Domestic Containment: The Social Construction of the American Housewife

I am researching the practice of domestic containment during the Cold War as it relates to women and their idealized role as housewives.  Research into the rhetorical construction of the 1950s housewife and the attempt to confine women in their traditional gender roles is relevant because the experiences of socially oppressed women during this era have parallels in the present and throughout history

Elaine Tyler May was among the first to consider and comment on the phenomenon of domestic containment. The generation of Americans entering into adulthood soon after World War II was largely “homeward bound,” a trend that can be clearly confirmed by the increasing marriage rate and skyrocketing birthrate. In the age of nuclear paranoia and political and ideological conflict, the family and the home became a sort of refuge.  The preservation of gender roles in the home became a proxy for the preservation of American society overall. Betty Friedman’s novel, The Feminine Mystique, is one of the most influential works relating to this topic. Friedman defines the “feminine mystique” as the social value, the American cultural ideal that told women of the Post-War era that the fulfillment of their femininity should be their ultimate goal.  This femininity was defined by a commitment of a woman’s life not to her own dreams and desires, but to those of her husband and children and to her admirable occupation as a housewife.  Friedman contemplates what she calls “the problem that has no name,” an inexplicable but deep psychological dissatisfaction among women even as they achieved this lifetime goal of being a housewife.  One of the most important realms to the American housewife was the kitchen. Many ideas about the role that women should play in the domestic realm were communicated in popular media sources, such as cookbooks and magazines. In my RBA, I hope to analyze the attempts to contain women in this role as a housewife and show that such attempts were largely unsuccessful.

Artificial Intelligence: Public Enemy #1 or Best Friend?

My research topic is on artificial intelligence, and the rhetoric employed for and more importantly, against the use of the technology. This topic is relevant given the major progress being made in the technology space, and the growing interest in automating processes, along with the exploration into the performance of intelligent tasks outside of humans.

 

There have been quite a few discussions that have already begun between experts and the masses in regards to the future with artificial intelligence. It is quite interesting given the fact that much of the discussion is written in a more speculative manner, since AI is still an emerging technology that hasn’t really been figured out yet. However, because of the lack of knowledge and framework in terms of AI operation, many authors have expressed a fear for the development of artificial intelligence technology. Rhetoric commonly employed against the technology uses strategies to evoke fear from the reader in order to dissuade them from supporting its development. In my RBA, I will be looking towards the origins of the dissent of AI, especially given the very common paradigm of anthropocentrism that exists in today’s society. The framework of containment rhetoric in particular is of interest given the inherent otherization that occurs when humans look at artificial intelligence. Additionally, one can also look at the rhetoric employed towards extraterrestrial intelligent beings, and how the tone is often similar between the two topics. I will then also look outside of these narratives to see whether or not artificial intelligence presents more benefits to society than risks, and in what ways we might be able to mitigate pre-existing fears of non-human intelligence.

Research Topic Reflection

My research topic will focus on the Mexican-American historical narrative during the early onset of the Cold War and how containment rhetoric undermined early activist movements for civil rights. The relevance of my research topic is that Mexican-Americans were one of the many subgroups targeted by mainstream politics as “subversive”, yet it seems as though this has been overlooked in many historical accounts.

Other scholars, such as Mario T. García and Zaragosa Vargas, have made attempts at recollecting the primary accounts of Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants during the early 1930s through the 1960s. I have come to understand through their works that Mexican-American activists in particular were methodically antagonized by anti-communist groups that sought to find any “subversives” within American society. Additionally, García has noted that the Mexican-American activist movement was unique in that it was relatively decentralized in its efforts and goals, which may have also played a part in its early struggles against anti-communists. There was no singular leader or party that took charge, which led to the splintering of the movement from small-scale efforts such as local elections to broader lobbying such as the initiative of one particular subset to end the federal Bracero program because of alleged wage reductions. My research will seek to specifically argue that this growing generation of activists has been significantly overlooked by historians despite their lasting impact on American society as well as the similarities to other marginalized groups that were well-documented during the Cold War and the subsequent Civil Rights Movement.

