ERIC Number: EJ751644
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 13
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-6463
EISSN: N/A
Race, Feminine Power, and the Vietnam War in Philip Red Eagle's "Red Earth"
Andrews, Scott
American Indian Culture and Research Journal, v28 n4 p93-105 2004
In her book "The Remasculinization of America," Susan Jeffords discusses the dynamics of how differences such as race and class are erased in filmic and literary representations of the Vietnam War. She asserts that one difference is not overcome by the battlefield: gender, a barrier that is depicted in the literature as natural and unalterable. According to Jeffords, the American literature of the Vietnam War may seek to erase differences of class, race, and religion among the men depicted in it, but it reifies the difference of gender. "Red Earth," a novella written by a Dakota/Salish veteran of the Vietnam War, Philip Red Eagle, manages to resolve its racial and gender tensions in a different way, however. In part by relying on Sioux notions of the feminine rather than on those produced by the dominant patriarchy of the United States, Red Eagle is able to avoid such misogyny and offer constructions of masculinity more healthy than those found in much of the Vietnam War literature. In this article, the author discusses how Red Eagle's novella erases racial differences in ways different from Jefford's desciptions. He also discusses how Red Eagle's novella avoids the misogyny that Jeffords articulate. (Contains 28 notes.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, United States Literature, Race, Racial Differences, Novels, War, Masculinity, Social Class, Social Influences, Films, Racial Factors, Gender Issues, American Indians, American Indian Culture
American Indian Studies Center at UCLA. 3220 Campbell Hall, Box 951548, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1548. Tel: 310-825-7315; Fax: 310-206-7060; e-mail: sales@aisc.ucla.edu; Web site: http://www.books.aisc.ucla.edu/aicrj.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United States; Vietnam
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A