Impotent Warriors
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-84545-526-2 (ISBN)
From September 1990 to June 1991, the UK deployed 53,462 military personnel in the Gulf War. After the end of the conflict anecdotal reports of various disorders affecting troops who fought in the Gulf began to surface. This mysterious illness was given the name “Gulf War Syndrome” (GWS). This book is an investigation into this recently emergent illness, particularly relevant given ongoing UK deployments to Iraq, describing how the illness became a potent symbol for a plethora of issues, anxieties, and concerns. At present, the debate about GWS is polarized along two lines: there are those who think it is a unique, organic condition caused by Gulf War toxins and those who argue that it is probably a psychological condition that can be seen as part of a larger group of illnesses. Using the methods and perspective of anthropology, with its focus on nuances and subtleties, the author provides a new approach to understanding GWS, one that makes sense of the cultural circumstances, specific and general, which gave rise to the illness.
Susie Kilshaw is a social anthropologist at University College London where she pursues her research interests in new illnesses, health scares and anxieties, military health, and trans-cultural psychiatry. She previously worked for the NHS as a clinically applied medical anthropologist on issues surrounding ethnic minorities and mental health. Since 2004 she has been Assistant Editor of Anthropology and Medicine.
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: GWS EXPLANATORY MODELS
Chapter 1. “Desert Rats, Not Lab Rats”
Introduction
Biomedical Position on GWS
A Veteran’s View
Discussion of GWS Causes
Risk
Conclusions
Chapter 2. Chains of Causation, Chains of Knowledge
Introduction
Contested Knowledge
Claims to Truth and Knowledge
Levels of Causation
Meta-narrative
Conclusions
PART II: BODIES AND BOUNDARIES
Chapter 3. Leaky Bodies
Introduction
Body Substances
Body Substances as Commodity
Visibility
Shifting Boundaries
Extended Boundaries
Leaky Bodies
Internal Risks
Conclusions
Chapter 4. “We are the Enemy”
Boundaries and Borders
Theories of Causation and the Immune System
Military Metaphors
Conclusions
PART III GWS AS UNIQUE ILLNESS
Chapter 5. Veterans’ Associations
The Construction of GWS Narratives
The Role of Women
“You Aren’t Mad – It’s Chemical”
Conclusions
Chapter 6. The Disappearing Man: Narratives of Lost Masculinity
Semen
The Soldier’s Body: The Embodiment of Masculinity
GWS Bodies: The Disappearance of Masculinity
“Old Women’s Diseases”
Women
Conclusions
Chapter 7. Impotent Warriors: The Context of Narratives of Lost Masculinity
Military Masculinity
Masculinity under Threat
Gender Anxiety
Leaving the Military
The Military Context
Conclusions: Embodying Male Lack
Conclusion: GWS and World Trade Centre Syndrome
GWS: An Illness of Our Time?
Risk and Vulnerability
The medicalisation of Life
The Approach of Anthropology
Ethical Issues and Dilemmas
Conclusions
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.12.2008 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | Oxford |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 508 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte | |
| Studium ► 1. Studienabschnitt (Vorklinik) ► Med. Psychologie / Soziologie | |
| Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Klinische Umweltmedizin | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-84545-526-6 / 1845455266 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-84545-526-2 / 9781845455262 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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