ISP: Info

     I am doing a research ISP about female suicide bombers. My interests concern the motivation, gendered power dynamics, and politics of suicide bombing. I have narrowed my sources down to four books-one a week-and I intend to focus only on the suicide bombings within Israel/Palestine.  The first book is titled "The Path to Paradise: The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers" by Anat Berko. Berko is has a Ph.D. in criminology and is currently a research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. The book is a compilation of her research on terrorism and her interviews with suicide bombers who have failed in Israel and Palestine. She also interviews suicide bombing dispatchers and the once-major leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. This book will hopefully address questions I have regarding gender and the powerplay between dispatchers and their bombers, along with personal motivation as explained by failed suicide bombers themselves. The second book I intend to read is entitled "Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers," written by Barbara Victor. The title is taken from a direct quote by Yasser Arafat, who proclaimed to over a thousand Palestinian women on January 27, 2002 that, “Women and men are equal. You are my army of roses that will crush Israeli tanks.” Victor is a journalist who covered the conflict extensively. Her book explores the history of and the role of women within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She focuses on four shahidas-female ‘martyrs,’ or suicide bombers-and her information comes directly from the families of those women. She also includes interviews with Israeli counterterrorism researchers, journalists, and psychologists. This book could possibly be biased because most of her “professional” information is coming directly from Israelis and not Palestinians, but I believe her interviews with the families of shahidas will shed light on political or religious motivation and possibly allow for a greater understanding of the phenomenon of female suicide bombing. My third book is aptly titled “Female Suicide Bombers,” written by Rosemarie Skaine. Skaine is a sociologist in Cedar Falls, Iowa and has written many other books on the topic of Arab women in wartime. Her book examines the history of suicide bombing, specifically in Israel/Palestine, and attempts to create the profile of a female suicide bomber. She strives to answer the question of why female suicide bombing has become such a ­­­popular tactic of war in Israel/Palestine and also explores the Western ideology that places women in the category of non-violent, nurturing souls. My final book is “Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and The Media,” written by Kelly Oliver. Oliver is a professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, as well as a prolific author. This book does not fully focus on Palestinian female suicide bombers, but Oliver does have a couple of chapters that directly discuss the issue. I chose this book because it explores how women are used in war. She takes a feminist perspective and looks at the way women’s bodies are used as weapons. She looks at the media and the portrayal of women as part of the justification of war, specifically American/Iraqi. I believe that this book will aid my research and understanding of the larger forces, social and political,that lead the phenomenon of female suicide bombers and women as weapons of war in general. I am going to write a one to two page essay/blog about three times a week. These essays will address specific questions I have before reading the book of the week, and will then proceed to address those questions or ask more. These will basically be documentations of my research and findings. I hope you find this blog interesting/intriguing/etc. and if you have questions or think I should focus on a certain topic related, please let me know!