Dr. Maya Eichler
PhD (Political Science), York University
MA (Political Science), York University
Magistra (Political Science/Russian Language), University of Vienna
Telephone; 902-457-6237
McCain Centre 203E
Maya Eichler is an Associate Professor in Politics, Economics and Canadian Studies and Women’s Studies at MSVU. She is the director of the Centre for Social Innovation and Community Engagement in Military Affairs (SICEMA) at Mount Saint Vincent University and one of the co-directors of the Canadian Department of National Defence funded international collaborative network Transforming Military Cultures (TMC). From 2014 to 2024, she held the Canada Research Chair in Social Innovation and Community Engagement. Dr. Eichler is interested in social change and citizen engagement in the military and security sphere. Her current research focuses on gender and the armed forces, military sexual violence, military-to-civilian transitions, transforming military cultures, defence policy, and community stories of war and peace. She completed her Ph.D. at York University and held post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Southern California, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the University of Toronto. She was a 2013–2014 Lillian Robinson Scholar at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University.
Dr. Eichler has edited (or co-edited) special issues of Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, and the Canadian Military Journal. She is the author of Militarizing Men: Gender, Conscription, and War in Post-Soviet Russia (Stanford University Press 2012, translated into Russian by Academic Studies Press in 2022). She is the editor of Gender and Private Security in Global Politics (Oxford University Press 2015) and co-editor of Speaking Up: New Voices on War and Peace in Nova Scotia (Nimbus 2022). Her articles have appeared in the International Feminist Journal of Politics, Critical Military Studies, Armed Forces & Society, Études International, Critical Security Studies, Citizenship Studies, Brown Journal of World Affairs, International Journal, Military Behavioral Health, Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, and the Journal of Family Theory and Review, and other journals. Dr. Eichler was named one of 20 Top Women in Defence by Esprit de Corps Magazine in 2021. Also in 2021, she received the J.E. Hodgetts Award for the finest English article appearing in the journal Canadian Public Administration for her research on military sexual assault cases at the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. She currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the International Feminist Journal of Politics and Review of International Studies.
Dr. Eichler teaches courses in the areas of International Relations and Gender Studies, such as Women, War, and Peace, Gender and International Relations, Canadian Foreign Policy, and a special topics course such as on Critical Military and Veterans Studies and Military Cultures and Social Justice.
For more information, see:
http://msvu.academia.edu/MayaEichler
Selected Publications
Book:
Eichler, M. Militarizing Men: Gender, Conscription, and War in Post-Soviet Russia. Stanford University Press, 2012. Read the Russian translation.
Edited Volumes:
Eichler, M., R. Green, and T. Moniz, eds. Speaking Up: New Stories on War and Peace in Nova Scotia. Nimbus Publishing, 2022.
Eichler, M., ed. Gender and Private Security in Global Politics. Oxford Studies in Gender and International Relations. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Special Journal Issues:
Eichler, M., T. George, and N. Taber, eds. “Transforming Military Cultures.” Special issue, Canadian Military Journal 23, no. 3 (Summer 2023).
Eichler, M., ed. “Exploring Sex, Gender and Intersectionality in the Health and Well-Being of Military Members, Veterans and their Families.” Special edition, Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 7, no. s1 (September 2021).
Eichler, M., ed. “Gender and the Canadian Armed Forces.” Special issue, Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice 41, no. 2 (Fall 2020).
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:
Davis, K. D., and M. Eichler. “The Case for Change: Reimagining Research to Transform Military Culture.” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 10, no. 3 (2024): 153–58. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2023-0072.
Eichler, M., and V. Brown. “Getting to the Root of the Problem? Understanding and Changing Canadian Military Culture.” Canadian Military Journal 23, no. 3 (2023): 6–13.
Eichler, M., T. George, and N. Taber. “The Arbour Report and Beyond.” Canadian Military Journal 23, no. 2 (2023): 35–44.
