My dissertation, 'Marrying in and out of Whiteness: Twentieth-Century Intermarriage Narratives,' examines shifting American perceptions of race, ethnicity, and whiteness through the formula of the intermarriage story. In each chapter, I do a comparative study of black/white interracial marriage and WASP/white ethnic intermarriage stories. Through this intertextual analysis, I reveal how at different points throughout the twentieth century, white and nonwhite ethnics launched a collaborative deconstruction of white dominant culture ideals, while at other historical moments these groups have turned against each other in their efforts to better the conditions of their respective cultural communities. I argue that the narratives shift from stories of marrying into whiteness during the early twentieth century---when whiteness was equated with citizenship, privilege, ideal beauty, and personal safety---to stories of marrying out of whiteness after World War II---when whiteness becomes associated with repression, emptiness, imperialism, materialism, and the absence of community. In addition, I analyze why the mid-century era (from the onset of World War II to the Civil Rights Movement) is integral in reversing the formula of American intermarriage texts to stones which idealize 'otherness' and deconstruct 'whiteness.' I discuss a range of texts, including works by authors Israel Zangwill, James Weldon Johnson, Anzia Yezierska, Flannery O'Connor, Nella Larsen, George Schuyler, Helen Barolini, Bernard Malamud, Margaret Mitchell, Alice Walker, and Philip Roth / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24263 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Contributors | Cardon, Lauren S (Author), Smith, Felipe (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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