Nationalism is Always Gendered

rc-am rcollins at netlink.com.au
Fri May 7 07:57:54 PDT 1999



> state-makers have used nationhood (which Marx called an 'illusory
> community') to foster a solidarist 'us' and alien 'them'...thus,
> male domination of international politics ('high' politics as IR
> types are wont to say, in contrast to so-called 'low' politics
> which includes 'unimportant' issues such as health) exists as
> if in some gender-neutral realm...Michael Hoover

hi Michael,

indeed. and there is another sense in which the relation between nationalism and sexism can be seen clearly I think: that what it means to be 'us' is usually figured in familial, if not downright biological terms. which also shows us the terrain on which racism and sexism come together.

and, whilst I think you're right to note the hierarchy of 'high' and 'low' politics as an explicitly gendered hierarchy in geopolitical 'analyses' and war commentary, in terms of how this is played out within nationalism, I think it's important to note that nationalist politics places quite an emphasis on the 'low', but in highly gendered terms: as in eugenics, the reproduction of the 'race', the promotion of the family as the privileged place of national identity, etc. it's not, as they say, a problem which is solved by 'adding women in', though I know you weren't saying exactly this, it's a problem of how women and men are defined.

Angela --- rcollins at netlink.com.au



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