Norris, D., K. Schwartz, M. Eichler, L. Tam-Seto, A. Mahar, K. Smith-Evans, H. Cramm. “A Qualitative Study of the Capabilities of Family Members of Veterans Living with Operational Stress Injuries.” Family Relations 72, no. 5 (2023): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12801. (10%)
Whelan, J., and M. Eichler. “Breaking Ranks: How Medically Released Canadian Military Veteran Men Understand the PTSD Diagnosis.” Journal of Veterans Studies 8, no. 3 (2022): 25–36. https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v8i3.345. (40%)
Eichler, M. “Making Military and Veteran Women (In)Visible: The Continuity of Gendered Experiences in Military-to-Civilian Transition.” Special edition, The Many Faces of Diversity in Military Employment, Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 8, no. s1 (2022): 36–45. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0077.
Eichler, M. “Equity in Military and Veteran Health Research: Why It Is Essential to Integrate a Sex and Gender Lens.” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 7, no. s1 (2021): 143–49. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0016.
Eichler, M., K. Smith-Evans, L. Spanner, and L. Tam-Seto. “Mind the Gap: Sex, Gender, and Intersectionality in Military-To-Civilian Transitions.” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 7, no. s1 (2021): 19–36. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0018. (60%)
Eichler, M. “Administrative Tribunals and the Issue of Equity: Military Sexual Assault Survivors at the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.” Canadian Public Administration/Administration publique du Canada 64, no. 2 (2021): 279–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/capa.12410. * Winner of the 2021 J.E. Hodgetts Award for finest English-language article.
Whelan, J., M. Eichler, D. Norris, and D. Landry. “The Politics of Treatment: A Qualitative Study of Canadian Military PTSD Clinicians.” Journal of Veterans Studies 7, no. 1 (2021): 217–31. https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v7i1.227. (30%)
Chisholm, A., and M. Eichler. “Reproductions of Global Security: Accounting for the Private Security Household.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 20, no. 4 (2018): 563–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1516512.
Norris, D., M. Eichler, H. Cramm, L. Tam-Seto, and K. Smith-Evans. “Operational Stress Injuries and the Mental Health and Well-Being of Veteran Spouses: A Scoping Review.” Journal of Family Theory and Review 10, no. 3 (2018): 657–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12283.
Eichler, M., and K. Smith-Evans. “Gender in Veteran Reintegration and Transition: A Scoping Review.” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 4, no. 1 (2018): 5–19. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh.2017-0004.
Eichler, M. “L’Opération HONOUR en perspective: la politique changeante du genre dans les Forces armées canadiennes” (“Operation Honour in Perspective: The Shifting Politics of Gender in the Canadian Armed Forces”). Études International 48, no. 1 (2017): 19–36. https://doi.org/10.7202/1042351ar.
Bulmer, S., and M. Eichler. “Unmaking Militarized Masculinity: Veterans and the Project of Military-to-Civilian Transition.” Critical Military Studies 3 (2017), no. 2: 161–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/23337486.2017.1320055.
Eichler, M. “Add Female Veterans and Stir? A Feminist Perspective on Gendering Veterans Research.” Armed Forces & Society 43 (2017), no. 4: 674–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X16682785.
Eichler, M. “Learning from the Deschamps Report: Why Military and Veteran Researchers Ought to Pay Attention to Gender.” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 2, no. 1 (2016): 5–8. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh.3394.
Chapman, K., and M. Eichler. “Engendering Two Solitudes? Media Representations of Women in Combat in Quebec and the Rest of Canada.” International Journal 69, no. 4 (2014): 594–611 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020702014543708.
Eichler, M. “Citizenship and the Contracting out of Military Work: From National Conscription to Globalized Recruitment.” Citizenship Studies 18, no. 6-7 (2014): 600–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2013.865904.
Eichler, M. “Gender and the Privatization of Security: Neoliberal Transformation of the Militarized Gender Order.” Critical Studies on Security 1, no. 3 (2013): 311–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/21624887.2013.848107.
Eichler, M. “Russia’s Post-Communist Transformation: A Gendered Analysis of the Chechen Wars.” Special issue, Gender Violence and Hegemonic Projects, International Feminist Journal of Politics 8, no. 4 (2006): 486–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616740600945065.
Book Chapters:
Eichler, M. Japanese translation of “Militarized Masculinities in International Relations.” In Men and Masculinities Studies: A Reader, edited by Ryo Hirayama, Fumika Sato, and Ayumu Kaneko. Keiso Shobo, 2023.
