Thesis
"He was more than just one soldier": Narrating national identity in small-town America
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2005
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/361
Abstract
This case study is based on rhetorical analysis of a two-month sample of local, regional, and national newspaper texts referencing the September 2004 death of Army Sergeant Jacob H. Demand of Palouse, Washington, in Mosul, Iraq. My literature review discusses Benedict Anderson's (1983/1991) formulation of imagined community and related critical theories of nationalism, and suggests ties to Walter Fisher's (1984) narrative paradigm that sensitize close readings of the sample texts. Rhetorical findings comprise emergent themes that characterize the nature of the conflict in Iraq, link sacrifice with nationalization, reaffirm the Palouse community's cohesion, and reconstitute Demand's ethos. Such themes suggest a "metanarrative" rooted in Jewett and Shelton Lawrence's (1977) American monomyth. Ethnographic findings present excerpts from interviews with friends and relatives of Demand based on snowball sampling and questions derived from rhetorical analysis. This study concludes by arguing narratives surrounding Demand's death allow his hometown's loss to acquire heroic significance, suppress local debate about the Iraq War, and heighten national identity.
Metrics
3 File views/ downloads
16 Record Views
Details
- Title
- "He was more than just one soldier"
- Creators
- Raul Benjamin Moreno
- Contributors
- Elizabeth Blanks Hindman (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525178401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis