I seek contributors and contributing editors for MILITARY WOMEN
WORLDWIDE: A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. The audience will be university
and public libraries, students from the secondary to the graduate
level, and book clubs. Coverage will include women from antiquity to
the present, throughout the world. Since the book encompasses many
nations and historical periods, the term "military" is necessarily
used in the broadest sense to include all sorts of armed service:
regular army and militia; ground forces, air forces, and navy; on a
formal or auxiliary basis.
Priorities will be as follows: 1) women who fought or fulfilled a
direct combat role; 2) women who served in designated military
positions and/or who held military rank; 3) women who did not fight
or have formal rank, but otherwise fulfilled military duties (WASPs
etc.); and, 4) space permitting, other women connected with military
service.
Biographical essays will run 300-1500 words, and will include group
entries as well as individual name entries. Entries will include
brief biographical data and coverage of the subject's background,
education, and formative experiences. We are NOT looking for full
biographies; we are focusing strictly on the subjects' MILITARY
roles. The main emphasis should be on the individual's particular
contribution or significance as a military figure.Anecdotes and
representative events from the individual's life should be included
to make the entry as lively and interesting as possible, while
retaining accuracy and sound scholarship.
Historical context should be minimal, but sufficient to understand
the subject's achievements. Short entries on major organizations
important to military women (such as the WASPS, Osoaviakhim, the
Women's Battalions of Death, etc.) will be included separately to
avoid repetition in individual subject entries.
Contributors should be well-versed in scholarly research methods.
Sorting out fact from fiction will be very important in this project;
contributors must be prepared to make efforts to track down primary
sources where available, and to evaluate credibility of all sources.
I am the editor of this volume and Robin Higham is the advisory
editor. I would like to find several contributing editors willing to
take responsibility for entries connected with a geographical area or
time period; those editors will write some entries themselves and
assist in finding contributors for the remaining entries. Individual
contributors are also welcome. There is no financial honorarium,
unfortunately. All contributors receive a byline; contributing
editors and others who write multiple entries will receive a copy of
the published book.
A partial list of women in the history of Africa who have played military
roles includes:
Amina (also Aminatu, 16th c. AD, queen of Songhai/Hausa empire)
Mussasa & daughter Tembandumba (16 or 17th c. African
warrior-queens, Cunene River in the Congo)
Llinga (Congo warrior-queen, fought Portuguese in 1640)
Mbande Nzingha (aka Ana de Souza Nzinga; 17th c. queen of Ngola)
Kaipkire (18th c warrior of Herero people of SW Africa)
Dahomey Women Warriors
Mantatisi (19th c. Warrior-queen of the Batlokwa)
Mukaya (late 19th c. princess of Luba people, Zaire/Zambia)
Nandi ( "Warrior mother" of Shaka Zulu)
All-female regiment of Shaka Zulu
Nehanda (19th c. leader of MaShona nation of Zimbabwe)
Banda Brigade (20th c. Malawi)
Joice Mugari Nhongo (20th c. Zimbabwe)
If you are interested in participating in the project and would like
detailed information, please send cv/resume and area(s) of interest to:
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Reina Pennington e-mail: RPennington@sunbelt.net
Dept. of History voice: 803-777-5195
Univ. of South Carolina fax: 803-777-4494
Columbia, SC 29208 USA *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+