TiC/RBA topic: The Ideological Basis of Gendered Consumption and Female Employment

My research topic explores the role of women’s economic consumption and employment within the context of Cold War containment culture and competition with the Soviet Union, drawing parallels between the Cold War and the present day. This topic is of great significance not just due to the centrality of gender roles to the Cold War economic growth and promulgation of capitalism, but also because of the continued presentation of gendered consumption and women’s employment as emblematic of the superiority of American cultural values of liberalism and freedom.

There has been significant discussion of the role of women during the Cold War in the context of the transposition of containment culture onto the domestic sphere and the revival of rigid, heteronormative gender roles. The impact of the Cold War on US economic policy in terms of the rise of consumer culture has also been explored in the existing literature, given the basis of economic growth during the period on an increased demand and supply of consumer goods. It is here where the use of gendered consumption and the intertwining of consumerism and patriotism can be seen to have initiated, a pattern which is of increasing importance in the current consumer age. The precise intersection between culture, economics and foreign policy at which Cold War women were located is a subject which is increasingly being discussed, especially following the work of cultural historians and the application of gender studies frameworks to examination of politics, cultural history and international relations. There are several histories of women during the twentieth century which agree that rigid gender roles were imposed on men and women during the Cold War; these sources also note the centrality of gendered consumption to the increasing of aggregate demand for consumer goods and residential construction, which contributed to postwar economic growth, as well as the evolving attitudes to female employment as an activity to be pursued in order to heighten the consumption of the family and strengthen the American economy in contrast to the Soviet economy.  This project brings in separate strands of scholarship, from economic history to gender studies, which trace the development of American consumer culture and provide more traditional accounts of postwar women’s lives, respectively.

Sports Diplomacy During the Cold War

For my Texts in Conversation paper, I will be researching how the Soviet Union used the Olympics to further its own agenda during the Cold War period. Today, the interlinking of sports and politics is still prevalent, and examining this relationship during a time when it began to play a large role in international affairs will give us greater insight into how they complement each other.

Several scholars have examined the Soviet Union’s efforts to “democratize” the Olympics during the Cold War in an attempt to bring more of its allied countries into the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Soviet sports officials argued that the IOC was sympathetic to capitalist nations and was consequently discriminating against athletes from the new peoples’ democracies of Eastern Europe as well as Asian and African countries. Ultimately, the Soviet Union succeeded in bringing in countries from Asian and African countries with whom they were allied with to help promote their common socialist ideals. Many scholars focus in on the 1980 Moscow Olympics as well as the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the respective American and Soviet boycotts linked to the two events. While most sources agree that the motivation behind the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was to send a strong message about the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, many disagree on the intent behind the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics. One source cites retaliation and security issues as the main reasons, while another argues that it was the Soviet’s desire to showcase the superiority of socialist organizing skill in the 1980 Olympics over capitalist skill in the 1976 Montreal and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that led to the boycott. Many sources also discuss the ways in which the Soviets tried to conflate their own values with Olympic ideals in order to gain respect within the Olympic and international community, while also classifying American actions as anti-Olympic. For my Research-Based Argument paper, I hope to argue which of the different proposed motives behind the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics is most plausible, and analyze the effectiveness of the boycott in achieving this motive.

North Korea: Now What?

 

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has acquired the capabilities to launch nuclear warheads across oceans and has expressed an intent to use this in a first strike agains the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Preserving the geopolitical stability of East Asia to prevent nuclear war is the priority of the United States and United Nations.

