Impotent Warriors (eBook)

Perspectives on Gulf War Syndrome, Vulnerability and Masculinity

Susie Kilshaw (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2008
282 Seiten
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-84545-879-9 (ISBN)

Infos

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 "e;Gulf War Syndrome"e; (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.

Inhalt

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

Produkt-Details

• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Arbeits- / Sozial- / Umweltmedizin
• Themenwelt: Studium ► 1. Studienabschnitt (Vorklinik) ► Med. Psychologie / Soziologie
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Infektiologie / Immunologie
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Klinische Umweltmedizin
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Prävention / Gesundheitsförderung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: conflict studies • Medical Anthropology, Peace &amp • Medical Anthropology, Peace & Conflict Studies • Medical Anthropology, Peace and Conflict Studies, Gender Studies and Sexuality
• ISBN-10: 1-84545-879-6 / 1845458796
• ISBN-13: 978-1-84545-879-9 / 9781845458799