A NEW APPROACH IN HUMANITIES: (ANTI) MILITARISM STUDIES

Abstract

Militarism studies and anti-militarist movements have been examined by a good many social scientists in academia due to specifically the globally destructive effect of the world wars occurred in the 20th century. The reasons for and motivations, effects and results of militarism have been studied through primarily political history and military and economic practices of countries. Especially, how power, rulership, and capital are shaped by militarist mindset geopolitically creates the main reference points for the anti-militarism campaigns. Militarism studies often draw up a field of study of social sciences such as economics, administrative sciences, history, laws, and political sciences. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, militarism theories have started to be used in the fields of humanities such as cultural studies, gender studies, media, cinema and communication, philosophy, and literature with the effect of interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary studies. At that point, the very aim of this article is to introduce how and in which contexts (anti) militarism studies could be used in Turkish humanities literature by uncovering the main reference points of (anti) militarism studies being popularised in Western humanities academia and to present a descriptive framework for the scientists who might study in the field.