Dr Natalie Jester

@nataliejester.bsky.social

2429 Followers 3595 Following

Lover of food, sci fi and dogs 🥨 🖖🐕 Feminist. Lecturer @ Uni of Gloucestershire: militaries, arms manufacturers, gender, digital things. Co-convenor @cawpbisa.bsky.social [she/her] Web: nataliejester.com

A sign which says "reflexive thematic analysis workshop"
Poster for an event: The symbolic life of rebellion: Reading affective economies of contestation. Online 25 March.
Gender washing war: If asked what “arms manufacturer” first brings to mind, few people would likely answer “women’s rights.” And yet, each International Women’s Day (IWD), leading global arms manufacturers present themselves as working to help bring about gender equality. “Gender washing” refers to corporate social responsibility communications aimed at presenting a corporation as empowering to women and girls, even while their own products, supply chains, or employment practices harm them. In this article, we show how arms manufacturers use social media communications about IWD to gender wash their images, positioning themselves as progressive and caring. Bringing into conversation feminist work in Security Studies and International Political Economy, we identify new varieties of gender washing specific to war and martial violence: client military and government partnerships, and constructive silence. We also expand the global hierarchy of publics targeted by gender washing communications, reflecting the fact that unlike other transnational corporations, arms manufacturers are not concerned with garnering “brand loyalty” amongst the general public. Rather, they communicate both to and with Global North governments and militaries. Thus, what is at stake in these representations, we argue, is not simply the reputation of the individual corporations concerned, but a broader process of gender washing war.
150 citations for me!
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Winner: Natalie Jester. Exceptional support beyond teaching
Nat brings passion for research and research-informed teaching to her work across BCSS. As Research Advocate for People, Culture and Environment, she supports colleagues with book proposals, bid development and research mentoring, making a significant difference for early-career academics. She established a research newsletter to strengthen community awareness, led events on research culture and advocated for initiatives such as the weekly Research Power Hour and the BCSS Research Awards. Nat also encouraged naming a staff award after John Hockey, honouring his contribution to the research community. Her teaching integrates her expertise in discourse media analysis, militarisation and gender, inspiring students to pursue advanced study in these areas. Nat’s work demonstrates how strong research leadership enhances both staff development and student learning. She plays a central role in building a positive, ambitious research culture within BCSS.
Staff at the University of Gloucestershire stood in front of a sign saying Social Sciences
Call for Papers and Panels: Images and Imaginaries of International Relations BISA Conference 2026: 3-5 June 2026, Brighton Centre, Brighton Images and imaginaries drive world politics. From gruesome images of violent massacre to collective images of mass protest, from the emerging challenges of AI-generated images to propaganda images calling authoritarian regimes to power, we are living in the age of the image and the political imaginaries they give life to. In their spectacular production, instant circulation, and mediated consumption, images are crucial to the reification of colonial, racialised, heteropatriarchal, classed, ableist and anthropocentric power structures and infrastructures, while simultaneously being an imaginative avenue for protest and alternatives to world politics. We invite papers and panels on experimental, creative, and non-mainstream research, and encourage submissions from researchers at the margins of International Studies. In particular, CAWP seeks to encourage submissions which are transdisciplinary and draw on sub-disciplines, discussions, and approaches that are less common within International Studies. We invite you to attend to the imaginaries and images of International Studies, advance and expand new imaginaries, fantasies and futures of world politics, and consider new questions, approaches, methodologies, and theoretical explorations. As part of this, we also encourage applications which experiment with alternative approaches to research presentation, such as audio-visual, artistic, poetic, and participatory presentations. We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics, and in a range of formats. Please submit abstracts, panels, and roundtables to CAWP through the INDICO system by 3 November 2025. If you have any inquiries, contact us at cawp.group@bisa.ac.uk
