Latina/os and World War II
Latina/os and World War II
Mobility, Agency, and Ideology
The first book-length study of Latina/o experiences in World War II over a wide spectrum of identities and ancestries—from Cuban American, Spanish American, and Mexican American segments to the under-studied Afro-Latino experience—Latina/os and World War II probes the controversial aspects of Latina/o soldiering and citizenship in the war, the repercussions of which defined the West during the twentieth century. The editors also offer a revised, more accurate tabulation of the number of Latina/os who served in the war.
Spanning imaginative productions, such as vaudeville and the masculinity of the soldado razo theatrical performances; military segregation and the postwar lives of veterans; Tejanas on the homefront; journalism and youth activism; and other underreported aspects of the wartime experience, the essays collected in this volume showcase rarely seen recollections. Whether living in Florida in a transformed community or deployed far from home (including Mexican Americans who were forced to endure the Bataan Death March), the men and women depicted in this collection yield a multidisciplinary, metacritical inquiry. The result is a study that challenges celebratory accounts and deepens the level of scholarly inquiry into the realm of ideological mobility for a unique cultural crossroads. Taking this complex history beyond the realm of war narratives, Latina/os and World War II situates these chapters within the broader themes of identity and social change that continue to reverberate in postcolonial lives.
Superb . . . the wide-ranging and substantive history that we have been lacking.
Offers a perspective on the Latino experience that goes beyond the usual southwestern or Texas narratives of Mexican Americans, [and] it raises important questions about race from the Afro Cuban and Afro Puerto Rican perspectives.
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the founder and director of the U.S. Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project (now Voces Oral History Project). Her previous books include, most recently, Beyond the Latino WWII Hero: The Social and Political Legacy of a Generation.
B. V. Olguín is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A poet, translator, and literary critic, he is the author of La Pinta: Chicana/o Prisoner Literature, Culture, and Politics.
Preface: Navigating Bureaucratic Imprecision in the Search for an Accurate Count of Latino/a Military Service in World War II
Karl Eschbach and Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Mapping Latina/o Mobility, Agency, and Ideology in the World War II Era
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez and B. V. Olguín
Part I. Ideological Mobility
Chapter 1. Ybor City Goes to War: The Evolution and Transformation of a “Latin” Community in Florida, 1886–1950
Gary R. Mormino
Chapter 2. Pvt. Evelio Grillo and Sgt. Norberto González: Afro-Latino Experiences of War and Segregation
Frank André Guridy
Chapter 3. Higher Education, the GI Bill, and the Postwar Lives of Latino Veterans and Their Families
Angélica Aguilar Rodríguez, Julian Vasquez Heilig, and Allison Prochnow
Chapter 4. Transnational Latino Soldiering: Military Service and Ethnic Politics during World War II
Luís Alvarez
Chapter 5. “Intellectually He Was Courageous; in Public Action He Was Cautious and Prudent”: A Reassessment of Carlos E. Castañeda’s Wartime Service
Marianne M. Bueno
Part II. Cultural Agency
Chapter 6. The Mexican Voice Goes to War: Identities, Issues, and Ideas in World War II–Era Mexican American Journalism and Youth Activism
Félix F. Gutiérrez
Chapter 7. “Capitán, ¿a qué huele la sangre?”: Mexicana/o Vaudeville and Militarized Citizenship during World War II
Peter C. Haney
Chapter 8. “Con dolor de corazón”: Militarization and Transracial Recognition among Mexican Americans and Filipinos in the Bataan Death March
Jordan Beltrán Gonzales
Chapter 9. Tejanas on the Home Front: Women, Bombs, and the (Re)Gendering of War in Mexican American World War II Literature
Patricia Portales
Chapter 10. Interrogating the Soldado Razo: Masculinity, Soldiering, and Ideology in Mexican American World War II Memoir and Theater
B. V. Olguín
Chapter 11. Seeking “America”: A Cuban Journey through the United States and beyond during the World War II Era
Gerald E. Poyo
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Author Biographies
Index
