TY - JOUR

T1 - The Art of War/The War Question in (Feminist) IR.

AU - Sylvester, Christine

N1 - RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Politics and International Studies

PY - 2005/6/1

Y1 - 2005/6/1

N2 - The war for art within the war for Iraq has gone nearly unnoticed in IR, much the way gender has long been neglected by IR analysts of war. One might say that IR has not yet formulated the gender question in war and is now likely to overlook the possibilities of an art question in IR, too. Feminist IR has no art question in war either, in part because feminists understudy war relative to other tranhistorical and transnational institutions, such as the family and religion. This article highlights these respective myopias and explores theoretical and methodological modes of refusing them. I propose to bring art into war thinking via a method associated with art making, the technique of collage; the article includes three imagined collages. Theoretical connections between art, war, gender, and IR build on the work of two feminist theorists — Ann Orford and Judith Butler — whose emphasis on sensory aspects of war dovetails with the empathetic co-operative tradition of feminist IR. The Iraq war contextualises the analysis and foregrounds interventionist war and its humanitarian claims. Throughout, the eye is repeatedly drawn to the power of art, the power of war, and the power latent in a variegated politics of mourning and touch.

AB - The war for art within the war for Iraq has gone nearly unnoticed in IR, much the way gender has long been neglected by IR analysts of war. One might say that IR has not yet formulated the gender question in war and is now likely to overlook the possibilities of an art question in IR, too. Feminist IR has no art question in war either, in part because feminists understudy war relative to other tranhistorical and transnational institutions, such as the family and religion. This article highlights these respective myopias and explores theoretical and methodological modes of refusing them. I propose to bring art into war thinking via a method associated with art making, the technique of collage; the article includes three imagined collages. Theoretical connections between art, war, gender, and IR build on the work of two feminist theorists — Ann Orford and Judith Butler — whose emphasis on sensory aspects of war dovetails with the empathetic co-operative tradition of feminist IR. The Iraq war contextualises the analysis and foregrounds interventionist war and its humanitarian claims. Throughout, the eye is repeatedly drawn to the power of art, the power of war, and the power latent in a variegated politics of mourning and touch.

U2 - 10.1177/03058298050330030801

DO - 10.1177/03058298050330030801

M3 - Journal article

VL - 33

SP - 855

EP - 878

JO - Millennium : Journal of International Studies

JF - Millennium : Journal of International Studies

SN - 0305-8298

IS - 3

ER -