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The Nature of Citizenship: Race, Citizenship, and Nature in Representations of Californian Agricultural Labor

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The Nature of Citizenship: Race, Citizenship, and Nature in Representations of Californian Agricultural Labor The Nature of Citizenship: Race, Citizenship, and Nature in Representations of Californian Agricultural Labor By Sarah Dorothy Wald B.A., Reed College, 2001 A.M., Brown University, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of American Civilization at Brown University Providence, Rhode Island May 2009 © Copyright 2009 by Sarah Dorothy Wald This dissertation by Sarah Dorothy Wald is accepted in its present form by the Department of American Civilization as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date ______________ ___________________________ Arlene R. Keizer, Advisor Date ______________ ___________________________ Ralph E. Rodriguez, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date ______________ ___________________________ Matthew Garcia, Reader Date ______________ ___________________________ Karl Jacoby, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date ______________ ___________________________ Sheila Bond, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Sarah Dorothy Wald was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 23, 1979. She received her B.A. in American Studies at Reed College in 2001. Wald completed her A.M. in American Civilization at Brown University in 2004. Wald’s article “‘We ain’t foreign’: Constructing the Joads’ White Citizenship” is forthcoming in The Grapes of Wrath: A Re-Consideration, an anthology edited by Michael J. Meyer with Rodopi Press. She has written articles for the Encyclopedia of American Environmental History and the Encyclopedia of American Environmental Literature, as well as book reviews for History: Review of New Books. Wald is a Graduate Fellow at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (2007-2009) and the Cogut Center for the Humanities (2008-2009) at Brown University, as well as a Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellow (2008-2009). Her other fellowships include a Historical Society of Southern California/Haynes Research Fellowship (2007). Wald has taught courses in American Studies, Environmental Literature, and Environmental Justice Cultural Studies for the American Civilization Department at Brown University and the English Department at Wheaton College. Wald received the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning Teaching Certificates in Higher Education I, II, and III at Brown University. She has worked as a Teaching Consultant for the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning (2005-2009) at Brown University, and a Writing Center Associate (2006-2009) at the Brown University Writing Center. iv ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been completed without the advice and mentorship of my dissertation committee, Arlene R. Keizer, Ralph E. Rodriguez, Matthew Garcia, and Karl Jacoby. My committee improved the quality of my dissertation and assisted my development as a scholar. Each one of my committee members modeled a form of mentorship that I can only aspire to implement in my future work with students. They not only mentored me on my dissertation, but also helped me prepare for a future of research, publication, and teaching. Arlene E. Keizer is dedicated to the development of independent scholars. The feedback she provided looked beyond the dissertation to improve my approach as a scholar. Whenever I was in a rush to complete the dissertation, Arlene encouraged me to slow down and spend more time developing my arguments and complicating my analysis. She taught me to temper my timelines with an attention to the quality of my work and the depth of my thought. She encouraged my attention to gender and to the literary questions I sought to address. Ralph E. Rodriguez’s ceaseless support of my project motivated my work on it. Ralph encouraged me to see the connections between my project and a wide range of other works. I always left our meetings with a list of books that reshaped my approach to the topic. He helped me place my scholarship in a broader framework of scholarly discourse. Moreover, Ralph encouraged my attention to detail at the level of sentence v construction, rooting out the passive voice and unnecessary commas. I am a stronger writer because of the extra care he devoted to commenting on my work. Matthew Garcia offered encouragement and mentorship throughout my years at Brown. He pushed me to challenge my intellectual frameworks and to engage mediums beyond the written word. He facilitated the development of the comparative ethnic studies framework I bring to my research. Karl Jacoby always approached my work with an eye to environmental studies. He encouraged me think about environmental studies through a more international and