Title: Over there : living with the U.S. military empire from World War Two to the present /
Authors: Höhn, Maria, 1955-; Moon, Seungsook, 1963-
Publisher: Duke University Press,
Year: 2010
Subjects: Military bases, American Foreign countries History; Military bases, American Social aspects.
Abstract: "Over There explores the social impact of America's global network of more than 700 military bases. It does so by examining interactions between U.S. soldiers and members of host communities in the three locations -- South Korea, Japan and Okinawa, and West Germany -- where more than two-thirds of American overseas bases and troops have been concentrated for the past six decades. The essays in this collection highlight the role of cultural and racial assumptions in the maintenance of the American military base system, and the ways that civil-military relations play out locally. Describing how political, spatial, and social arrangements shape relations between American garrisons and surrounding communities, they emphasize such factors as whether military bases are located in democratic nations or in authoritarian countries where cooperation with dictatorial regimes fuels resentment; whether bases are integrated into neighboring communities or isolated and surrounded by 'camp towns' wholly dependent on their business; and whether the United States sends single soldiers without families on one-year tours of duty or soldiers who bring their families and serve longer tours. Analyzing the implications of these and other situations, the contributors address U.S. military-regulated relations between GIs and local women; the roles of American women, including military wives, abroad; local resistance to the U.S. military presence; and racism, sexism, and homophobia within the U.S. military"--Publisher's description.
Contents: Introduction: the politics of gender, sexuality, race, and class in the U.S. military empire / Maria Höhn and Seungsook Moon -- Regulating desire, managing the empire: U.S. military prostitution in South Korea, 1945-1970 / Seungsook Moon -- "Pan-Pan girls" performing and resisting neocolonialism(s) in the Pacific Theater: U.S. military prostitution in occupied Japan, 1945-1952 / Michiko Takeuchi -- "You can't pin sergeant's stripes on an archangel" : soldiering, sexuality, and U.S. Army policies in Germany / Maria H[MARC+95]hn -- U.S. military families abroad in the post-Cold War era and the "new global posture" / Donna Alvah -- Crossfire couples : marginality and agency among Okinawan women in relationships with U.S. military men / Chris Ames -- Hidden soldiers : working for the "national defense" / Robin Riley -- In the U.S. army but not quite of it : contesting the imperial power in a discourse of KATUSAs / Seungsook Moon -- "The American soldier dances, the German soldier marches" : the transformation of Germans' views on GIs, masculinity, and militarism / Maria Höhn -- In the middle of the road I stand transfixed / Christopher Nelson -- The racial crisis of 1970-1971 in the U.S. military : finding solutions in West Germany and South Korea / Maria Höhn -- Camptown prostitution and the imperial sofa : abuse and violence against transnational Camptown women in South Korea / Seungsook Moon -- Abu Ghraib : a predictable tragedy? / Jeff Bennett -- Conclusion: the empire at the crossroad? / Maria Höhn and Seungsook Moon.