Categories
A Great Lakes Colleges Association initiative supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
bbryan@antiochcollege.edu
 

Beyond The Fence: Examining Ideas and Institutions in Domestic Civilian–Base Community Relations During Expansion and Contestation

About the Project

Beyond The Fence is a project exploring the ideational and institutional factors in domestic civilian–base community relations in the United States during periods of expansion and contestation. Interviews were used in a case study of a grassroots campaign advocating for the basing of the F-35A training mission at Luke Air Force Base (AFB).The project was inspired by competing discourse about fighter aircraft on military installations, ranging from conceptions of fighter jets as “the sound of freedom” to concerns about noise, air, and water pollution from military bases.

Interviews with Ron Sites, president and executive director of Fighter Country Partnership and Fighter Country Foundation, and three members of Luke AFB’s Community Initiatives Team (CIT) serve as field data for a case study of the grassroots Luke Forward campaign. The campaign mobilized community support for the basing of the F-35A training mission at Luke AFB.

The interviews highlight the role of institutional relationships between civilian–base communities and the power of economic discourse for maintaining coherence between actors during periods of expansion and contestation.

Written by

Soleil Sykes graduated as a Political Economy major with a concentration in French language from Antioch College in 2018. Her senior project "Beyond The Fence: Examining Ideas and Institutions in Domestic Civilian–Base Community Relations During Expansion and Contestation" examines mobilization surrounding the F-35A training mission beddown at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The project draws on civil-military relations, transnational anti-base movements, and grassroots organization literature to develop deeper understandings about the ideas and institutions at play in domestic civil–military relations and how they are mobilized and mediated during periods of expansion and contestation.

No comments

LEAVE A COMMENT