Friday, March 20, 2015
10:00-10:30 a.m.
Arrival and Registration
10:30-11:00 a.m.
Introduction
Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt)
Race, Gender, and Military Heroism in U.S. History
11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Panel 1: Military Heroism and Race during the Interwar Period and World War II
Chair: Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt)
- George Lewis (University of Leicester) “Service”: The American Legion, Americanism, and Military Heroism, 1919-1941
- Ellen D. Wu (Indiana University) Nisei in Uniform: The Invention of World War II’s Iconic Japanese American Soldier
12:30-2:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00 -4:00 p.m.
Panel 2: Racial Minorities and the Construction of Military Heroism from World War I to the Vietnam War
Chair: Isabel Heinemann (University of Münster)
- Brian Behnken (Iowa State University) Hero Street and Beyond: Ethnicity, Masculinity, and Mexican American Military Heroism from the Great War to Vietnam
- Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt) Black Military Heroism in World War II and the Vietnam War
- Matthias Voigt (University of Frankfurt) Code Talkers and Warriors: The Making of Native Heroes during World War II
4:00-4:30 p.m.
Tea and Coffee
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Panel 3: Gender, Sexuality, and the Vietnam War
Chair: Matthias Voigt (University of Frankfurt)
- Ingrid Gessner (University of Regensburg) You Were My Heroes: Remembering Military Nurses of the Vietnam War
- Steve Estes (Sonoma State University) American Heroes and Anti-Heroes in the Vietnam War
- Simon Hall (University of Leeds) Gays, Military Heroism, and the Perils of Patriotic Protest in the Vietnam War Era
Saturday, March 21, 2015
10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Panel 4: Continuities and Discontinuities in the Heroization of U.S. Soldiers
Chair: Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt)
- Amy Lucker (Rutgers University-Newark) Displaying Heroism: Media Images of the Weary Soldier, World War II, Korea, Vietnam
- Sonja John (Humboldt University Berlin) Generations of Lakota Veterans and the Idea of Intergenerational Heroism
- Alexander Bielakowski (Command and General Staff College) Forgotten Heroes: Ethnic and Racial Minorities Denied the Medal of Honor
12:00-1:15 p.m.
Lunch
1:15 -3:30 p.m.
Panel 5: Race, Gender, and the Heroic Warrior in the 21st Century
Chair: Brian Behnken (Iowa State University)
- Kristin Hass (University of Michigan) The Price of Freedom and the Problem of the American Heroic Imaginary
- Carrie Andersen (University of Texas at Austin) Virtual Warfare: Drones and the Future of the Soldier in the Call of Duty Series
- Ahu Tanrisever (Free University of Berlin) Whiteness, Masculinity, Class, and the Post-9/11 Warrior Hero
- Sarah Makeschin (University of Passau) The Negotiation of a 21st-Century Female Warrior
3:30-3:45 p.m.
Tea and Coffee
3:45-4:30 p.m.
Final Discussion
Chair: Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt)