Liberal warriors and the violent colonial logics of “partnering and advising"

Building on the feminist literature that traces the (re)production of militarized masculinities in and through military interventions, this article details some of the ways British soldiering subjects are being shaped in today's counterinsurgency context. Required now to be both nation builders and war fighters, contemporary soldiers are a “softer,” less masculinized subjectivity, and what Alison Howell has termed “liberal warriors.” British troops with their long history of colonialism and frequent overseas military campaigns are understood to be particularly suited to this role. Taking the British military's involvement in the “partnering and advising” of the Afghan National Army (ANA), this article pays attention to the interlocking gendered, raced, and sexualized discourses through which the British/Afghan encounter is experienced. Exploring first British troops' preoccupation with the perceived femininity and homosexuality of their Afghan counterparts, and second, Afghan hypermasculinity as demonstrated by the characterizations of their violent and chaotic fighting tactics, colonial logics are revealed. While British liberal warriors come to know “who they are” through these logics, (mis)represented Afghan soldiers are rendered increasingly vulnerable to the very “real,” very material violences of war

British Colonial Violence and the End of Empire

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Caroline Elkins is Hugo K. Foster Associate Professor of African Studies in the Department of History at Harvard University. Her research interests include colonial violence and post-conflict reconciliation in Africa, and violence and the decline of the British Empire. Elkins's book, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya (Henry Holt & Co., 2004), was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. It was also selected as one of The Economist's best history books for 2005, was a New York Times editor's choice, and was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Award.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, streaming video, event photo

Modeling Uncertainty in Rooftop PV Investment Return

Residential energy consumers in the U.S. have shown increased interest in solar-based electricity at home, resulting in increased adoption of photovoltaic (PV) systems on residential rooftops. Empirical research has determined that economic factors are the dominant motivation behind consumers’ decisions to adopt rooftop PV. However, the high degree of uncertainty with respect to return on investment has slowed adoption rates. The factors that drive this uncertainty can be classified as exogenous and endogenous. Exogenous factors include market and environmental factors that are not under the consumers’ control, such as change in net metering policies and future electricity tariffs, and amount of solar irradiance. Endogenous factors involve consumer actions, such as future electricity consumption and moving to another residence. This paper describes an analytical framework that incorporates these factors to evaluate rooftop PV investment return. Monte Carlo simulations using historical datasets for a city in Iowa are used to explore the sensitivity of a consumer’s return on investment to different factor levels. This modeling approach can be used to guide consumers’ rooftop PV adoption decisions, as well as help PV system installers and policymakers to increase the rate of PV system adoption among consumers.This proceeding is published as Mittal, Anuj, Cameron A. MacKenzie, Caroline C. Krejci, and Taylor B. Elkins. "Modeling Uncertainty in Rooftop PV Investment Return." In Proceedings of the 2018 IISE Annual Conference. K. Barker, D. Berry, C. Rainwater, eds. (2018). Posted with permission.</p

Modeling Uncertainty in Rooftop PV Investment

This presentation is from Proceedings of the 2018 IISE Annual Conference, held on May 19-22, 2018 at Orlando, Florida. Mittal, A., MacKenzie, C.A., Krejci,C.C., Elkins,T.,B, Modeling Uncertainty in Rooftop PV Investment. Posted with permission.</p