Soldiers/Citizens/War/State

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Starting from the viewpoint that war is not a natural, biological “necessity” or inevitability, this course explores the diverse connections between war and culture, how both shape and construct the other. War and militarization play key roles in the modern nation-state, and much of what we view as “normal,” “everyday,” “common sense,” or “taken for granted” is related to the military and war. Throughout the class, we will focus on militarization, warfare, gender, sexuality, the family, language, technology, torture, trauma, and resistance, to name but a few of the ways war and culture are related in everyday life and experience. We will focus on the modern nation-state, the role of the military in the state, how states create soldiers, and what states do with soldiers and civilians in the pursuit of policy objectives. Who are the victims? Who are the perpetrators? What does it mean to wage war for a nation-state and its citizens, and what does it mean to the object of war and violence? How do people resist war, militarization, violence, torture, and terror?