Callaghan, W., M. Eichler, and V. Tait. “Beyond Combat: Gender and the Construction of Injury in Military Contexts.” In Preventing and Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Combat Trauma, Moral Injury, and Psychological Health, edited by J. McDaniel, E. Seamone, and S. Xenakis. Oxford University Press, 2023.
Sarson, L., M. Eichler, H. Smith, and S. Tucker. “Finding a Community in Feminist International Relations Methodology.” In Women, Peace and Security: Feminist Perspectives to International Security Studies, edited by C. Leprince and C. Steer. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021.
Eichler, M. “The Personal is International: Re-Imagining Canadian Foreign Policy from Below.” In Rethinking Canadian Foreign Policy: Reflections on a Field in Transition, edited by B. Bow, and A. Lane. University of British Columbia Press, 2020.
Bulmer, S., and M. Eichler. “Unmaking Militarized Masculinity: Veterans and the Project of Military-to-Civilian Transition.” In Masculinities at the Margins: Beyond the Hegemonic in the Study of Militaries, edited by A. Chisholm, and J. Tidy. Routledge, 2020. (50%)
Eichler, M. “How Gender Became a Defence Issue: A Feminist Perspective on Foreign and Defence Policy in Canada.” In Turbulent Times, Transformational Possibilities? Gender and Politics Today and Tomorrow, edited by A. Dobrowolsky and F. MacDonald. University of Toronto Press, 2020.
Eichler, M., M.-C. Gagnon, and M. Lamothe. “Sexual Violence as a Veterans Issue: The Struggles (and Successes) of Military Sexual Trauma Survivors in Canada.” In Treated like a Liability: Veterans Running Battles with the Government of Canada, edited by D. MacLeod, and H. Leduc. Friesen Press, 2019. (50%)
Whelan, J., and M. Eichler. “Beyond Medicalization: Military Identity and the Military-to-Civilian Transition.” In Treated like a Liability: Veterans Running Battles with the Government of Canada, edited by D. MacLeod, and H. Leduc. Friesen Press, 2019. (50%)
Eichler, M. “Military Sexual Violence in Canada.” In Dis/Consent: Perspectives on Sexual Consent and Sexual Violence, edited by K.A. Malinen. Fernwood Publishing, 2019.
Eichler, M. “Gender and Militarism.” In Routledge Handbook of Gender and Security, edited by C. Gentry, L. Shepherd, and L. Sjoberg. Routledge, 2018.
Basu S., and M. Eichler. “Gender in International Relations: Interdisciplinarity and the Study of Conflict.” In Advancing Interdisciplinary Approaches to International Relations, edited by S. A. Yetiv and P. James. Palgrave, 2017.
Eichler, M. “Private Security and Gender.” In Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies, edited by A. Leander and R. Abrahamsen. Routledge, 2016.
Eichler, M. “Gender, PMSCs, and the Rescaling of the Politics of Protection: Implications for Feminist Security Studies.” In Gender and Private Force in Global Politics, edited by M. Eichler. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Eichler, M. “Russian Veterans of the Chechen Wars: A Feminist Analysis of Militarized Masculinities.” In Feminist International Relations: Conversations about the Past, Present and Future, edited by J. A. Tickner and L. Sjoberg. Routledge, 2011.
Eichler, M. “Gender and Nation in the Soviet/Russian Transformation.” In Gendering the Nation-State: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives, edited by Y. Abu-Laban. University of British Columbia, 2008.
Other Publications:
Eichler, M., and J. L. Wiebe. “The Art of Discomfort: Engaging in Dialogue on War.” Critical Military Studies 5, no. 1 (2019): 83–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/23337486.2018.1432753.
Eichler, M., and J. L. Wiebe. “The Politics of Poppies.” Understorey Magazine, August 2017. http://understoreymagazine.ca/author/maya-and-jessica/.
Eichler, M. “Militarized Masculinities in International Relations.” Brown Journal of World Affairs 21, no. 1 (2014): 81–93.
Eichler, M. “Women and Combat in Canada: Continuing Tensions Between ‘Difference’ and ‘Equality’.” Critical Studies on Security 1, no. 2 (2013): 257–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/21624887.2013.814855.
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