Cynthia Enloe

Cynthia Enloe's Report from The Syrian Peace Talks, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, January 30, 2014

Unlike Enloe's previous books, Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War (2010) looks at how war itself is a cataclysm that disrupts countless lives. In this particular book, Cynthia Enloe solely focuses on capturing the impact of war and revolution on women during the Iraq War. The book looks at eight ordinary women, half Iraqis and half American, and all these women reflect different ideas about feminism through looking into their lives in detail. Importantly, Enloe does not only focus on the female half of this gender-driven phenomenon, but she also looks at their male counterpart in order to further investigate and provide an insight between the consequences of war and the effects on gender roles.

University of California Press, 2010 in Ms. Magazine, Spring 2010

In The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in the New Age of Empire (2004) Enloe pays particular attention to the effect of globalization on women's labor and wage ratios. This book not only addresses women's roles in economic markets, world conflicts, and power politics, but also shows Enloe's particular interest in linking these themes to women's everyday lives. She addresses themes similar to those in Bananas, Beaches and Bases, but in this book she also discusses how she became interested in becoming a feminist. She asserts that curiosity as a feminist means that no woman's life should be beyond the scope of her interest. She also focuses on the influence of American culture on women of other nations and scrutinizes the masculine aspects of such well-established organizations as the United Nations and the American military. Among other things, she explains that, though she views violence as fundamentally masculine, she does not view only men as perpetrators of violence.

In "Gender Is Not Enough: The Need for Feminist Consciousness" (2004), Enloe reviews previous conversations with colleagues and fellow feminists, regarding masculinity and international relations. It is mentioned that women are generally disengaged in the UN's wartime peace process of "DDR": disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. Enloe comments on a recent meeting she attended pertaining to 'gender and small arms trade', and how attempts to focus the UN gathering on masculinity had been largely unsuccessful. The matter of international relations and masculinity is addressed, and with that, the concern of masculinity of peacemaking efforts in relation to security. Conversation about the politics of masculinity is quickly dismissed by delegates, suggesting the fear of having their masculinity – and therefore reputation in the world of international relations – examined. As important as it is to address the dynamics of masculinity in politics and specifically in international relations, it is also crucial not to neglect the women and girls. When masculinity is given proper thought, it seems the topic of feminism becomes non-existent. The invisibility of women in military measures and the political disregard for the needs and ideas of women and girls are highlighted and given proper context. Enloe discusses the question of serious feminist analysis in international relations. Two potential fears arise from this question; first, thought of one's own relationship to masculinity is necessary when deciding what is deemed a "serious" issue; and second, the potential to be seen as feminine based on one's judgment of said "serious" issue and therefore the possibility of being valued as less credible. Enloe warns the issues of letting masculinity and men override all aspects of international relations. She speaks of her own difficulties with writing candidly about women and the military and her fears of not being recognized as a legitimate political scientist because of her particular views. The stigma behind feminist thought in international relations needs to be reviewed and resolved. Enloe makes very clear that there is still an immense need for the study of masculinity in international relations and political economy. In order to better develop the international relations discipline, it is imperative that 'gender' be given a broader scope. In order to do so, there must be a feminist consciousness throughout the international relations community, as well as at the local level. A feminist consciousness will instill the education and interest in women and girls through their experiences, actions and ideas. Enloe finishes by reminding that without a proper feminist consciousness; we cannot fully comprehend or accurately analyze masculinity.

Ever since, Enloe's work has primarily focused upon how feminist and gendered politics have shaped the national and international conversations. Enloe focuses on the unfair treatment of women in globalized factory and the many ways in which women are exploited for their labor. She also critiques global as well as U.S. militarization, specifically the roles women play in combat. Enloe isn't afraid to address security from a feminist perspective. She argues that the U.S. military model trains men to be the protectors of women and then produces an environment in which women are the victims of physical violence. One of Enloe's many contributions to feminist writings has been her coining of the term “feminist curiosity.” It came about in 2003 when Enloe was giving a talk at Ochanomizu University, a historic women's university in Tokyo. She has said that she wanted to come up with a phrase that she felt could be understood in both English and Japanese as her lecture was being translated for those who attended. Enloe created this idea of “feminist curiosity” as a way of saying that feminism is about the questions you ask, not just the answers you give.

Enloe states that she has been influenced by many other feminists who use an ethnographic approach, specifically, Seung-Kyung Kim's (1997) work on South Korean women factory workers during the pro-democracy campaign and Anne Allison's (1994) work on observing corporate businessmen's interactions with hostesses in a Tokyo drinking club. Enloe has also listed Diane Singerman, Purnima Mankekar, and Cathy Lutz as people who have inspired and influenced her work. When asked how Enloe defines feminism for herself, she stated that "Feminism is the pursuit of deep, deep justice for women in ways that change the behaviors of both women and men, and really change our notions of what justice looks like." She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by prestigious universities such as 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).

Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (first published in 1990, with a revised edition published in 2014) presents sexism as a prevalent issue and gives readers a look at the history of such commonplace components of the modern world as the tourism industry. Enloe displays the links between women of different cultures during the 1800s. Enloe discusses colonialism in light of the typically held perceptions of the masculine West and the feminine East. Discussing women from varied cultures, Enloe investigates how Muslim women, among others, felt compelled to validate their cultural practices in the face of Orientalism. This book argues that lack of understanding of foreign cultures and fascination with the differences in clothing and lifestyles of indigenous and colonial populations contributed to their continued subjugation.

At the beginning of her career, Enloe mainly focused on studying ethnic and racial politics. She completed her dissertation in Malaysia on a Fulbright Scholarship from 1965-1966. There, she researched the country's ethnic politics. Ten years after receiving her PhD, Enloe had written six books on the subject of ethnical tensions and its role in politics, however she had yet to look at any of these subjects from a feminist angle; something she admits she is “embarrassed of.” It wasn't until she first began teaching at Clark University, in the middle of the U.S.-Vietnam war, that Enloe really began to develop her feminist thought. Enloe spoke with a colleague at Clark, the only man on the faculty who was a veteran, about his experiences during the Vietnam war. He mentioned that Vietnamese women were hired by American soldiers to do their laundry. She began to wonder how history would be different if the entire war had been told through the eyes of these Vietnamese women.

After completing her undergraduate education at Connecticut College in 1960, she went on to earn an M.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D. in 1967 in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley, Enloe was the first woman ever to be a Head TA for Aaron Wildavsky, then an up-and-coming star in the field of American Politics. For much of her professional life she taught at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. At Clark, Enloe served as Chair of the Department of Political Science and as Director of Women's Studies. She also served on the university's Committee on Personnel and its Planning and Budget Review Committee. Enloe was awarded Clark University's Outstanding Teacher Award on three separate occasions.

Cynthia Holden Enloe (born July 16, 1938) is a feminist writer, theorist, and professor. She is best known for her work on gender and militarism and for her contributions to the field of feminist international relations. She has also had major impact on the field of feminist political geography, in particular feminist geopolitics. In 2015, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, in conjunction with the academic publisher Taylor & Francis, created the Cynthia Enloe Award "in honour of Cynthia Enloe's pioneering feminist research into international politics and political economy, and her considerable contribution to building a more inclusive feminist scholarly community."

Cynthia Enloe was born in New York, New York and grew up in Manhasset, Long Island, a New York suburb. Her father was from Missouri and went to medical school in Germany from 1933 to 1936. Her mother went to Mills College and married Cynthia's father upon graduation.