Images and Imaginaries of International Relations Call for Papers and Panels BISA Conference 2026: 3-5 June 2026, Brighton Centre, Brighton Images and imaginaries drive world politics. From gruesome images of violent massacre to collective images of mass protest, from the emerging challenges of AI-generated images to propaganda images calling authoritarian regimes to power, we are living in the age of the image and the political imaginaries they give life to. In their spectacular production, instant circulation, and mediated consumption, images are crucial to the reification of colonial, racialised, heteropatriarchal, classed, ableist and anthropocentric power structures and infrastructures, while simultaneously being an imaginative avenue for protest and alternatives to world politics. We invite papers and panels on experimental, creative, and non-mainstream research, and encourage submissions from researchers at the margins of International Studies. In particular, CAWP seeks to encourage submissions which are transdisciplinary and draw on sub-disciplines, discussions, and approaches that are less common within International Studies. We invite you to attend to the imaginaries and images of International Studies, advance and expand new imaginaries, fantasies and futures of world politics, and consider new questions, approaches, methodologies, and theoretical explorations. As part of this, we also encourage applications which experiment with alternative approaches to research presentation, such as audio-visual, artistic, poetic, and participatory presentations. We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics, and in a range of formats. Please submit abstracts, panels, and roundtables to CAWP through the INDICO system by 3rd of October 2025. If you have any inquiries, contact us at cawp.group@bisa.ac.uk
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Erased: a history of international thought without men, by Patricia Owens
Mount Etna with lots of green life
A woman wears some sort of rubber band around her head and chin
An art nouveau building
A signed copy of Matt Berry's album, titled Heard Noises
Powerpoint title slide: the relationship between teaching and research
Screenshot of my case study titled "Methodological Challenges of Using Online News as Data: Lessons from an Examination of State Identity and Foreign Conflict"
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A person with long blonde hair smiles in front of the hexagonal stones of the Giant's Causeway
A man stands next to a podium. The screen above says "visuality and emotions. Co-authored with Emma Hutchison"
A person holds a microphone and stands in front of a BISA sign
A beautiful red brick building
Sign for a symposium titled "The US and World War 2: impacts and legacies at home and abroad"
Employees working on highly classified projects at the biotechnology corporation Lumon Industries are required to undergo "severance", a medical procedure that implants a device causing them to lose all memories of the outside world while working within the basement floors, and having no memories of their work while outside. This creates two separated personalities for each employee: their "Innie" working at Lumon, and their "Outie" living their personal lives. Severed employee Mark (Adam Scott) leads his coworkers Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Irving (John Turturro) at Lumon's Macrodata Refinement division. Mark must balance the challenges of managing his department, including the onboarding of a rebellious new Innie, Helly (Britt Lower), and his increasing disquiet at the cult-like Lumon. Mark's Outie must deal with the personal tragedies that led to his decision to become severed, and the sudden overlap of his separate lives when mysteries from Lumon begin to intrude into his Outie life.
The cast of Galaxy Quest, a group of confused but happy-looking aliens
A snowy park
An inactive volcano covered in greenery, surrounded by plants
Text says "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, but are you worthy of existence." Picture: Q, standing at the front of a queue
FVC02: Friday 2:15 PM - 4:00 PM Ch/Disc Luke B. Campbell (Northwest Missouri State University) Virtual Panel A feminist political economy of digital militarisation Natalie Jester (University of Gloucestershire, UK) Oops! Dis-/Misinformation, Soft Power, and the Possibility of Becoming Unintentionally Powerful Renee Marlin-Bennett (Johns Hopkins University) Cucktales: Race, Sex, and Enjoyment in the Reactionary Memescape Uygar Baspehlivan (University of Bristol) A Taxonomy for the Placement of Cybersecurity Initiatives in the International Studies Arena Donna Schaeffer (Marymount University)
Leverhulme application for the project "Digital publics: the politics and ethics of social media data use"
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Presentation titled: Cyborg warriors and technomasculinity: whiteness, masculinity and authority in arms manufacturers' social media
A multicoloured cat stands next to a traffic cone
A poster for The Clangers
A stone on the peace pavement. It has a sun on it
Proofs for my latest article (with Emma Dolan). It is for Critical Studies on Security and is titled "Arms, Aviation and Apologies: mapping the Boeing social media response to the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash"
Leaves in a variety of colours. The leaves are starting to turn from green to red.