1915–1934: (The Threat of Women’s “Knowing” — Women’s Consciousness Performed by Being in Witnessing Supporting and Ignoring Regulations on Public Space Reve…

1915–1934: (The Threat of Women’s “Knowing” — Women’s Consciousness Performed by Being in Witnessing Supporting and Ignoring Regulations on Public Space Revealing the Fragility of the Militarized Pro- and Anti-Occupation State, Both Gendarmes and Cacos Realizing the Advantages of Women’s Familiarity with the Nation’s Thoroughfares and Women Negotiating This Power in Subtle Ways, Bernadel’s Commanding Officer Most Frustrated That the Women Knew They Could Escape Punishment and Tested the Occupation’s Authority, the Women’s Audacity to Return to the Street Revealing the US Military’s Porous Bureaucratic and Military Controls, Claire Saint-Lot Using Her Knowledge to Compromise Antioccupation Agendas — In Both Contexts Women’s Knowledge and Actions Threatened with Public Physical Violence, the Officer’s Emphasis on Setting an Example Establishing That Women Were Both Targets and Witnesses of Regularized Corporeal Harm Throughout Occupation Life): The threat of women’s knowing — a consciousness performed by being in, witnessing, supporting, and ignoring regulations on public space — revealed the fragility of the militarized occupation state in both its pro- and anti-occupation configurations. Both gendarmes and cacos realized the advantages of women’s familiarity with the nation’s thoroughfares, and women negotiated this power in subtle ways. Bernadel’s commanding officer was most frustrated not by the women’s commercial transgression but by the fact that they knew — knew they could escape punishment, knew the limits of the gendarme’s authority, and tested the occupation’s power accordingly. The women’s audacity to return to the street after their release exposed the porous nature of the US military’s bureaucratic and military controls over the nation, and their keen awareness of the limits of occupation power. Claire Saint-Lot, operating from the opposite position, used her knowledge to compromise antioccupation agendas. In both contexts, women’s knowledge and actions were met with threats of public physical violence. The US military officer’s emphasis on setting an example with the market women further established that women were both the primary targets and the principal witnesses of regularized corporeal harm throughout occupation life. Their bodies served simultaneously as instruments of surveillance and objects of punishment — the occupation could not function without women’s knowledge of the landscape, yet that same knowledge made women dangerous to every faction that sought to control it.