BODIES AT WAR BELINDA LINN RINCÓN BODIES AT WAR Genealogies of Militarism in Chicana Literature and Culture THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS TUCSON The University of Arizona Press www.uapress.arizona.edu © 2017 by The Arizona Board of Regents All rights reserved. Published 2017 Printed in the United States of America 22 21 20 19 18 17 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3585-9 (paper) Cover design by Miriam Warren Cover photo: Tierra y Libertad, before the test shoot (2012) by Nao Bustamente Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Rincón Belinda Linn, author. Title: Bodies at war : genealogies of militarism in Chicana literature and culture / Belinda Linn Rincón. Description: Tucson : : The University of Arizona Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017010448 | ISBN 9780816535859 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Mexican American women—Social conditions. | Militarism—United States— History—20th century. | Militarism—United States—History—21st century. | Neoliberalism— United States—History—20th century. | Neoliberalism—United States—History—21st century. Classification: LCC E184.S75 R56 2017 | DDC 305.48/86872073—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010448 This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Para Rodrigo, quien tiene todo mi corazón For Stella and Lola, my finest creations, my highest achievements, my deepest loves x CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Reading Chicana Literature in the Shadow of War 3 1 The Ethics of Chicana Grief and Grievance: Activist and Literary Responses to the U.S. War in Viet Nam 41 2 “Your Safety Net Is Yourself”: Neoliberal Militarism in Elena Rodriguez’s Peacetime 94 3 War, Time, Wound: Anti-Neoliberal Militarism in the Work of Graciela Limón and Lorna Dee Cervantes 120 4 Home/land Insecurities: Chicana/Latina Mothers and the Reproduction of National Security 159 Conclusion: Oneiric Futures 205 Notes 219 Bibliography 267 Index 289 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. “Hispanic families instill important values,” U.S. Marines advertisement, 2011 4 2. Cpl. Kristine Tejeda providing security in Iraq, 2013 29 3. ¡Fuera de Indochina!, screen print by Rupert García, 1970 60 4. Page 1, antiwar pamphlet, La batalla está aquí, 1972 67 5. Page 5, antiwar pamphlet, La batalla está aquí, 1972 70 6. Page 4, antiwar pamphlet, La batalla está aquí, 1972 72 7. Screenshot of online flash game Border Patrol 167 8. “Su entrenamiento empezó en casa,” U.S. Marines advertisement, 2007 174 9. Illustrated page from bilingual children’s book Good Night Captain Mama, 2013 181 10. Resist U.S. Imperialism, screen print by Favianna Rodriguez, 2007 213 11. “Test Shoot for Tierra y Libertad, ” by Nao Bustamante, 2012 216 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS H EN WORKSHOPPING OR PRESENTING SECTIONS of Bodies at War, I was often asked about what compelled me to write about Wwar. Although I was always happy to respond—the question was, after all, a sign of interest in my work—I also regarded the query as the perfect example of the very presumptions about gender, war, and militarism that I had set out to examine in this book. For me, underlying the question is the notion that war is more properly a man’s field of inquiry. I suspect that if I were writing about cookbooks, I would not be asked about my interest in the subject or my motives for writing. If I were a man, I probably would not be asked this question at all; my interest might be regarded as self-evident or presupposed. In Bodies at War, I analyze how our views on war and gender manifest and how Chicana cultural production and activism force us to examine our unstated assumptions. The actual answer to the question is rooted in feminism, the mode of inquiry that I use to critique war and militarism. As part of generation X, I came of age in the nineties, when the first U.S. invasion of Iraq—the Persian Gulf War (1990– 91)—reignited the perennial debate about women in combat. As a teen, I had already developed a feminist consciousness that rejected the arguments I heard about women’s supposed physical and mental incapacities to handle combat. It was around that time that I considered joining the U.S. Army. Without fully XII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS understanding the geopolitical, economic, and imperial motivations behind the U.S. invasion, I was nonetheless entranced by the heightened wartime patriot- ism and nationalism that dominated the media. I further believed what recruit- ment advertising promised: that military training could help me break out of my shell. I would enter basic training as a shy, quiet schoolgirl and come out a confident, self-assured, and assertive woman. As a college-bound kid from a Chi- cano working-class family, I also