Meet & Greet with Cynthia Enloe

Welcome to join us for an online meet&greet with our visitor, Professor Enloe. Open to all students of the University of Edinburgh, irrespective of level or direction of study, we look forward to this opportunity to ask questions to Cynthia Enloe about her feminist teachings and research. Below is an extensive insight into past works.

About the Speaker

Cynthia Enloe is Research Professor in the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE), affiliation with Political Science and with Women’s and Gender Studies, all at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Cynthia Enloe’s career has included Fulbrights in Malaysia and Guyana, guest professorships in Japan, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as lectures in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Vietnam, Korea, Colombia, Bosnia, Turkey, Brazil, and at universities around the U.S. Her writings have been translated into Spanish, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Czech, Swedish, Icelandic and German. She has published in Ms. Magazine and The Village Voice, and appeared on National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, C-Span and the BBC.

Professor Enloe's fifteen books include Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives (2000), The Curious Feminist (2004) and Nimo's War, Emma’s War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War, (2010), The Real State of America: Mapping the Myths and Truths about the United States (co-authored with Joni Seager) (2011, revised 2014). Seriously! Investigating Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered appeared in 2013. Enloe’s thoroughly updated and revised 2nd edition of Bananas, Beaches and Bases was published by University of California Press, 2014. Her updated edition of Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link was published in 2016. Enloe’s newest book is The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging Persistent Patriarchy, (Myriad, UK, and Univ. of California Press, US, 2017).

Cynthia Enloe has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Union College (2005), the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (2009), Connecticut College (2010), the University of Lund, Sweden (2012) and Clark University (2014). At Clark University, Cynthia Enloe has served as Chair of Political Science, Director of Women's Studies, on the university's Committee on Personnel, as well as its Planning and Budget Review Committee. Professor Enloe has been awarded Clark University's Outstanding Teacher Award three times. She currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of International Feminist Journal of Politics, Security Dialogue, Women, Politics and Policy, International Political Sociology, Critical Military Studies, and Politics and Gender. She is a member of WILPF's International Academic Network. Professor Enloe's feminist teaching and research have explored the interplay of gendered politics in both the national and international arenas, with special attention to how women’s labor is made cheap in globalized factories (especially sneaker factories) and how women’s emotional and physical labor has been used to support many governments' war-waging policies—and how diverse women have tried to resist these efforts. Racial, class, ethnic and national identity dynamics, as well as ideas about femininities and masculinities, are common threads throughout her studies.

Cynthia Enloe was awarded the International Studies Association's Susan Strange Award in 2007, in recognition of "a person whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and organizational complacency in the international studies community during the previous year." In 2008, she was awarded the Susan B. Northcutt Award, presented annually by the Women’s Caucus for International Studies, of the International Studies Association, to recognize "a person who actively works toward recruiting and advancing women and other minorities in the profession, and whose spirit is inclusive, generous and conscientious."

In 2010, Cynthia Enloe was awarded the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award. The American Council of Learned Societies awarded Cynthia its Charles Haskins Award in 2016, while the Caucus for New Political Science awarded her the McCoy Award in 2018. Cynthia was selected in 2017 to be an Honoree named on the Gender Justice Legacy Wall, installed in the International Crimes Court, The Hague.

Joining Instructions:

This event will be delivered online and joining instructions will be provided in advance of the lecture - look out for an email into your inbox a few hours before the start of the event. Please note that in order to access the joining instructions you will be required to have a registered account with Eventbrite (free), as part of the security measures for the event.

About PIR Distinguished Scholar Series

The Series was created in 2017 and it celebrates, discusses, and examines the work of internationally renowned scholars that have made a big impact on research and teaching. More information on the DSS can be found here.