The Trump Administration, refusing to rule out military aggression toward North Korea has stated that, when it comes to North Korea, “all options are on the table.” The United States has refused to adopt a “no first use” of nuclear weapons policy, meaning the U.S. could potentially launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea. In the past, Trump has decried the publicizing of military strategy, calling military officials “stupid” for disclosing details about military operations in Mosul, Iraq. It is entirely possible for the president to order an attack on Pyongyang without any prior notice to the public, meaning little time for the American people to prepare for a nuclear counterattack on behalf of North Korea. At this point, any attack on North Korea that does not completely paralyze their nuclear launch capabilities can be assumed to be responded to with nuclear force. If the United States were ever to invade North Korea, the best time to do so was years ago, before North Korea developed the capabilities to launch nuclear warheads across oceans. Should North Korea launch its missiles, there is a chance that they would be neutralized by a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (a system that destroys incoming missiles), however there is no guarantee that this would be a success. The United States and the rest of the world community has two options: attack North Korea and hope to destroy its nuclear capabilities to a point where a nuclear retaliation is no longer a threat, or make concessions to keep an armed and reckless Pyongyang happy. The purpose of an RBA on this topic would be to analyze what strategies have and have not worked in curbing North Korean aggression, and what the next step should be, be it on the part of the U.S. or the U.N.

Image Credit: Daily Star

Protest and American culture: a new perspective

For my Research-Based Argument, I have decided to focus upon the relationship between political dissidence/protest and American culture at large. This topic has recently come back into relevance as activist movements like Black Lives Matter and the direct action tactics of groups like those identified under the label of “antifa” gain importance in the US’ current state.

Much has been written on protest and dissidence in the Cold War era, from analyses of the state’s infiltration and interaction with groups like the Black Panthers to the history of New Left movements like the Weather Underground to records of responses to the tactics of groups like those behind the Civil Rights movement. This extensive scholarship makes it a fairly simple task to construct a framework of the relationship between American culture and protest. The culture of protest after 9/11 has been less thoroughly studied, but a substantial base of work on events like the 2004 RNC and the changing police tactics for protest suppression along with writing on the impact of the proliferation of the internet on dissidence allow us to determine a similar framework for our current era, incorporating current events like the unrest following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO or the protests of police brutality currently spreading through the NFL in order to thoroughly address the facets of dissidence and protest in the present US ecosystem. However, a gap in the scholarship exists for connecting these two eras and their respective relationships between American culture and protest. Some authors, such as Cunningham in his fascinating book There’s Something Happening Here, explore the ways in which a specific facet of protest response evolved, as Cunningham does with the FBI, but little scholarship is available on the “bigger picture” merging American culture as a whole with its response to dissidence throughout these eras. I hope to address this in my RBA, analyzing a variety of sources to identify the evolution of the relationship between protest and dissidence and American culture.

 

Space Allegory: Star Trek and US Policy/Culture

The TV show Star Trek along with the rest of the collective movies, shows, and novels is one that has captivated audiences for the last 50 years. This large following gives the show and its creators a lot of power in displaying and reflecting the cultural an political views of the United States in its episodes. In the series, this reflection is often achieved through the use of allegorical plot lines within the episodes.

One episode in particular that showcases the usage of allegory within the series is “The Omega Glory.” In the episode, we find the Exeter and its commander stuck in the middle of a conflict between two groups known as the Kohms and the Yangs. As Sarantakes notes, these two groups directly allude to communists and yankees, a reference to the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. We also encounter a reference to the US Constitution through the holy papers of the Yangs. Sarantakes makes a good point when analyzing this episode saying, “The message of this episode is that American principles, such as democracy and political equality, distinguish the United States from other world powers.” This idea was definitely used in the Cold War era by the US in order to bolster and create support for its policies. At the same time, the episode also serves as an allegory to the fact that the United States often engages in other conflicts as a “Big Brother” figure. Essentially this means that the US is able to violate some of the standards it sets in order to defend their ideals for the greater good.

Science fiction and fantasy are amazing mechanisms for critiquing the political and cultural climate of society. One explanation for this would be that sci-fi/fantasy produce narratives in a much more entertaining fashion than speeches or other forms of political propaganda. The futuristic setting makes messages much more desirable because we exist in a society whose framework suggests that the future is always brighter should we follow the right path. A good example of this challenging of society is through the character Ellen Ripley in the movie Alien. Her character served as a critique to containment rhetoric in terms of gender roles, because she portrayed a masculine character, which defied the societal norms defined for women during this period.

