Women Warriors in Southeast Asia

<p>This book brings together a wide range of case studies to explore the experiences and significance of women warriors in Southeast Asian history from ancient to contemporary times.</p><p>Using a number of sources including royal chronicles diaries memoirs and interviews the book discusses why women warriors were active in a domain traditionally preserved for men and how they arguably transgressed peacetime gender boundaries as agents of violence. From multidisciplinary perspectives the chapters assess what drove women to take on a variety of roles namely palace guards guerrillas and war leaders and to what extent their experiences were different to those of men. The reader is taken on an almost 1500-year long journey through a crossroads region well-known for the diversity of its peoples and cultures but also their ability to creatively graft foreign ideas onto existing ones. The book also explores the re-integration of women into post-conflict Southeast Asian societies including the impact (or lack thereof) of newly established international norms and the frequent turn towards pre-conflict gender roles in these societies.</p><p>Written by an international team of scholars this book will be of interest to academics working on Southeast Asian Studies Gender Studies low-intensity conflicts and revolutions and War Conflict and Peace Studies.</p>