Graduate Journal of Social Science

Since John Keegan’s pathbreaking 1976 The Face of Battle, artificial bifurcations (such as the front/rear, public/private), are in the process of collapsing, further emphasizing social aspects of warfare, while transcending and reaching across artificial boundaries such as those that have often sought to define “race,” “gender,” and “nation.” One of the goals of the new military history since Keegan’s work—and especially since the 1990s—has been to connect this subfield with other historical approaches in the broader social sciences. These include a re-imagining of the history of diplomacy and international studies. Such a shift represents one component of a wider, general move toward “the social.”  

We call for papers addressing the “new military history,” which implicitly critiques gendered images such as men at the “front” and women at the “rear.” We seek papers detailing new military histories of a long twentieth century, particularly in relation to raced, colonized, classed, and gendered statuses. We seek papers emphasizing global connections of war, how civilians experience warfare, and how veterans’ return affects society.

For this issue, we are looking for colleagues whose work expands social, overlapping, and often imperial aspects of military history.  These may include intellectual histories of expectations of battle (as distinguished from assumptions that battlefield experiences lie outside articulable experience/were transformative/etc.). These may also include acknowledgement that intelligence services were a middle ground between “front” and “rear.”

In particular, we are open to:

• African-Americans in the SOS during World War I, denied status as “warriors;”
• Battlefield experiences of nurses, WACS, WAVES etc.
• Black Panther policy regarding the Vietnam conflict as “class warfare;”
• Colonial troops’ orders telephoned from headquarters (so as to leave no paper trail);
• Iraq 2003, and gender/race /class perspectives 
• Newsreel footage of the Stalingrad surrender, and its reception among colonial and African-American troops;
• The “Atlantic Charter” of 1941

Those interested in contributing to this special issue should submit 250-word abstracts by 20 February 2017 to newmilitaryhistories@gmail.com, with “New Military Histories of the 20th Century” in the subject line.  Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by 6 March 2017 and provided a detailed timeline for submission, publication, and other potential opportunities connected to the special issue.

We also invite recommendations for book reviews. If interested, email newmilitaryhistories@gmail.com, identifying the book to be reviewed and justifying its review in terms of the special issue’s theme. The GJSS cannot purchase books or contact publishers for review copies on behalf of the reviewers; obtaining copies of the book for review is the authors’ responsibility.