Until recently, women’s pre-20th century military history scarcely existed. The little there was rarely went beyond the stereotypical depiction of woman as victim, amazon, or whore. That is no longer true, at least for the modern Western world. Although much remains to be done, a generation of researchers has succeeded in drawing a more complex and nuanced picture of women’s military roles in Western armies since the 15th century. But what about the rest of the world? We would like to find scholars working on some aspect of pre-20th century women’s military history in Asia.

We are casting a wide net: chronologically, from the end of the ancient world to World War I (or perhaps even a little later; geographically, the whole of Eurasia excluding Western Europe but including Africa north of the Sahara. We want to focus our discussion on women’s normal military (or military-related) experience—in the army, with the army, in support of the army. We would rather exclude accounts of female rulers, however warlike, of famous or legendary heroines, or of other individuals—unless they can be contextualized in women’s wider military experience.

We are also very much interested in making this session innovative in the use of visual evidence. Instead of mere illustration, can we use contemporary images—prints, drawings, paintings, photos, etc.—to expand and deepen the information available in text-based records?

Please send you proposal by email no later than 9 February 2006 to: Bart Hacker . A proposal should include: (1) A CV summary paragraph in 250 words or less citing professional accomplishments, major publications, etc.; (2) an abstract, with title, of the proposed presentation in 300 words or less; and (3) your contact information. You should also specify what audio-visual equipment you may need.