References for Geopolitics

• Feminist analysis of the binaries of ‘here’ and ‘there’ or ‘us’ and ‘them’ created by 9/11 tragedy

• Human rights abuses ignored and images of Afghan civilians killed in the attacks omitted to form an audible silence

• The tragedy was both local and global but was produced as a national tragedy

Hyndman, 2003

• Fear cuts across the personal and societal, it has been globalised since the War on Terror

• There is a disconnection between fear and everyday life meaning they is a lack of understanding of how social politics can become entangled in the everyday to form emotional landscapes

• Marginality is strongly related to fear and often much hidden violence occurs in the private spheres

• Global and local fear interacts, an example being women’s bodies being caught up in international relations

Smith, 2008

• There are forced relations operating upon bodies as they are violated, exploited and abandoned

• Many everyday experiences manifest the position of disempowered people, these vulnerable bodies become a site for feminist exploration

• An example of Sara Smith’s work on marriage in Ladkha seeing the body become a geopolitical site

Dixon & Marston, 2011

• Feminist geopolitics as an approach connecting people, places and events across power and productions of inequalities

• There is a need to move away from the ‘Big Men’ of geopolitics and bring marginalised groups into the academic focus

• The creation of the nation-state is seen as the primary form of scale, feminist geopolitics favours the body as a site for deeper analysis

• There is a call for a greater understanding of emotional geopolitics, fear and risk

Massaro & Williams, 2013

• In the 1970s and 80s the WGSG began to publish texts increasing the visibility of women in Geography

• Women had been absent from Geography Departments, journals etc. seeing geography become based on a masculinist rationality that has been reproduced

• Feminist scholars critique masculinist argument and challenge oppression to allow for greater women’s participation

Nayak & Jeffery, 2012

• Geopolitics seen as a masculinist tradition dominated by the study of men and their actions

• Feminist geopolitics occurs at different scales within the private sphere and the body starting with those most impacted

• Women and others now challenge the language of geopolitics which has been viewed as universal but begin to rewrite narratives on the scale of the body and the home providing a new lens to make visible the everyday experiences of women

• There are challenges that feminist geopolitics still only focuses on mainstream women and even greater representation must be reached

Dittmer & Sharp, 2014

• Pan-Africanism sought to force alternative postcolonial worlds to Cold War binaries and see the Third World as a place in it’s own right with unique and vast culture

• Subaltern states have been silenced by the international politics of the US and Europe, they must be heard and understood through an appropriate lens

• Tanzania is an example of advocating for Pan-Africanism with Nyerere pressing for Third World solidarity

Sharp, 2013

• Feminist geography explores unequal relations and understands that geographical knowledge is often gendered and baed on masculine assumptions

• In the 1980s and 90s black feminists spoke of ‘double discrimination’ living in racialised and patriarchal societies, they criticised feminist movements for being insensitive to the differential experiences of women

• Women’s activism includes the private sphere and is often associated with peace movements

Painter & Jeffery, 2012

• Subaltern geopolitics attempts to offer alternatives to dominant critical geopolitics by giving power to marginalised states

• There is little consideration of the politics of representation on the margins with huge parts of the population and global society ignored when their experiences should count the most

• Identifies and connections should be recognised to make visible the margins and provide access to formal circuits of power

• Seeks to build a world where everyone’s lives count and no bodies are seen as more privileged than others

Sharp, 2011

• In the US Empire is very important and is often compared to the British Empire with both being seen as rooted in Mackinder’s ideas and expressions

• Geopolitics centres around 4 key thinkers: Mahan on sea-power, Ratzel on living space, Mackinder on land-power and the Heartland and Kjellen on blocs of states

• In US and Russian strategists Mackinder’s ideas of controlling resources and the wider world have been seen in a revival of geopolitics

• Mackinder’s ideas have resonated in a number of historical movements such as Nazi based strategies, post WW2 US strategies and now Russian and US containment ideas

• His ideas provide a powerful basis for the use of force and projection of this as well as considering the same physical and geographical areas that are important today

• His work could be challenged by progressive geopolitics in the future

Kearns, 2009