Introduction

The co-editors introduce the volume by surveying the ways that different academic disciplines approach the topic of heroes and heroism, and highlighting several complexities at the intersection of heroism and global politics. The chapter begins to explore the major themes that feature throughout the book. The first is the question of what makes a hero including the profound ways that society’s view of the hero impact the heroic narrative. The second theme explored in this introductory chapter is the ways in which the heroic narrative is gendered, examined through the warrior hero. The traditional association between traits and behaviours recognised as heroic and those regarded as masculine persists, and the chapter demonstrates how these gendered ideas inherited from military heroism may infuse other notions of heroism. The third theme – which is developed more fully in Chapter 1 – is the idea that heroism is a tool for building political community. The final section of the chapter sets out the approach that the contributors to this volume take to heroism and provides an overview of each of the chapters that follow.