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Supervisors: Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (Principal Supervisor); Professor Joy Damousi (Co-Supervisor); Deborah Tout-Smith (Associate Supervisor End-user)
Thesis title: "The empire needs men": Imperial masculinities in First World War propaganda
Thesis abstract: The First World War was a time of great socio-cultural, economic, and political upheaval across the globe. The instability and trauma of the 1914-1918 period resulted in a simultaneous reaffirmation of and rebellion against established gender norms throughout British imperial and colonial society (Meyer, 2009; Gullace, 2002; Bourke, 1996). The stability offered by Victorian and Edwardian expectations around fatherhood and marriage, athleticism and strength, work, and 'manliness' was challenged by the conflict, both in combat and on the home front. However, these expectations were also reinforced by governments, communities, and individuals in an attempt to maintain social order. This doctoral thesis investigates the ways in which imperial and national ideals of masculinity were expressed in First World War propaganda throughout the British Empire. It seeks to understand how factors such as race, class, and inter-colonial change influenced understandings of "the ideal man" throughout the period of the First World War, how these understandings were deployed to garner support for the war effort, and why certain tensions or factors were highlighted or minimised by propagandists. The thesis contributes to a growing body of literature which aims to historicise our understanding of masculinity (and gender more broadly), as well as to highlight the inextricable connections between gender, race, class, and national (or imperial) belonging (Fisher-Tine & Gehrmann, 2009; Lake & Reynolds, 2008; Woollacott, 2006; Hooper, 2001). This thesis will explore the inter-colonial dynamics of propaganda posters in former settler colonies of the British Empire in which the First World War created considerable debate and discourse about imperial and national loyalties. With this scope, the thesis will tease out the commonalities and tensions between projected national and imperial identities during wartime, and contribute to a wider transnational historiography on cultural formations and transitions across the British Empire (Salesa, 2011; Lake & Reynolds, 2008).