© Copyright 2016 Anna K. Fern
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© Copyright 2016 Anna K. Fern A Temporary Hometown: Gendered Labor and Social Citizenship in Bremerton, Washington, a Domestic Military Colony Anna K. Fern A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies University of Washington 2016 Committee: Charles Williams Caroline Hartse Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences University of Washington Abstract A Temporary Hometown: Gendered Labor and Social Citizenship in Bremerton, Washington, a Domestic Military Colony Anna K. Fern Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Associate Professor Charles Williams School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Evelyn Nakano Glenn’s application of T. H. Marshall’s tripartite citizenship (2002) informs intersectional understandings of racialized and gendered labor in the historic development of the United States’ imperial colonialism and military industry. Recent place attachment studies challenge assumptions of belonging, home and civic responsibility aligned with social class, while current gentrification and revitalization scholarship reveals neoliberal sustainability practices that maintain unspoken class bias. Social citizenship, gendered labor and vice economy experiences for residents in domestic post-industrial gentrified cities that demonstrate parallels with global US military colonies are not readily documented. This mixed-methods study addresses social construction of home and belonging for residents of a vice labor and military veteran class in Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, a western US military manufacturing and base city. This thesis seeks to explain how and why some workers and residents in the city of Bremerton, Washington have been historically marginalized, even as their roles, framed as patriotic contributions, have been integral to the socioeconomic efforts and successes of the dominant militarized culture. I explore how study participants make meaning of their experiences – some in gendered and sexualized vice labor in service to military and federal personnel, and some who negotiate social changes after their withdrawal from service in the military – within this community that privileges its military presence and facilities. Demographic data demonstrate the economic and social effects of the city’s federal alliance, illustrating that many residents in the city’s rejuvenation area are not benefitting from an association with the socially enforced militaristic hegemony, either as service workers or as veterans of military service, despite their contributions to the city’s patriotic military alliance. I demonstrate, in conflict with the dominant narrative, the important role a sense of community and belonging play in the lives of participants of this study, indicated by how they view their social and labor contributions to the community, how they negotiate the social hierarchy of the community, and how they envision a future Bremerton that affords them fully applied legal, civil, and social citizenship. This study contributes to multidisciplinary discourses on urban studies, environmental psychology, internal colonialism, and class and gender theory. Keywords: Bremerton, citizenship, gendered labor, home, internal colonialism, place attachment, post-colonial critique, military industry, sexualized labor, vice work vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..…...…...xv Thesis Research Questions……………………………………………………….……..………xx Organization of Thesis…………………………………………………………………..………xx Chapter 1: Research Methodology and Methods……………………………………….……..….……24 Methodological Approach to Research…………………………………………………..….....25 Theoretical Perspective and Interpretive Paradigm Mixed-method Approach of Study…………………………………………………..…………28 Qualitative Research Feminist communitarianism. Convivial research. Interview narratives methods and approach. Quantitative Research Quantitative data. Interdisciplinary Research of Secondary Sources……………………………………….……40 Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Methods of Inquiry Application of multidisciplinary methods. Analytical Framework of Thesis…………………………………………………………..……42 Tripartite Model of Analysis Multidisciplinary Approach to Analytical Framework Chapter 2: Colonialism and Militaristic Hegemony…………………………………...........................46 Colonialism…………………………………………………………………………………..…..46 Definitions Domestic Colonialism Bremerton: Building the colony. 20th Century colonial labor. Politics of Space in the Militarized City Navy Yard City. Charleston. Evergreen Park. Downtown. Militaristic Hegemony……………………………………………………………….…….……62 Local Examples of Militaristic Hegemony vii Chapter 3: Military Culture, Gender Creation, and Sexualized Labor………………….…...……...72 Military and Gender……………………………………………………………..……..……….74 Culture of Violence Local examples. Military and Vice Economics…………………………………………………..……….………84 Exchange of Goods and Services Economic Model Conflation of the labor and the laborer. Commodification of emotions, ownership of bodies. Local Vice In-group Culture…………………………………………………..………………..95 Agency and Autonomy in Vice Labor Cultivating clients. Social In-group Culture Changes in Government Policies and Vice Economy………………………….….…..……..100 Leaving Vice Work Chapter 4: Ownership of Place………………………….…………………………...……............…...108 Organization of Chapter………………………………………………………………………110 Social Citizenship………………………………………………………………………………112 Place Attachment Police and Community Bremerton’s Military Industry and Allocation of Space…………………………………….121 Bremerton City Renewal Projects Gentrification. City planning and priorities of public space. Place Making and Belonging…………………………………………………………………..131 Downtown Residential Housing Bremerton housing history. Residents’ Economic Data from the Downtown Districts Analysis. Veteran residents. Public Housing and Market Rate Rentals………………………………………………...….145 Westpark to BayVista Hiding poverty. viii Conclusion: Goals, Findings, and Recommendations…………………………......……..……..…….154 Goals of the Thesis……………………………………………………………………………..154 Themes in the Qualitative Findings…………………………………………………………...154 Community Recommendations………………………………………………………………..155 Economic Alternatives Diversified manufacturing. Charleston Historic District theme. Rental Habitability Issues Home Ownership Incentives As residents. As landlords. Possible Future Study………………………………………………………………………….158 Broader Implications…………………………………………………………………………..158 Other Applications of the Tripartite Model References……………………………………………………………………………………….....…....162 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………..……......177 Appendix A: List of Images…………………………………………………………………..…177 Appendix B: List of Tables…………………………………………………………………...…179 Appendix C: Definitions……………………………………………………………………...…184 Appendix D: Additional Readings................................................................................................187 Appendix E: Human Research Procedural Documentation…………………………………..…192 Appendix F: Thesis Committee Approval………………………………………………………197 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Early on in this work, I was advised to research something about which I care deeply, even if others may not find it important. This turned out to be advice I revisited several times during three years of research and writing. Originally motivated by rental housing conditions in my city’s downtown neighborhood, my research expanded into issues of class and gender, labor, and the use of powerful imagery in the social construction of militarized hegemony of America’s self-image as harbinger of freedom, individualism, and democracy as they related to the internal political economy of the Western US militarized city that I called home. This thesis is the culmination of this undertaking, and its direction and discoveries are the result of an interdisciplinary approach supported by the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program offered at the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus. If there is one thread continuously woven throughout the curriculum of the University’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, it is that there is no “self-made” success; communalism and reciprocity persistently animate the machinery of our culture, in defiance of that machine’s proclamations of operational individualism. So in that spirit, I want to express my sincere thanks to the following people for their contributions to my completion of this work. To the many scholars who came before me, whose labors and ideas provided an academic basis and theoretical framework for this thesis, enabling me to put names on the forces I see at work in the city of Bremerton, I give my recognition. To the participants in this study, and the informants who offered anecdotes and insight, I am indebted to you. You entrusted me with your stories. When you dared to tell your truths, you helped to validate my interpretations of my own experiences. With this thesis, I hope that I have honored you in return. I appreciate the assistance from the Federal Student Aid program. It kept the wolves at bay, and I never could have afforded this privileged experience without it. To the many educators who helped me along the way, I offer my deep gratitude. In particular, I thank Dr. Susan Digby, for sharing her humor, kindness, and wisdom, and for taking a personal interest in my artwork and ideas; my project on Bremerton in her Human Geography course was the impetus for this thesis. I am thankful to Professor Phil Schaeffer: for sharing his juicy historical anecdotes,