cihscholarsandguests

Fields of Study: History, Literature of Europe, Women’s Studies, Women, author of 12 books on subjects of significance to women, including “The People’s Guide to National Defense,” (first author with 3 co-authors); “Women, Militarism, and War: Essays in History and Social Theory” (with Jean Bethke Elshtain as first author).

I have good knowledge of the military from a feminist perspective having written articles about female “Missile-eers” and other defense matters for Ms Magazine, been part of an Air Force review of the Air Force Academy, and of military issues, from having co-authored “The People’s Guide to National Defense.” And produced two slide shows for women sponsored by AAUW, “Know Your Weapons,” “Know your Defense Budget.” My perspectives are that of a historian and feminist studies analyst. But I can respond to the narratives in Coming in Hot also as literature. I bring no bias against the military with me into this project. On the contrary, I see the military as providing much needed opportunity for women, a ladder out of poverty and opportunities for leadership.

Kathleen G. Williamson

Academic Degrees, Disciplines: JD.(Law), LL.M. (Law, Intellectual Property), Ph.D. (Cultural Anthropology).

Fields of Study: Law, Anthropology, Music, Humanities, Arts

“Coming in Hot” is a powerful emotional, informative, and reflexive work. The stories and performance are of great interest from a social science and anthropological perspective. I would discuss areas of legal anthropology, specifically conflict resolution between nations and individuals and how that filters down to and conflicts the individual in a militarized culture at war. Of further interest is the classic anthropological, as well as feminist, questions concerning the divisions of labor and privilege among the classes and genders in a society. The work is also very important in terms of ethnographic
qualitative data and its interface with creative non-fiction.

Fenton Johnson

Academic Degrees, Disciplines: MFA, Creative Writing, University of Iowa Writers Workshop, 1982

Fields of Study: Literature, Religion, Gay/Lesbian, Human Rights

I am the author of four books and numerous essays and works of creative nonfiction in a wide variety of styles and addressing a variety of issues, though social justice has always been the foundation for my work. That passion for social justice began -- at least in a public way -- in 1971, when I filed with my rural Kentucky draft board as a conscientious objector at the same time when two of my older brothers had enlisted as soldiers and one very nearly gave his life. I have recently drafted the first chapter of a memoir / work of literary nonfiction grounded in that experience, where I fought for and finally received the only conscientious objector status my draft board granted in the history of the Vietnam conflict.

Working from that experience and from a life of following our nation’s periodic overseas interventions, I would provide the perspective of a child of the working classes who decided to resist the choice that my brothers made, a choice as old as history -- to seek social and economic advancement through military service. I would welcome panel participation as an opportunity to discuss in detail the stories of women facing similar choices today, as now even more than in the 1970s military service is very nearly the only opportunity for young people from less prosperous classes to advance their economic prospects and receive an education. I would also use he panel as an opportunity to revisit those difficult Vietnam years, to evaluate lessons we have learned as well as those we have ignored.

Adela C. Licona

Academic Degrees, Disciplines: Rhetoric/Women's Studies

Fields of Study:Rhetoric, Women's Studies, Community/Social Media, Action Research, Community Literacies, Public Scholarsip

I will explore the stories that circulate and have been lived in regards to women in the military. As a feminist scholar, I work with and for community in many ways in order to fulfill my dedication to public scholarship. My work on this project specifically will draw on my understandings of the role that public and civic discourses can and do play in our academic and non academic communities and develop community literacy. Among more, I study how stories and the discourses that constitute them are framed rhetorically, how they circulate and get established (or challenged) as truths and how collective counter-stories can inform and/or settle larger narratives. Establishing questions and participating in conversations in collaboration with other humanities scholars and community activists will ensure multiple perspectives to enrich both the inquiry and representations of this project.

Laura Gronewold

Academic Degrees, Disciplines: MA, English Literature; Graduate Certificate, Gender & Women's Studies; PhD candidate

Fields of Study: 20th century American Literature, Feminist and Gender Theories, Film Studies

I am pursuing PhD in Literature at the University of Arizona, with a Graduate Certificate in Gender & Women’s Studies. I have worked extensively with women’s narratives and stories, including my master's thesis on the “evil woman” in Margaret Atwood novels. My scholarly work focuses on constructions of gender and sexuality, feminist and gender theories, 20th century literature and film, and women writers. I am currently working on a dissertation focusing on the ideological and cultural work of the contemporary women’s writing known as “chick lit.”

Dr. Anita Fonte, community dialogue and civic engagement facilitator, has facilitated civic dialogue and community development for over 30 years. Organizations she has worked with range from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to the Tucson Community Foodbank.

Kimberly J Shroyer was born and raised in Ohio and went into college right after High School. After dropping out 3 years later, she joined the army to serve her country, pay off student loans and finish school. She was a diesel mechanic in the Army from '04-'08, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (deployed to Baghdad) for one year. After an honorable discharge, Kimberly moved to Tucson with her partner and to study History and Gender & Women’s Studies. She will graduate in 2011.

Jamie Jansen was born the second of what would be six children (3 boys, 3 girls) into the small Mormon community of Mona Utah. At 17 she dropped out of high school and went to work at a trap and skeet clu, a pig far, and the jewelry counter at Wal-Mart. Failing out of my first semester of college in Utah she decided to join the Army. She watched and admired women in the military since seeing them portrayed in the media during the first Gulf War. As her three brothers were all mechanics, and it was something that had interested her she decided to join as a Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic (63B). She completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Jackson South Carolina in 2000. Her first duty station was at Camp Stanley South Korea. After a year she was moved to Fort Bragg NC, then received her first deployment to K2, Uzbekistan (on the northern Afghanistan border). Upon return from K2 she went through the Primary Leadership Development Course and was sent to Fort Bliss TX. Three weeks after arriving at Fort Bliss (before she even got unpacked) she was sent to Kuwait to await the invasion of Iraq, and was among the first to cross the berm once the war kicked off. Upon return from Iraq she spent the remaining year and a half of her five-year enlistment at Fort Bliss TX. Since her separation from the Active Duty Army she joined the Army Reserves and currently holds the rank of Staff Sergeant. She is currently pursuing a BA with a double major in History and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona. She has two children, Julie and Gideon, and expects a third, Lillian, in late November. After completion of college she plans to research and write about women’s history because I feel it is largely unrepresented and unreported.