Ohio University Press Militarizing Marriage: West African Soldiers’ Conjugal Traditions in Modern French Empire (War and Militarism in African History)

Product Description By prioritizing women and conjugality in the historiography of African colonial soldiers, Militarizing Marriage historicizes how the subjugation of women was indispensable to military conquest and colonial rule across French Empire. Review "A groundbreaking work of scholarship [that] contributes to a wide range of literatures. These include feminist scholarship on gender and militarism in Africa, the extensive historiography on African colonial militaries, and the historical literature of women's roles in Western European armies.... Not only a significant and sophisticated contribution to the historical literature on the tirailleurs sénégalais and other African colonial armies but also to the growing literature on gender and militarism in Africa. Due to its temporal, geographic, and thematic scope, it will be of interest to scholars of African, global, and military history."--Lennart Bolliger, author of Apartheid's Black Soldiers: Un-National Wars and Militaries in Southern Africa "An original, significant contribution to the field of African history, Zimmerman's thoroughly researched and insightful study on French colonial marital traditions discusses how the conjugal relationships between West African tirailleurs sénégalais soldiers and local women over Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia--and their resulting mixed-race children--represented a challenge to the French colonial racial hierarchy"--Tim Stapleton, author of Africa: War and Conflict in the Twentieth Century " Militarizing Marriage's focus on African soldiers' conjugal unions, households, and trans-imperial sexual relationships adds exciting new dimensions to the historiography of colonial militaries and their roles in imperial conquest, occupation, as well as in the world wars."--Michelle R. Moyd, author of Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa About the Author Sarah J. Zimmerman is an associate professor in history at Western Washington University. Her research focuses on the experiences of women and the operation of gender in West Africa and French Empire. She has published articles in the International Journal of African Historical Studies and Les Temps modernes.