Camp All-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-tight

Gender, Folklore, and Changing Military Culture

Author: Carol Burke
ISBN: 0807046604

A folklorist who taught as a civilian professor at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for seven years, Carol Burke analyzes the military as an occupational folk group, arguing that every detail of military culture—from the "high and tight" haircut to the chants sung in basic training—is laden with significance.Exploring the minute ways that "the cult of masculinity" persists in all branches of the United States military today, Burke unearths fascinating details and offers eye-opening anecdotes about basic training, military dress and speech, the history of the marching chant, the disdain some veterans still harbor for Jane Fonda, and the colorful—and sometimes questionable—rituals of military manhood.Postulating that culture is made—not born—Burke urges the military to consciously change its policy of "gendered apartheid" so it can evolve into the gender-, race-, and sexuality-neutral democratic institution it needs to be."As Carol Burke makes clear in this important

Publisher: Beacon Press
Publish Date: 2004

Subjects: History / Military / General, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Gender Studies, Technology & Engineering / Military Science

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: Feminism (FEMM))