US Military Bases and Anti-Military Organizing

US military presence in twenty-first century in Latin America has recently been characterised by rapidly intensifying militarization alongside under-supported anti-military activism. This book redirects recent debates about twenty-first century social mobilization by taking seriously those who actively resist the social movements in their midst.

Auteur
Erin Fitz-Henry is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Résumé
"In this highly readable and fascinating ethnographic account of an Ecuadorian community's response to the US military base in Manta, Erin Fitz-Henry presents the often neglected stories of local pro-base supporters and their efforts to counter anti-base activism. Her book turns conventional wisdom about anti-base activism on its head and is a welcome addition to the growing literature in anthropology, political science, and sociology on US military bases and their impact on communities." - Andrew I. Yeo, Associate Professor of Politics, Catholic University of America, USA

"In rich and evocative prose, Erin Fitz-Henry takes us to an "outpost of empire" and identifies the unexpected stories of, and edgy alliances between, US military personnel and the residents of the drug trade and crime-pocked city of Manta, Ecuador. It is centrally a story about transnational social movements and how they work or don't, and about where the US military has established itself and what its personnel make of their tasks. In the process, it provides an original and ethnographically rich sense of how arguments about sovereignty have been diversely configured." - Catherine Lutz, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, Brown University, USA