Cynthia Enloe
Encyclopedia

Biography

Born in 1938, Cynthia Enloe spent her early life on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 in a New York suburb. After completing her undergraduate education at Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...

 in 1960 (which, Enloe reports in The Curious Feminist, had one of the highest rates amongst colleges in the American Northeast of married female students), 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
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. For much of her professional life she taught at Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...

 in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

.

Having retired from Clark, Enloe is a research professor in the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment. She is a former Director of Clark University’s Women Studies program and still a frequent and energetic lecturer. In addition to serving as an editor for such scholarly journals as Signs
Signs (journal)
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society is a feminist academic journal established in 1975. It is published quarterly by the University of Chicago Press. Signs publishes articles on women's studies.- See also :* Cultural studies...

and the International Feminist Journal of Politics
International Feminist Journal of Politics
International Feminist Journal of Politics is the only journal in the field of International Relations and International Political Economy to focus on gender issues in global politics. The journal was founded by Jan Jindy Pettman of the Australian National University Canberra. It is currently...

, Cynthia Enloe has written nine books, mostly published by the University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...

. Much of Enloe’s research centers on women’s place in national and international politics. Her books cover a wide range of issues encompassing gender-based discrimination as well as racial, ethnic and national identities.

She lives in Boston with partner Joni Seager

Important writings

In The Curious Feminist, 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.

Bananas, Beaches, and Bases presents sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

 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
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 in light of the typically held perceptions of the masculine
Masculine
Masculine or masculinity, normally refer to qualities positively associated with men.Masculine may also refer to:*Masculine , a grammatical gender*Masculine cadence, a final chord occurring on a strong beat in music...

 West and the feminine
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...

 East. Discussing women from varied cultures, Enloe investigates how Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 women, among others, felt compelled to validate their cultural practices in the face of Orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...

. 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.

In Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives Enloe elaborates upon the theme of militarization and how governments utilize women’s labor in the process of preparing for and fighting wars.

Selected other writings

  • Contributor, International Relations Theory for the Twenty-First Century, Martin Griffiths, ed., USA: Routledge, 2007
  • "Conversation with Cynthia Enloe," in Signs. Summer, 2003.
  • "The Surprised Feminist," in Signs. Vol. 25, No. 4 (Summer 2000) 1023-1026.
  • The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War, Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1993 (published in Japanese, 1999); new ed. Berkeley & London, University of California Press, 2000 (published in Turkish, 2003).
  • Does Khaki Become You? The Militarization of Women's Lives, London, Pandora Press; San Francisco, Harper\Collins, 1988 (editions have been published in Finnish and Swedish).
  • Ethnic Conflict and Political Development, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1973 (repr. University Press of America, 1986).
  • Coeditor (with Wendy Chapkis) Of Common Cloth: Women in the Global Textile Industry, Amsterdam: Transnational Institute
    Transnational Institute
    Transnational Institute is an international think tank for progressive politics. It was established in 1973 in Amsterdam and serves as a network for scholars and activists...

    ; Washington: Institute for Policy Studies
    Institute for Policy Studies
    Institute for Policy Studies is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C..It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998- History :...

    , 1983.
  • Contributor, Loaded Questions: Women in Militaries, Wendy Chapkis, ed., Amsterdam: Transnational Institute
    Transnational Institute
    Transnational Institute is an international think tank for progressive politics. It was established in 1973 in Amsterdam and serves as a network for scholars and activists...

    ; Washington: Institute for Policy Studies
    Institute for Policy Studies
    Institute for Policy Studies is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C..It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998- History :...

    , 1981.
  • Ethnic Soldiers: State Security in Divided Societies, London: Penguin Books, 1980; Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980.
  • Police, Military, Ethnicity: Foundations of State Power, New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1980.
  • Coeditor (with Dewitt Ellinwood), Ethnicity and the Military in Asia, New Brunswick: Transition Books, 1980.
  • Coauthor (with Guy Pauker and Frank Golay), Diversity and Development in Southeast Asia: The Coming Decade, New York: McGraw-Hill and Council of Foreign Relations, 1977.
  • Coeditor (with Ursula Semin-Panzer), The Military, The Police and Domestic Order: British and Third World Experiences, London: Richardson Institute for Conflict and Peace Research, 1976.
  • The Comparative Politics of Pollution, New York: Longman's, 1975.
  • Multi-Ethnic Politics: The Case of Malaysia, Berkeley Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1970.

Recognition

  • Fulbright awards to Malaysia and Guyana
  • Guest professorships in Japan, Britain and Canada
  • “Outstanding Teacher”, Clark University (3 times)
  • Honorary Doctorate, School of Oriental and African Studies
    School of Oriental and African Studies
    The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

    , University of London (2009).
  • The Susan B. Northcutt Award, Women’s Caucus for International Studies, 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.” (2008)
  • The Susan Strange Award, International Studies Association, for “a person whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and organizational complacency in the international studies community during the previous year.” (2007)

Source

Research Profile for Cynthia Enloe Clark University website. (accessed March 27, 2007).
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