Scottish soldier-heroes and patriotic war heroines: the gendered politics of World War I commemoration

Abstract

This paper explores the (re)production of embodied gendered and racialised identities as part of commemorations devised by the Scottish government to mark the Centenary of WWI, 2014-18. In particular, we demonstrate how the Centenary has re-established Scotland's key contribution to British military power instead of providing a platform for a broader discussion of British wars and Scotland's role therein. Our analysis posits that this reframing was achieved through the (re)production of a gendered polarisation between white 'dead' soldier-heroes, 'local lads' and bearers of a 'proud Scottish military tradition'; and women as embodiments of patriotic motherhood. We further explore the deployment of specific discursive and performative means to transform Dr Elsie Inglis, the only woman whose contribution was singled out by WW100 Scotland, into a patriotic war heroine. This was achieved by the militarisation of her work; the obscuring of identity, class-and race-based hierarchies within women's war-work; and, finally, through the subversion of feminist ideas and practices in Inglis' work for the Scottish Women's Hospitals. Lastly, we reflect on the gendered legacy of the Centenary, emphasising the necessity for critical engagement with Britain's wars and Scotland's role therein.

The politics and pedagogy of war remembrance

“…Paradoxically, SNP-government-led nationalising efforts did not challenge the ostensibly unproblematic co-existence of Scottish and British martial identities within education and broader politics (Danilova and Dolan, 2020; Ditchburn and Macdonald, 2014; McCrone, 2017). These efforts introduced Scottish identity as simultaneously one of difference to the British militarised state and one which praises Scottish contributions to Britain’s wars.…”

“…One method of dealing with this gendered reversal was the choice of archival materials which were designed to tell the story of the war specifically through women’s records (Interview with organiser, 16 January 2019). However, the choices of female experiences represented in the play were conventional in their performance of militarised patriotic womanhood through allying women’s roles with mourning and caring for soldiers (Danilova and Dolan, 2020). In addition, the costumes utilised for the play represented the male experience as default through the dressing of female pupils entirely in black trousers and shirt with the optional addition of long skirts or nurse aprons in order to embody female roles, a performative choice which reframed the girls as male in line with the default war experience.…”

“…Finally, while death was performed through the action of covering over a body with a blanket and injury/disability was acted through one of the girls limping, there were few allusions to the reality of war as one of violence and killing. Not only did these performative choices result in an extension of invisibility of wounded and disabled veterans during and after WWI throughout the Centenary (Danilova and Dolan, 2020), but the sanitised performance of conflict operated as a means of both preserving conceptions of virtuous war and discouraging complex interpretations of British conflicts. This performative choice of local war-story devoid of depictions of violence and trauma was congruent with broader trends of British remembrance, which ‘invite communities of feeling to forget the violence and bloodiness of actual warfare and the victims it creates’ as a means of sustaining support for contemporary wars (Basham, 2016a: 892).…”

“To those who choose to follow in our footsteps”: making women/LGBT+ soldiers (in)visible through feminist “her-story” theater

“…This silencing of differences between women based on race/ethnicity/class arises from neoliberal ideology, which is founded on the presumption of choice and pursuit of freedom for "medic, marksman; markswoman, marksperson; half-way to equal" (HG 2019), 8 creating the phenomenon of the "freedom fallacy" as one of the most problematic aspects of modern feminist theater (Aston 2020, 32). For instance, Lilian represents the dominant white, middle-class patriotic femininity typically revived during the recent wave of World War I commemorations in the UK and Australia (Beaumont 2015;Danilova and Dolan 2020). Her purpose-made feminized uniform 9 (she is the only character wearing a skirt) of the SWH evokes and disrupts nostalgic male-dominated myths of World War I (Grayzel 1999;Noakes 2008).…”

“…As in Hallowed Ground, while Flora and Emily share one brief kiss, their relationship is devoid of physicality. However, in a reframing of protector/protected mythology (Elshtain 1987), Flora leads and protects Emily, the nurse in need of support and reassurance, thereby re-establishing hierarchical dualisms of masculinity/femininity and soldier/nurse (Danilova and Dolan 2020;Enloe 2007;Grayzel 1999) and ideas that women in military uniform are either heterosexual and sexually promiscuous or desexualized butch lesbians (Basham 2013;King 2017;Noakes 2008).…”