Beans, Bullets and Bandages? Gendered and Racialised Othering in the Depiction of Military Support Work

Abstract

Combat Service Support (CSS) refers to the direct and indirect sustainment services to the soldiers and units (potentially) engaged in combat activities. In the Global North militaries support work is called CSS and considered vital for the armed forces, while support work in ‘irregular’ forces of the Global South is rarely addressed, apart from feminist research. Through intersectional reading, I suggest that this discrepancy can be best explained by gendered and racialised forms of othering where ‘feminine’ care work (the first other) and ‘irregularity’ (the second other) are mutually reinforcing. Drawing on interview data with Oretha, as well as other Liberian CSS specialists, I show the practical implications of this form of (double-)othering in war and its aftermath.