Star Trek’s Alternative Ideology as Science Fiction

Sarnatakes’ article explores the allegories the famous TV series Star Trek presents between real Cold War politics and the show’s many storylines. Specifically, Sarnatakes explains that the episode “Mirror, Mirror” serves as a clear-cut representation of anti-colonialism versus the prevailing Wilsonian ideology of America up to the 1960s. He specifically writes, “The message of the episode is that a democratic country like the United States is different from and better than its autocratic rival, the Soviet Union, and that U.S. foreign policy should reflect this merit.” In establishing the juxtaposition between the normal Federation that chooses to leave other societies alone and the anti-Federation in an alternate universe that operates with an imperial grip, Sarnatakes constructs the clear intent of the show’s producers as being critical of American foreign policy.

Science fiction is generally known as a futuristic, dystopian or utopian portrayal of our own world or fictional worlds that share characteristics. Because of how distant the universes of science fiction seem, it can be easy for an author or director to lead their audience into believing that there are no allegories on real-world social or political issues at play. Plots such as a galaxy with laser-wielding warriors (Star Wars) and extreme government censorship have captivated readers and viewers worldwide while keeping the underlying narratives relatively secret (save for the Star Trek series). The most prime example that comes to mind has to be Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the famous dystopian novel where the government has ordered all books to be burned to ash in an extreme attempt at censorship. Bradbury disregards the veil that science fiction provides in order to present a legitimate warning to his audience about the threat of over-reaching government. Every page of the book serves as a constant reminder that the government is ultimately a self-preserving institution that can always take further steps to ensure its survival in the face of growing dissent.

Political Commentary in Science Fiction Works

In his article,“Cold War Pop Culture and the Image of U.S. Foreign Policy: The Perspective of the Original Star Trek Series,” Nicholas Evan Sarnatakes comments on the creation of deliberate allegories to current contemporary political issues in the production of various Star Trek episodes as a method of commenting on the events of the time.

Sarnatakes analyzes “Patterns of Force,” an episode that aired in February of 1968.  In the episode, the Starship Enterprise is engaged in an investigation of the disappearance of a Federation researcher.  Their search takes them to the planet, Ekos, where a earth-like Nazi movement has taken control.  “Two messages about U.S. foreign policy are intertwined in “Patterns of Force.” First, intervention–no matter how well intentioned–is a mistake…The other message is the superiority of democracy over other forms of government.” The totalitarianism of the Nazi regime is denounced in the depiction of the failure of such a system on the planet. U.S. intervention in foreign affairs is discouraged more subtly.  In the Star Trek series, The Federation is an idealized representation of the United States. The researcher, as a representation of the Federation as a whole, intervenes in the political sphere of Ekos, violating the Prime Directive.  The horrible repercussions of this intervention serve as commentary on real-world policy choices: “The implication is that the United States should make no effort to impose its will on other countries. Regardless of motivation, attempts to intervene will have repercussions for which Americans will be responsible.”

The genres of science fiction and fantasy are useful tools for commentary because they allow for the creation of entire worlds that can deliberately parallel real world settings.  Because of this ability to craft stories far in the future or in a magical, fantasy land, authors, producers, screenwriters, and directors can effectively disguise their more controversial observations and opinions and soften their more biting critiques while still getting their messages across to their audiences. Written by Orson Scott Card and released in 1985, Ender’s Game, comments on the ethics of war. The book follows the journey of six-year-old Andrew Wiggins, aka Ender. Ender is sent to Battle School as the greatest hope for the human species in its ongoing war against the Buggers.  He graduates and continues his training under mentor, Mazer Rackham, with a military strategy game.  After beating the final level–a feat that required the use of an advanced super-weapon that took out the entire enemy fleet–Ender discovers that the game was a trick; he had been commanding real soldiers in battles against real enemies.  More importantly, he realizes that he inadvertently wiped out an entire civilization.  Card comments on the potential moral ambiguity of wartime actions and the psychological effects of war on those immersed in it.  The use of a young child in the narrative emphasizes the moral dilemma to the audience, who cannot help but question the choices of adults who allowed and planned for such a thing to occur. This commentary has relevance to the issues of the times.  The Vietnam War, for example, was a war of questionable motivations.  It was the war of an older generation, largely fought by a younger generation of men.