comparative lens. Additionally, Karl is a master story-teller. He has pushed me throughout this project to think of ways that I could tell my story more effectively. The extent to which I have succeeded can be attributed to his influence. My time at a graduate student was greatly enriched by my experiences at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Writing Center of Brown University. Each of these centers offered me an interdisciplinary community of graduate students, committed faculty, and dedicated staff. The resources they provided improved my scholarship and allowed me a space to work. They also enriched the quality of my life as a graduate student at Brown. Laura Hess of the Sheridan Center deserves special thanks for the time she invested to help me identify, articulate, and continually develop my teaching philosophy. My dissertation was greatly improved by the careful readings provided by the Cogut Center for the Humanities seminar, the Brown-Yale Latino Studies collaborative, and the Mellon Graduate Workshop organized by Kerin Holt and John Funchion. Moreover, conversations and suggested edits from Jin Suk Bae, Liza Burbank-Glib, vi Thomas Chen, Sara Fingal, Gillian Frank, Jonna Iacano, Jessica Johnson, Melanie Kohnen, Eric D. Larson, Mireya Loza, Angela Mazaris, Ani Mukerji, Miriam Posner, Felicia Salinas-Moniz, Mario Sifuentez, Margaret Stevens, Brian Sweeney, Aiko Takuchi and Miel Wilson greatly strengthened my scholarship. The mentorship I received in the department from Susanne Wiedemann and Caroline Frank deserves special commendation. The first several years of my graduate education were marked by Susanne’s constant affirming presence in the basement with her piles and piles of books. In addition to careful readings of dissertation chapters, Jeannette Lee provided the camaraderie necessary to finish the dissertation and apply for jobs. I offer my sincerest thanks to Daniel Kim, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, and the wonderful staff of the English Department for including me in their programs and projects. Bob Lee, Susan Smulyan, and Barton St. Armand also contributed significantly to my intellectual development at Brown. I appreciate the mentorship I received from the English Department at Wheaton College, especially from Lisa Lebduska. In many ways the groundwork for my dissertation began with my training at Reed College. I thank Jackie Dirks, Anne Baker, Laura Arnold Liebman, and Pancho Savery for always encouraging my scholarship. The feedback they provided on my senior thesis provided many lessons as I began the dissertation process. The funding provided by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and the Wheaton/Brown Faculty Fellowship supported the writing of this dissertation. The Historical Society of Southern California/Haynes Research Fellowship and a matching travel grant from Brown University enabled the archival research necessary for this project. Jean Wood, Carole Costello, Roseanne Neri, Patricia Balsofiore, and Andrea vii Casavant helped me navigate the bureaucracy and regulations to successfully matriculate. Whether I needed to reserve a room for a seminar or borrow a laptop for research, they were always there to help. These are the details that determine success. Nothing could replace the friendship and support offered by Kyla Zaret, Jisun K. Lee, Katie Prevost, Corinne Ball, and Megan Fischer. To Alan M. Wald and Angela Dillard, your advice, support, and love are invaluable. I am also tremendously blessed by the love and support of my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mike as well as my sister Hannah. My grandparents Dorothy and Quentin Stodola did not live to see me finish the degree, but the values they instilled in me remain alive in the goals of this project. I have been unusually lucky in the support, friendship, and love I have received from a wide range of family and friends, too numerous to list in entirety in these acknowledgments. I provide my sincerest thanks to Camilo Viveiros, Jr. Your companionship and your commitment to a better world inspire me every day. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page iii Curriculum Vitae iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Ecological Citizenship and Comparative Ethnic Studies Chapter 1 31 “Settlers Galore, But No Free Land”: White Citizenship and the Right to Land Ownership in Factories in the Field and Of Human Kindness Chapter 2 92 “The Highway is Alive Tonight”: Representing the Dust Bowl Migration Chapter 3 149 The “Clouded Citizenship” of Rooted Families: Japanese American Agriculture in Rafu Shimpo, Kashu Mainichi, and Nakamura’s Treadmill Chapter 4 216 “The Earth Trembled for Days ”: Domestic Disorder and Nature’s Violence in Yamamoto’s Short Stories Chapter 5 273 Imperial Geographies and National Identities in Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart and Galarza’s Strangers in Our Fields
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