| This dissertation discusses and analyzes marginalized masculinities and forms of
manhood that differ from the privileged concept in America by interpreting novels and memoirs
by and about Japanese America, African America, and Native American soldiers. Though the
epitome of military masculinity in 1940s America was white, many other ethnic masculinities
typify soldiers who fought in World War II. Top-down discourses homogenize people and
masculinity, and those that do not fit the hegemonic ideal are often excluded from these
discourses. By rereading history and literature, this dissertation seeks to understand the past
more wholly by focusing on individual experience from a range of bodies that were actors in
history.
Chapter I, “A White Man’s War: WWII Soldiers and the Public Image of Masculinity,”
discusses how white men choose to perform their masculinity and what the public and politicized
“ideal” American man looked like during the war. Chapter II, “Looking Like the Enemy:
Japanese American Soldiers and the Duality of Identity,” discusses how Japanese American
soldiers wished to prove their loyalty to the U.S by serving in the war and, as soldiers, adapted to
form a collective masculinity. Chapter III, “Fighting for a Double Victory: African American
Soldiers and the Wars Abroad and at Home,” illustrates that for many black men the effort to
claim a black masculinity was actually an effort to demonstrate their humanity. Chapter IV,
“‘You’re Not a Full Citizen of the United States’: Native American Soldiers, Warrior Traditions,
and Silence,” discusses the warrior traditions of the Navajo, Kiowa, and Laguna Native
American tribes, explaining that Native American soldiers are then burdened with a double ideal
when they go into modern warfare—American soldier and Indian warrior. As they search for
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their own versions of masculinity, they have to move away from the stereotype of Indian to
become “postindian” and embrace “survivance.” Chapter V, “Where Do We Go From Here?:
Teaching Intersectionality and Context in the Ethnic American Literature Classroom” advocates
for using Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality and providing historical and cultural
context for students when teaching texts by writers of color
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their own versions of masculinity, they have to move away from the stereotype of Indian to
become “postindian” and embrace “survivance.” Chapter V, “Where Do We Go From Here?:
Teaching Intersectionality and Context in the Ethnic American Literature Classroom” advocates
for using Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality and providing historical and cultural
context for students when teaching texts by writers of color.
Key Words: American Literature, Multiethnic Literature, African American Literature, Japanese
American Literature, Native American Literature, Soldier Literature, Masculinity, Manhood,
Gender, Gender Performance, World War II, English |