Intimacy across the Fencelines: Intimacy across the Fencelines
Rebecca Forgash
Abstract
This book examines intimacy in the form of sexual encounters, dating, marriage, and family that involve US service members and local residents. The book analyzes the stories of individual U.S. service members and their Okinawan spouses and family members against the backdrop of Okinawan history, political and economic entanglements with Japan and the United States, and a longstanding anti-base movement. The narratives highlight the simultaneously repressive and creative power of military “fencelines,” sites of symbolic negotiation and struggle involving gender, race, and class that divide the ... More
This book examines intimacy in the form of sexual encounters, dating, marriage, and family that involve US service members and local residents. The book analyzes the stories of individual U.S. service members and their Okinawan spouses and family members against the backdrop of Okinawan history, political and economic entanglements with Japan and the United States, and a longstanding anti-base movement. The narratives highlight the simultaneously repressive and creative power of military “fencelines,” sites of symbolic negotiation and struggle involving gender, race, and class that divide the social landscape in communities that host US bases. The book anchors the global U.S. military complex and US–Japan security alliance in intimate everyday experiences and emotions, illuminating important aspects of the lived experiences of war and imperialism.
Keywords:
sexual encounters,
intimacy,
dating,
marriage,
family,
U.S. service members,
Okinawan history,
U.S.–Japan security alliance
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2020 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501750403 |
Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: January 2021 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501750403.001.0001 |