Settler Military Politics - (Advances in Critical Military Studies) by Federica Caso (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Settler Military Politics provides a thorough investigation of the relationship between settler colonialism and militarisation drawing from the Australian experience. In this book, Caso develops the concept of settler military politics to identify the relationship between settler colonialism and militarisation. The book argues that militarisation is a rationality for governing the settler polity and consolidates the settler colonial project. It investigates settler military politics through an in-depth analysis of the under explored aesthetics of war commemoration in Australia and the role of the Australian War Memorial.

Review Quotes

Federica Caso's dig into contests over portrayals of Australian militarized masculinities reminds me how potent the politics of war memories continue to be - everywhere. Today, when Anzac is so salient in globalized Pacific politics, we need to learn from Caso never to lose track of women's and Indigenous politics of war memorialization when we shine bright lights on racialized masculinities.

In this meticulously researched book, Caso pulls back the curtain on what she terms 'settler military politics', revealing the ways in which military organisation and war commemoration serve the construction and maintenance of settler colonial states like Australia. It's a powerful and important work that deserves to be read.