knew that I needed a way to cover tuition costs. For these reasons, I briefly joined a program for high school students inter- ested in enlisting in the California Army National Guard, where I learned how to silently approach an “enemy” from behind and how to rappel down rocks and other tall structures. I also had a long-standing interest in my father’s service during the U.S. war in Viet Nam. I remember seeing black-and-white pictures of him dressed in fatigues in the middle of a jungle. Another picture showed him standing next to his locker in the barracks as a young man, strong and full of life. I often wondered what his experience in war was like, a curiosity that eventually translated into my research on the military draft, Chicano casualty rates, and Chicana/o antiwar activism. That research helped me put a historical and political context to the photos and stories I had heard through the years. Fortunately, he returned from the war unharmed and eventually settled down with my mother. Despite the family military legacy, the promise of ontological transformation, tuition money, and the desire to prove that women were not “weak,” I chose a different path. Yet, I honor the feminist impulses in my younger self, even as my under- standing of feminism has evolved over the years. Although my teenage self subscribed to the more dominant, yet limited, form of liberal feminism that emphasized women’s equality and advancement, I eventually came to under- stand that feminism is at its most visionary and ethical when it advocates not only for institutional inclusion and equality, but also for institutional and social transformation. Not until graduate school did I have the chance to sit with my past and my could-have-been life and carefully examine the choices I had made. Several people guided my initial exploration into the topic and pushed me to think historically, theoretically, and creatively about Mexicanas, Chicanas, and war. Mary Pat Brady, Helena María Viramontes, Debra Castillo, and Raymond Craib gave me their time, expertise, and support, which made Bodies at War, the eventual iteration of my dissertation, possible. I also want to acknowledge how I have been blessed ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XIII throughout the years with the continued support, advice, and friendship of Mary Pat and Helena—two intellectual pillars of Chicana studies. In the years I spent writing and rewriting this book, many of the people who came in and out of my life each left an important imprint on me and this project. Gretchen Flesher Moon, Ken Nolley, Mike Chasar, and Frann Michel welcomed me to Willamette University and gave me my first sense of how aca- demic departments can function as collegial and productive spaces. I also want to thank several colleagues who offered support and advice along my journey to the book’s completion. Dionne Espinoza and Lorena Oropeza—two scholars whose work on Chicanas in the movement were early inspirations for this project— offered important advice. I thank Jeremy K. Saucier and Melissa T. Brown for being gracious enough to respond to my e-mails about how to obtain copyright permission from the U.S. military. My gratitude goes especially to Arlene Dávila and Sonia Saldívar-Hull, whose encouragement for my project came at a critical time and renewed my confidence in the book. I am further grateful for the many people who have kindly aided my efforts in seeking external funding to support this project. They include José Aranda, María Herrera-Sobek, Suzanne Oboler, Lisandro Pérez, Ben Olguín, Ramón Saldívar, Paula Moya, Yolanda Padilla, and Jorge Mariscal. I have benefited from several readers who gave feedback and advice that helped me transform inchoate writing into a more refined argument. I want to acknowledge them here, beginning with Rodrigo Rodríguez, who is always the most careful reader of my work. I had the great fortune to participate in two extremely generative faculty writing fellowships sponsored by the City University of New York. I thank Shelly Eversley for her masterful and inspiring facilitation of the CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication workshop and my generous co- participants: Dongshin Chang, Gloria Fisk, Elyse Zucker, Hyo Kim, Tara Pauliny, and Richard Perez. I also benefited from an intellectually rejuvenating faculty fellowship at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics led by David Harvey, Sujatha Fernandes, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore. I thank them and the following colleagues for pushing me to rethink some of my claims and to sharpen my fo- cus: Noelia Díaz, Christina Heatherton, Jacob Lederman, Stephen McFarland, Keith Miyake, Preeti Sampat, Asaf Shamis, Tom Angotti, Libby Garland, Suha Kudsieh, Karen Miller, Irina Carlota Silber, Jarrett Martineau, and José Ribiero Jr.