Might the voices of women veterans cast a new light on the realities, ravages and aftermath of war? At a time when we have an increasing number of women in active combat, what would it mean to see war through their eyes? What might their writings and reflections have to teach us? During the Iraq War, American women made history insofar as they participated in combat on an unprecedented scale. Yet, public discourse rarely spotlighted or celebrated this achievement, but instead focused obsessively on the media’s “controversial” characterization of female veterans such as Jessica Lynch and Lyndie England. The Iraq War is groundbreaking in both historical and literary terms: first, women not only served but also fought openly as women for the first time in a full-scale war waged by the United States; second, authors have begun to feature openly female combatants as the centerpieces of war narratives (Geoffrey Wright, "I'm a Soldier, Not a Gender," 2018, p. 658). This special issue of The Journal of Veterans Studies focuses on the double bind that females face as both woman and servicemember within a hyper-masculine U.S. military culture that often casts this dual positionality as an inflexible binary, and asks contributors to reflect on the ways that the Iraq War has produced a body of literature in both fiction and first-person memoir that portrays women as active combatants and participants instead of spectators or victims. We encourage submissions that engage with or analyze one or more of the following subtopics:
Important Deadlines:
September 1, 2020 Abstract submissions due
September 15, 2020 acceptance/rejections sent out
January 5, 2021 Final manuscripts due
January 31, 2021 Revision requests
March 1, 2021 Revisions submitted
Please submit abstracts to special issue editors Roger Thompson and Meghan Buckley at roger.thompson@stonybrook.edu and meghan.buckley@stonybrook.edu. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and have an accompanying 50-word author bio.
Posted on 01 Jun 2020
The idea of an individual’s identity is at the core of many conversations, both currently and historically, and the conversation about veteran identity and how other this identity does (or does not) intersect with other facets of an individual’s identity is just beginning. This special issue invites submissions that work to expand our dialogue and challenge our understanding of veteran identity and representation. The Journal of Veterans Studies invites scholarly articles that pursue questions about veteran identity and invites personal perspectives of veteran identities to complement these scholarly articles. Contributions may explore, but are not limited to the following questions:
Proposals for the issue and any queries may be sent to Katt Starnes at starnes.katt@yahoo.com.
Timeline
Posted on 05 Mar 2020
Call for Papers for Edited Collection | Advancing Veterans Studies
This collection emerges from the current moment and our shared interest in advancing veterans studies as an academic discipline. Consistent with this range of efforts, we welcome contributions that give voice not just to campus-community successes, but also to their challenges beyond academic borders. To complement chapter-length discussions of approximately 25 pages or the equivalent, we encourage course syllabi or project design case studies of approximately 8-10 pages (or equivalent), as well as interviews with veterans studies specialists working on campus and in the community to advance the field of veterans studies.
Contributions may include, but are not limited to, the following:
• What are best practices for teaching veterans studies?
• What are best practices for researching veterans studies?
• What theories drive veterans studies?
• What are the material conditions or institutional constraints impacting veterans studies?
• How is veterans studies being taught in community organizations?
We welcome queries regarding format and content during the proposal development and submission process; please submit all proposals to veteransstudies@gmail.com.
Timeline:
Deadline for 500-word proposals and brief author bio | Sept. 1, 2019 to veteransstudies@gmail.com
Feedback on proposals: November 1, 2019
Deadline for manuscripts app. 25 double-spaced pages or the equivalent: March 24, 2020
Feedback to contributors: April 15, 2020
Deadline for revised manuscripts: June 15, 2020
Posted on 25 Jul 2019
5th Veterans in Society Conference Veteran Identity, Advocacy, and Representation
March 22-24, 2020 JC Penny Conference Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis 1 University Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63121
We invite scholars at all levels—including students and those out of academia—to cross national, cultural, historical, and disciplinary boundaries to reflect on the theme of “Veteran Identity, Advocacy, and Representation.”
Submit proposals to VIS20@UMSL.EDU
Important Dates
• Submissions open: June 1, 2019
• Proposal Deadline: November 4, 2019
• Notification of acceptance: Early December 2019
Contact VIS20@umsl.edu
See the full call on our website.
Posted on 28 Jun 2019
Veterans Studies is a growing field of research that addresses the significant impact of military personnel transitioning from active duty to civilian life. Outside the trauma of military existence is the rich sense of community that exists in the humorous aspects of providing service to one’s country. These stories and experiences have provided mass media laughs in periodicals like Reader’s Digest’s “Humor in Uniform” and in television shows like Gomer Pyle, Hogan’s Heroes, The A-Team, and Mash. No tragedy is complete without inferences of comedy. This session invites papers that explore the many humorous facets of military experience exhibited in literature, theater, film, and poetry written about or by military veterans.
A significant justification for this session is the opportunity to submit completed papers to the Journal of Veterans Studies, “an open-access, peer-reviewed journal…whose goals are to sustain research in veteran’s studies, facilitate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and narrow gaps between cultures, institutions, experiences, knowledge, and understanding.”
This topic is especially relevant because the session occurs during the Veterans Day national holiday in a region that proudly features Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Point Loma, Marine Corps Base Miramar, Naval Air Station North Island, and a host of National Guard units statewide.
Posted on 10 Jun 2019
In November 2016, we established the Journal of Veterans Studies (JVS). JVS’ mission was to narrow the gaps between veteran and civilian cultures, experiences, and institutions. Our logo, which featured a book adorned with images of a rifle and a pen, represented how we would accomplish this mission during our formative years—by collaborating with an international and interdisciplinary scholarly community to write the underrepresented voices of veterans and their families into our academic and historic records.
Now, a mere three years later, JVS has published nearly 80 original peer-reviewed articles and reviews, in effect recognizing countless stories belonging to veteran communities. While it is clear that awareness to the veteran experience has grown with JVS, it is important that we do not stop here. We must continue growing.
Our new logo is a red poppy developed by graphic designer Vassilissa Semouchkina. During World War I, Canadian soldier John McCrane wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields” and described red poppies as the first flowers to grow on the graves of soldiers who died in war. Inspired by McCrane’s poem, university professor and YMCA Overseas War Secretaries volunteer Moina Michael, featured the poppy in her 1918 poem “We Shall Keep the Faith” and campaigned to have it adopted as America’s national symbol of remembrance. In 1920, The American Legion adopted the red poppy as a commemorative symbol, and before long, the poppy's symbolic use expanded across veterans’ groups in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
With National Poppy Day approaching on May 24th, JVS draws upon the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance, community, and expansion to remind us—as an international group of veterans and scholars—to continue growing together until our mission is complete.
Posted on 10 May 2019
We have several books in need of reviews: we are looking for reviewers! We look for reviews between 1500-3000 words and completed within 90 days of receipt of book. Below are the available titles.
1. Pathways to Pacifism and Antiwar Activism among U.S. Veterans by Julie Putnam Hart and Anjel N. Stough-Hunter
2. War Veterans And the World After 1945 by Angel Alcalde and Xose M. Nunez Seixas
3. Shoot Like A Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front by
4. Congress and U.S. Veterans: From GI Bill to the VA Crisis.
Interested? Please email Sarah Austin Sarah.Austin@usafa.edu
Posted on 07 Oct 2018
The Journal of Veterans Studies has several opportunities for new media reviews, and we are looking for reviewers. We ask that reviews are between 1500-3000 words and completed within 90 days of confirmation of the subject. Below are just a few of the available opportunities. If you don’t see one you’re interested in, let me know. There’s a chance we have something that fits your interests. Interested reviewers should contact Katt Blackwell-Starnes at kattstarnes@gmail.com
Posted on 08 Aug 2018