victory for gender equality.

Dr. Jennifer Greenburg critically interrogates a new imperial feminism and its central role in securing US hegemony. Women's incorporation into combat through emotional labor has reinforced gender stereotypes, with counterinsurgency framing female soldiers as global ambassadors for women's rights. This book provides an analysis of US imperialism that keeps the present in tension with the past, clarifying where colonial ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality have resurfaced and how they are changing today.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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